Mercu Connects with Deskless Employees on their Turf

The assumption that workers spent the majority of their time sitting at desks was the basis for the creation of numerous tools for employee engagement and retention. However, the vast majority of workers worldwide do not have a desk, which means that they are frequently on the move and do not always have access to a laptop. Companies must deal with high churn and low retention rates because a lot of them are unhappy in their jobs. Mercu, based in Singapore, wants to help by providing a platform specifically designed to reach deskless employees.

Mercu, which went live in November 2022, announced today that it has received seed funding totalling $1.6 million from 500 Global, TEN13, Flying Fox Ventures, Archangel Ventures, XA Network, and Sequoia Capital India, a previous investor.

Mercu is involved by organizations in retail, coordinated operations, neighbourliness and assembling locally available workers, speaking with them and assisting with expanding commitment. Guzman Y Gomez, a Mexican fast food chain with operations in Singapore and Australia, and Sam Prince Hospitality Group are among its clients. Additionally, it has customers in the United States, where the seed funding will be applied to hiring and expanding Mercu's presence.

Jascha Zittel and Elliott Gibb, the startup's co-founders, previously held positions at Grab. Zittel, a product manager there, had to communicate with millions of drivers in eight countries. He discovered that messages sent through Facebook and WhatsApp got much more attention than emails or in-app communications.

The two told that Coronavirus laid the preparation for Mercu on the grounds that it featured the significance of the deskless labour force, and furthermore, the way in which little their necessities were being met. Notwithstanding representing over 70% of the worldwide labour force, under 1% of VC subsidizing gets apportioned to new companies in the space, they said.

While working at Snatch, Zittel and Gibb, a previous item fashioner Get would say group, saw that numerous deskless specialists feel detached from their organizations, which adversely influences standards for dependability. Mercu works with popular messaging apps rather than requiring employees to download yet another one because keeping workers means staying in constant touch with them and meeting them where they are. This is especially critical in developing nations where smartphone hardware and data bandwidth limitations exist.

Employers can choose from templates for campaigns like engagement surveys or create custom content with Mercu. The platform gives content creators analytics about reading and completion rates, industry benchmarks, and recommendations. Employees are divided into groups based on their roles, tenure, and location.

A few instances of what bosses use Mercu for incorporate group supper solicitations, acknowledgement programs, shift trades and preparing sign-offs. Guzman y Gomez robotized their employing and onboarding process by utilizing Mercu to perform errands like sending interview welcomes and offers through WhatsApp, which diminished the number of flake-outs to interviews. The inexpensive food tie likewise utilizes Mercu to check specialist opinions consistently to decrease turnover rates.

Mercu is used by Sam Prince Hospitality Group to send ongoing training, such as updates to standard operating procedures, product information, and sales training.

The product development team at Mercu intends to concentrate on developing more tools for employees, including investigating how large language models like ChatGPT can be utilized to communicate with employees on a larger scale.