Notes and Highlights from HR Tech Weekly with John Sumser and Stacey Harris, HR Tech Weekly Episode 176, June 14, 2018.
SAN FRANCISCO – June 7, 2018 – Homebase, the trusted software local business owners rely on to help them organize, schedule shifts, and track time for their hourly teams, today launches Homebase Hiring. The launch couldn’t come at a better time; with the unemployment rate at a 17-year low, local businesses now finally have the tools they need to compete for the right people. The growth is bolstered by a $20 million Series B funding round led by Bain Capital Ventures, with participation from existing investors Baseline Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, Khosla Ventures, and others. The new funding will be used to continue rapid customer adoption, forge new partnerships, and further develop products that make hourly work easier.
Homebase was designed from the ground up to serve the hourly teams working in restaurants and retailers, and across health, beauty and other Main Street businesses. In less than three years, more than 100,000 local businesses across the United States have relied on Homebase’s free and premium products to more easily manage their teams with its array of scheduling, timesheet, and communication tools. With the addition of Homebase Hiring, they can now more easily find candidates, manage job listings, schedule interviews, and onboard employees.
“Today, one-third of the American workforce still hasn’t felt the benefits of technology. With busy teams, high turnover, and tight margins, the stakes are especially high for these local businesses. The right software makes a huge difference,” said John Waldmann, CEO of Homebase. “We’ve been there; everyone at Homebase has worked restaurant, retail, or service jobs and our family and friends live these challenges today. One request from the beginning was help finding team members. With Homebase Hiring, we now offer a complete solution for building and managing hourly teams.”
“Homebase has changed the way I manage my business and our team,”said Mary Cho, owner of Dak and Bop in Houston, TX. “From finding great team members faster to managing their schedules and time sheets, Homebase takes away the headaches and has given me more time to focus on what I love for the business and our customers.”
How it Works
Homebase Hiring was designed to fit easily into hectic schedules and on-the-go needs of local business:
- Easy job creation: Managers can quickly create new job descriptions for open roles, using pre-populated templates based on best-practices across thousands of job posts, and customized with their own unique business requirements.
- Press to publish: Once created, job postings publish for free on major job boards like Indeed, ZipRecruiter, and Craigslist — and creates a unique jobs webpage for the business.
- Single view: All applicants are filed into a single view for easy filtering, review, and management.
- Organized interviews: Automatically schedule and send reminders to avoid no-shows, a very common complaint among local business owners.
- Update status: Track progress and next steps right in the app.
The entire process is managed in a single screen from a computer or phone, and once someone is hired, their personal profile can be automatically imported to the rest of Homebase for easy scheduling, time tracking, communication, and more. Homebase partners with the tools businesses rely on daily, including ADP, Clover, Gusto, Quickbooks, Square, and others.
“Main Street businesses are the heart of the U.S. economy, but they’ve been largely ignored by traditional software companies,” said Ajay Agarwal, managing director at Bain Capital Ventures. “Homebase fills a significant need for these businesses, as evidenced by its uniquely-fast path to 100,000 customers. The team has a compelling vision for the industry and the experience to make it reality. We’re excited to help them expand their platform, giving valuable time back to local business owners and managers, so they can focus on delivering great customer service, retaining employees, and growing their businesses.”
More than 100,000 businesses rely on Homebase’s scheduling, time tracking, team communication, and hiring platform to help simplify their daily work, giving them hours back every week. The team brings local business expertise from Intuit, Square, OpenTable, Yelp, and First Data and are all former hourly employees and managers themselves. Based in San Francisco and Houston, Homebase is backed by leading venture investors including Bain Capital Ventures, Baseline Ventures, Cowboy Ventures, and Khosla Ventures. For more information, please visit www.joinhomebase.com.
