About Staafd

Work is not
charity.
Work is dignity.

We built Staafd because millions of Australians who want to work — truly want to work — have been abandoned by every hiring platform ever created. This is our story.

Read our story
2.4M
Casual workers in Australia — 1 in 5 of the entire workforce — choosing flexibility every single day
Australian Bureau of Statistics, 2025
73%
Of casual workers who prefer it that way — flexibility is the point, not a compromise
ABS Characteristics of Employment, 2025
Our mission
"Every Australian who wants to earn deserves a fast, safe, and fair way to do it — on their own terms, not anyone else's."

We saw the gap no one wanted to talk about

Australia has 2.4 million casual workers. One in five people in this country works casually — not because they failed to find something permanent, but because flexibility is the point. They are students fitting shifts around study. Parents working school hours. Backpackers building their Australian adventure. Career-changers finding their feet. People who want to earn on their own terms, not on anyone else's schedule.

And yet every hiring platform ever built treated them like an afterthought. Seek was designed in 1997 for someone with a resume, a suit, and two weeks to give. LinkedIn is for careers, not shifts. Facebook Jobs was the closest thing casual workers had — and Meta shut it down in 2022 without a replacement.

What was left? Unverified Facebook groups where scam employers posted alongside legitimate ones. Word of mouth in hostel dorm rooms. Desperation and luck. That is not good enough for people who are willing to work.

Staafd was built to change that. Not incrementally. Fundamentally.

A person should not need a resume, a referee, and a two-week notice period to pick fruit tomorrow morning. They should need one swipe.

The Staafd founding principle

Every Australian who wants to work on their terms

Staafd is not a backpacker app. It is for every person the current system has decided is too flexible, too inexperienced, too old, too qualified, or too complicated to place. There is no such thing as too complicated when someone simply wants to earn.
LM
Lena, 24
German · Working holiday visa · Arrived in Cairns
She needs 88 days of farm work to extend her stay. She has $4,000, a strong back, and a willingness to start tomorrow. She has no Australian employer history. No local referee. No one to vouch for her yet.
"I just need someone to give me a chance. I will work hard. I just cannot prove it yet."
Staafd builds her work history from her very first shift.
JS
Jordan, 20
Uni student · Melbourne · Nursing degree
He studies full time. He can only work evenings and weekends. He cannot commit to a regular schedule that shifts from semester to semester. Every job ad he finds assumes full availability he simply does not have.
"I need shifts that fit around my timetable — not a job that expects me to fit around it."
Staafd lets him set exactly when he is available, down to the hour.
SA
Sophie, 17
High school student · Brisbane
She wants to work weekends and school holidays. She wants to save for her gap year. Every application she submits requires experience she has not yet had the opportunity to gain. She is stuck before she has even started.
"My first job should not require a work history. How do I get one if no one gives me a start?"
Staafd gives everyone a fair start — experience begins at shift one.
MR
Marcus, 42
Career changer · Perth · Retraining as a teacher
He left construction after an injury. He is mid-way through a teaching degree. He needs income. He is too experienced for entry-level roles and not yet qualified for his new career. The system has no category for where he is right now.
"I am stuck in the middle. Too old for no experience needed, not credentialed enough for anything else."
Staafd values skills and reliability — not just credentials.
PW
Priya, 35
Parent returning to work · Sydney
Two kids in school. She can work 9am to 3pm, Monday to Friday, term time only. She has skills. She has experience. She is genuinely eager. But every role she finds expects something she structurally cannot give. The system treats her availability as a defect.
"I do not want benefits. I want to work. I just need the flexibility and I cannot find it anywhere."
Staafd matches employers to exactly the hours she has available.
TR
Tom, 58
Semi-retired · Darwin · 30 years hospitality management
He does not want to stop working entirely. He wants two or three shifts a week — to stay engaged, to supplement his super, to feel useful. Recruiters do not return his calls. The algorithm filters him out before a human ever sees his name.
"I have three decades of experience. They will not even look at my application. That makes no sense."
On Staafd, experience is the asset. Age is irrelevant.

Six principles we refuse to compromise on

01

Work is dignity — not a privilege

Every person who earns through Staafd is building something real: financial independence, a work history, a rating that opens the next door. We do not view casual work as lesser work. It is the work that keeps farms running, hostels staffed, buildings built, and restaurants open. It deserves the same respect as any other kind.

02

Flexibility should never be penalised

Choosing to work on your own terms is not a failure of ambition. It is a legitimate life choice that 73% of Australian casual workers make deliberately. Staafd was designed around that choice — not despite it. You set your hours, your availability, your location. The platform adapts to you, not the other way around.

03

Fair pay is non-negotiable

No employer on Staafd can offer below the legal award rate. Not a dollar below. This is enforced in the platform, not left to good faith. We believe wage theft is not a grey area. It is theft — and building a technology platform that facilitates it, knowingly or not, is unacceptable. Every worker knows exactly what they will earn before they accept a single shift.

04

Workers deserve to know who they are dealing with

You check reviews before you go to a restaurant. You see a rating before you get in an Uber. A worker accepting a job in regional Australia — with their visa, their income, and sometimes their safety at stake — deserves the same information. Staafd is the first platform in this country to give it to them. Every employer is rated, verified, and permanently accountable.

05

Your work history belongs to you

A worker who completes shifts through Staafd builds a portable professional identity. Their rating, their verified skills, their shift history — these travel with them from Cairns to Mildura to Margaret River to wherever they go next, in Australia and eventually beyond. Your reputation is yours. It should not disappear when you change platforms or cross a border.

06

Australian data stays in Australia

Every competitor stores Australian workers' most sensitive information — passports, tax file numbers, employment history — on servers in the United States or Japan. Under Australia's 2024 Privacy Act reforms, that is a problem. Staafd hosts everything on Australian servers, under Australian law, accountable to Australian regulators. Your data does not leave the country. Full stop.

The people who need Staafd are already out there.
Right now.

These are not projections. These are the real numbers behind the real people who have been waiting — without knowing it — for something like Staafd to exist.

2.4M
Casual employees in Australia right now — 19% of the entire workforce
Australian Bureau of Statistics, August 2025
213K
Working holiday makers in Australia — the highest number ever recorded
Department of Home Affairs, November 2024
73%
Of casual workers who prefer it that way — flexibility was always the point
ABS Characteristics of Employment, 2025
300K
Construction worker shortage projected by mid-2027 — a genuine national crisis
Infrastructure Australia, 2025

Ready to get staafd?

Whether you need workers tomorrow morning or you need work today — Staafd is being built for you. Join the waitlist and be first to know when we launch in your region.