Prepared for what lies ahead in tourism
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F.acT: How did the idea of worcay come about?
Matthias Will: As a passionate skier and living in the middle of Germany, the time during Corona was particularly hard for me because I wasn't allowed to go to the mountains. In the 2021/22 season, I was suddenly told that I could travel within Germany again. However, there was another problem: the ski resorts had a massive shortage of staff and that was the birth of worcay. I helped a ski resort in the Allgäu, which I know very well, to find staff - that was a huge success and suddenly I was asked by other entrepreneurs from the south whether I could help them find staff too. I have spent the last few years working on new innovations for international companies in a wide range of sectors. It was clear to me that I was ready to set up a company myself as soon as I came across an idea that I could back 100% and that was worth going the extra mile to become self-employed for. We (my co-founder Johann, three employees and I) officially launched worcay on 01.12.2022. At the moment, we primarily specialize in supporting businesses in the hospitality industry, especially in the (premium) hotel sector. Pupils, students or young people in general can combine work and travel in a meaningful way for a certain period of time and work in a company for one or more months.
F.acT: What is your initial assessment? What have you learned?
Matthias Will: The first 4.5 months were absolutely crazy - in a positive sense. Partners, such as a Sonnenalp in the Allgäu, very quickly understood what worcay is all about: creating a win-win situation. Together, we create equal opportunities, as we bring everyone to the most beautiful vacation regions who is willing to work on site with top motivation and at the same time we support and relieve the specialist staff of our partner companies and give them the opportunity to do what they are very good at in an even more focused way: Being hosts.
We have learned that traditional sales phone calls do not work in tourism and the hospitality industry. A good product alone is not enough - we can convince most businesses through recommendations from our network in the hotel industry or through success stories already written with our partner businesses from the very beginning. For a few weeks now, more and more companies have been actively approaching us because they have realized what vision we are pursuing with worcay and want to become a part of it. With over 200 applications in our participant pool, we are ready to start onboarding more great partner companies.
F.acT: What do you expect for the future?
Matthias Will: Our clear goal is to bring the vision of worcay to the world and to establish a new form of work & travel together with our partner companies. We hope to open up new vacation regions and give even more people the opportunity to support our partner companies in the fight against the shortage of personnel. For the time being, we will only expand very partially into non-European destinations. Our focus over the next 1.5 years will be on Europe. We will then see what happens after that. We will put a lot of energy into further expanding existing partnerships and continue to develop our own platform internally. We want to become the number one point of contact for our companies when it comes to attracting top motivated people for support.
F.acT: How can I become a partner at worcay?
Matthias Will: Basically, this question is quite easy to answer: The companies must share our values, stand up for this concept together with us and be a good employer for our highly motivated worcays - in return, they receive very motivated worcays and are sure to inspire one or two people about their industry and their company. The initial registration takes less than 5 minutes and can be done under the following link.
The framework conditions for cooperation are ultimately determined by the partner companies themselves during the registration process. However, experience in recent months has shown that we observe a very high probability of matching if the company creates the following framework conditions:
- Free accommodation in the employee room (also shared accommodation and double room accommodation for friends/couples)
- Cooking facilities in the room or free staff meals
- 30h/week - so the worcays would still have enough time to explore the region
- 2 days a week off
- Local average wage to the worcay (temporary help) - e.g. 12€ gross/h in Germany)
- Duration of stay from 1 month
Especially the free accommodation, the idea of being able to work part-time and still receive a fair wage seems to be the decisive factor for most of our worcays to participate in our offer.
F.acT: How do you build a community and what role does the "sense of community" play in the success of your company?
Matthias Will: Our entire business model is based on a very strong community approach. Starting with the approach on social media, through the initial application to the final journey of our worcays, the "sense of community" is essential. We inspire our applicants by playing out content that shows real worcays with other like-minded people or try to paint as realistic a picture as possible of what participation with us will look like. If a worcay is interested in our program, they have the opportunity to register with us at a very low threshold or to take part in a community call in advance. These calls take place three times a week and offer a direct opportunity to get to know other interested parties at this early stage. If a candidate applies, he/she must book a 10-minute onboarding call. This is where candidates are further qualified and the topic of community is actively addressed. Once we have found a match, the candidate will be connected with other worcays from the same region via a chat group before their departure. Once in the vacation region, the worcay can make appointments with other worcays and organize local community events. By receiving a worcay bag, we also give the candidate a direct line to us. Our worcay "Mum" is available for a phone call every afternoon. After the trip, worcays can join an alumni group. We are also planning a Germany-wide party tour for next summer, organized by the worcay family.
F.acT: How can your approach contribute to the image of the hospitality industry?
Matthias Will: We make a contribution on two different levels.
- With our recommended framework conditions(30 hours/week, free accommodation, fair pay and additional local deals (such as use of the spa area, employee meals, etc.)), we create awareness among our partner companies of the requirements of an employing company in these difficult times and, at the same time, we generate a very low-threshold entry into an industry that tends to be associated with overtime, poor pay, etc. in our target group.
- Together with our partner companies, we ensure more equal opportunities. While travel is normally reserved for the well-off, we are leveraging this factor and also enabling people from modest backgrounds to travel to unique regions by working there. This social impact concept will also be actively marketed with our partner companies in the future, which will also help us to address the issue of employer branding.