Work On Demand Could Work For You
So while you're waiting for your next big job you could be making money doing small ones. One company out there is putting well-educated, talented, highly-skilled workers together with companies that have lots of work but no full-time job to offer. It can be a win win.
We spoke to Julie Ruvolo, co-founder of Solvate and www.solvate.com.
"We are helping talented professionals connect with work opportunities across the country," said Ruvolo. "There are companies big and small across the country that need help with certain things and are totally unable to hire someone full-time right now.
"We're talking about historically the largest gap between job seekers and job opportunities but that doesn't mean there isn't work there it means that maybe there's not the same kind of work. We talk aboutit in terms of microstaffing. Microstaffing is connecting talented professionals to the kind of work they can do for businesses that are either in New York or other parts of the country."
So how do people find out about Solvate? According to Ruvolo, "there's been a good amount of word of mouth, talented professionals are telling their friends about it and saying, 'I'm a graphic designer, I'm getting meaningful work from Solvate, I'm working for a number of their clients, whether it's in L.A. or Oshkosh, you should try it too.' And I would say for our clients the same thing is starting to happen, they're saying, 'I lost my administrative assistant, I've started to do a lot of my own work on my own, I need help, but I'm not able to hire someone full-time,' so we're connecting with that help as well.
"Solvate is actually the responsible party for connecting them so the client says what kind of work they need done and we're responsible for staffing it up appropriately.
"So if the client asks for help with their bookkeeping on Quickbook it's going to be a different person that is going plug in on that work than if they need help with a business presentation design.
"So we're the ones who actually manage the work from start to finish, as opposed to saying ok you two connect and go off and figure it out yourself.
"The difference now is you don't need to be in the office. You don't need to have a temp receptionist in your office if you even have office space. There's a whole movement toward remote work and telecommuting work and work that you can do over the internet and I think that's one of the big fundamental changes vs a couple decades ago when people were first thinking about it.
"It means in terms of job opportunities people can move beyond just considering what is open in their neighborhood or their city. There are ppportunities across the country where you can work from your home or even from the coffeeshop.
"We're working with highly vetted, educated, talented professionals. We put them through the ringer in terms of how we verify their skills.
"For example, there's Taylor, a Columbia MBA grad who is supplementing his income while he looks for his next career move. It's not a great time to have graduated from an MBA program right now given the job economy. He's incredibly good at things like building out business plans for a start up in San Francisco that doesn't have the funding to hire a business guy full time, but certainly needs help getting started.
"Then there's John Paul who is a graphics designer. He got laid off from Conde Nast in December and started free-lancing. So he has his own clients but Solvate is also supplying him with graphic design work. Sometimes it's two hours of work tweaking a business card, sometimes it's: I need to develop an entire presentation to pitch my product to retail stores.
Those are examples of pretty interesting skill sets.
"It's not only graphic designers or MBA's doing financial models, one of our professionals is a student at the Fashion Institute of Technology, doing fashion marketing. This is essentially her part time job but instead of working for just one company part-time, up the street, she is working on projects for dozens of companies.
"We're all talented people and just because it's a tough economy does not mean we should be working on undesirable work or work below what we think is our meaningful wage.
"So when professionals sign up and register with Solvate they're telling us a few important things. They're telling us what things they're best at; what their skills and experience are. They're telling us what the target rate is that they are used to making. People are being compensated between $20 and $100 dollars an hour depending on the skill set.
"And the third important thing is that they're able to work on their terms and on their schedule. So we say when are you available to take on projects, is that nights and weekends? Is it part-time? That way they can work around family commitments, and vacations and part time jobs.
"We call it working on demand. We're giving businesses access to much needed skill sets
on demand and trying to create a model where professionals can plug in on demand as well in the way that they need to.
"As the middle party, we are the responsible party for managing the relationship and guaranteeing that the work is done appropriately and to the clients satisfaction and also making sure our work force is paid."
www.solvate.com
Comments: 2
Hi Sandra, read this important information.
