Lessons from the pilot of Slivers-of-Time Working

First there was full time employment. Then part-time. Then job-sharing. Then flexible working. Now we have Slivers-of-Time selling. We're learning that it can take time for people to understand the dynamics of this new workstyle. But all sorts of possibilities can open up once they apply this new dynamic to their situation 

The pilot launched in December 2005. We started with 20 sellers and grew to 300. Each sold an average of 2 hours every other week, however there was wide variations. These were manageable figures for testing all aspects of market operation. Now the market is expanding as new buyers can come in.

The variety of work available was imporant for sellers. The types of work on offer expanded considerably over the first year. We are now seeing more "glamorous" assignments such as cinema work come into the market.

Types Of Work Purchased In Slivers-of-time Pilot
  • Leafleting
  • Poster distribution
  • Ad hoc cleaning
  • Clearing a corporate basement
  • Phone answering
  • Market research interviewing
  • Cinema ushers
  • Stewarding at events
  • Mailroom sorting
  • Shredding documents
  • Distributing flyers at tube stations
  • Personalized computer training
  • Landscaping
  • Clearing canals
  • Waiting at weddings
  • Stuffing "goodie bags"
  • Courier deliveries
  • Receptionist
  • Moving furniture
  • Cataloguing documents
The following broad themes emerged during the pilot:

Sellers:

  • There was enormous enthusiasm for working Slivers-of-Time, even from people who had little techno-literacy. This is backed up by government commissioned market research.
  • Many sellers had not worked for months, even years, and could only work Slivers-of-Time if they were to work at all.
  • Some sellers were only interested in Slivers-of-Time working as a route into a conventional job. Already some have been hired by buyers.
  • A proportion of sellers "don't get it", for example assuming they will be phoned by a human and reminded to go to a booking. These people remain at the bottom of the market and appear to quickly lose interest. We believe they would return with support, which could be provided by Slivers-of-Time support workers.

Buyers:

  • We found potential buyers to be much slower moving than sellers, creating a brake on market growth. This appears to be because:
  • A typical organisation takes a lot longer to make up its mind about something new than an individual HR departments can often not grasp how simple Slivers-of-Time buying is. Any new HR software typically takes months to install with considerable up-front costs and change management required. You can start buying Slivers-of-Time an hour from first hearing about it with only per-transaction charges.
  • Once buyers do start buying they progressively increase their spend in almost all cases as it becomes clear how useful the facility can be.

Lessons learned:

A wide ranging document about the lessons of the first Slivers-of-Time market has been submitted to government. Key points include:

  • It is important to keep buying power in proportion to number of sellers in the launch stage of a market. Allow too many sellers in on day one and only a few will get bookings, this fosters disenchantment for the rest. Our how to launch section includes easy to follow guidance to avoid this problem.
  • Sellers can take time to emotionally understand they are in an automated marketplace. Many of them were texting back "Hi, I wd luv to do that job" type messages rather than the Yes code outlined in the SMS they received.
  • Internet access is not a problem: people know where to find it free once they have motivation to do so.
  • The cost savings to buyers and the community impact of this new workforce exceeded expectations. See the case studies.
  • The ability for sellers to cap the number of hours they work each week is important. For example they may have 25 hours of possible availability but not want to sell more than 15 of them for fear of loosing benefit status. This is now enabled in a new technology release.

Slivers-of-Time marketplaces run on an extensive server farm in the Thames corridor. They are ready to serve the whole UK as soon as buying power is located in any given area. Experience in the pilot suggests the sellers will then quickly emerge.


Starting a market