Mommy
Matthew W. Lighbody
6 Mizzen Drive
Barnegat, N.J. 08005
County, 08005
609- 660-7736 cell 609-489-9875
November 16, 2009
Eric Martin Bernstein, Esq.
TWO North Road
Warren, New jersey
Dear Mr. Bernstein and all other agencies to whom this letter concerns,
On August 11, 2009 I was given a hearing of the use of my sick time do to take my wife to the doctors for an illness and for attending to my 15 year old daughter that was raped, and township related illness that caused me to use my allotted time and then some. Also during the course of time I had had my gAll bladder removed and a kidney stone which made me septic and almost died. On that date I was represented by our union field agent Patrick Guashino and presented him with many doctors notes and other proof including a letter from my counselor that I was working in a hostile work place because I blew the whistle on the supervisor for wanting myself and another truck driver to dump asbestos in the Ocean County Land fill. I also asked Mr. Guashino to file over 19 grievances against the supervisors for breaking rules and regulations out of their own personnel policies and procedure handbook pages 3,4, 5, 6, 8,12, 13, 14 ,15, 16, 17, 19, 20, 20 and this matter was also ignored by the teamsters local 97. As a matter of fact they just handed me an employment law guide and told me to do it myself. And every time I called mr. guashino the field agent for help or to just ask for a meeting with administration either my calls to him were never returned of I was denied a meeting to degust this matter or any other until theses packets came out and even then I was also denied by the union the use of the lawyer when a supervisor Mr. Mark Vannella told other employees and called the union firld agent Jill Tice and shop steward Kevin Gries I wrote letters to the township Administrator there was drug use on the job along with other violations of the township hand book codes. In return field agent Jill Tice called me at home because I just went under surgery for my knee. On 4-11-07 I asked for a meeting
with Mr. Seiler and Mr. Vannella to ask him why he started such a rumor but gentlemen may I tell you that meeting just costed me to have my tire slashed on my personal vehicle on 7/21/08. During these matters I suffered tremendous stress along with mental and physical abuse by the other employees being threatening physical harm to myself and my family and having stuffed rats put on my truck seat along with pieces of cheese and rat body written on the sides of the trucks in the dirt on them. These acts went on for weeks, months, years and nothing was done. All management would tell me what do you want me to do about it. It would be just easier to get rid of the problem and that problem would be you. As a matter of fact the supervisors just joined in with their own remarks and that’s when Mr. Seiler was told by Mr. Vannella that the administrator Mr. Roeber sent over a whip to get the men out on the road faster in the morning and Mr. Seiler replied with good start with him first pointing at me. When I got in the mechanics truck to go to break Mr. Seiler proceeded to tell me to wrap the seat belt around my neck. And gentlemen if Mr. Seiler denies this can and will be proven via tape recording. Then came the time of all the write ups and last chance packets. I could name and have a list of many employee’s who use their time up and then some. But field agent Mr. Guashino will not let me use it.
At the time of the meeting I was told I had a choice to either filing for disability from the State of New Jersey or be terminated and to see personnel Ann Calvo to help me do it. I was never told that the township lawyer Mr. bernstein was drawing up a 12 page packet with false allegations against me along with dropping all my compensation cases against the township. And the denial of speaking to any agency whether it be political, administrative law, Occupational Safety and Health or any other federal or government agency until Ann Calvo told me and could not understand why the union never told me either. Which I denied to do because it would be falsifying and frauding the state. Because the township sent me for 3 if not four occupational work performing test with the last one being done in Newark N, new jersey and pasted all three. This was mailed to me by Mr. Bernstein the township lawyer, so it gave me time to contact both my compensation lawyer and to find a employment lawyer Mr. Germann of Toms River who told me not to sign this because it violated all my constitutional rights. after the union lawyer told me after a 10 minute conversation with Mr. Patrick Guashino that it was in my best interest to sign it and if I deny to sign it the union and the union lawyer would no longer represent me in this matter or any up coming ones. Not only did they tell me this but Mr., Kevin McGovern the union lawyer told this to my wife too.
Then on July 23, 2009 I received another packet to either terminate me or give me 30 days suspension for not complying with the first packet. Once again Patrick Guashino was sent the same packet. On many occasions I called to union office to find out what was going on and Mr. Guashino never returned my calls or did he ever turn it over to the union lawyer to be reviewed. Then another meeting meeting was set for October 23 2009 at 10:00 am and then only person that showed was field agent Mr. Guashino who was in a hurry because he had nother meeting to attend in Lakewood.
I tried to reach Mr Guashino about this matter in September but after talking to a shop steward from our township Kevin Gries it was told to me Mr. Guashino was in Atlantic city with whom he said was his wife and all the shop stewards from our township and other townships. I find it very hard to believe the union could not get me a lawyer but Mr. Guashino was entertaining a women in Atlantic City with my union dues that I pay them to protect me. Mr. Guashino swears it was his wife via text message sent to me 0n 9-22- 2009. Why he had to explain that to me is beyond me. Also on October 22, 2009 I asked Mr. Guashino to call Ebenua to see if we can get an extension on the hearing beings Mr. Guashino or the lawyer ever spoke to me on the matter or even prepared for the case on October 23,2009. Mr. Guashino had replied Mr. Ebenua never got back to him. That to can be seen on my text messaging. On October 23,2009 the hearing went on and Mr. Guashino sat in the chair like a deer lit up by a set of headlights in the dark and once again no lawyer present or did Mr. Guashino say anything to defend me.
The township lawyer was asking questions and Mr. Guashino either had no voice to answer or just blatantly sat there and said one if not two words. So I started to speak up for myself asking if I was being punished for using my time and why was not other employees and I named about 3 to 4 employees before Mr. Guashino told me to shut up. So I told him if you want me to shut up you name names because you know them all as much as I do and he refused to. If Mr. Gaushino remembers he asked me to write a letter about the township and the corruption going on here because the employees were being told by the supervisors to get rid of the union that it would be easier to pay them because they protect them better then the union. On tape I have one of the shop stewards asking me for pain pills and telling me he asked Mr. Vinnella why there was different sets of rules for different set of people working hear and Mr. carlone told me Mr. Vannella told him to not start any problems. After a brief silence in the meeting Mr. Guashino asked the township lawyer and Mr. Ebenua for a brief meeting once again behind closed doors without me present. After the meeting the Township offered me a 6
Month suspension and a packet once again offering me basically the same thing dropping my compensation cases and i talk to noone of any agency, 21 days paid leave but I had to sign it before I left the building with no chance of having it reviewed by an attorney. This was to be signed now or I was terminated on the spot. I immediately told Mr. Guashino this violates my constitutional rights and he should not let this be allowed and the union attorney should have been here. After leaving I called my employment lawyer who was on vacation. So I took the packet to my compensation lawyer Mr. Michael Kirby who immediately turned down the right to take away my compensation cases and he notified Mr. Guashino and Mr. Bernstien. After this was done i was denied the 21 days leave of pay because they said it was calendar days not working days. So they paid me 40 hours of pay and sent me a packet saying my benefits will end November 30, 2009. But at the time Mr. Guashino told me to sign it he also told me and my wife ( via phone) it was calendar working days and I get to keep my benefits until I refuse the packet. Well do I need to tell you I have work related injuries that require medical attention and they are denying me my benefits after November 30, 2009 and I am not allowed to seek medical attention for my injuries or go to counseling for the mental and physical stress they inflicted on me during the hostile work environment. And my I add that there are two other employees who have letters from their physiatrists stating that Berkeley township Public works is a hostile environment and they both are taking medication and driving or working off the back of the trucks. My I also add that I hold tapes 0f a shop steward asking me for pain pills and that the tractor trailer driver IS on psychotic meds while driving. Along with pictures of him sleeping in the truck when he comes in and times of him coming in when ever he feels like because he hold two township positions and he gets a lot of compensation time so he can come and go when he feels even if he is not punched out. But yet because I do not play the game of the supervisors I am a whistle blower. Ladies and gentlemen I ask you to please let me plead my case and hear the tapes and see the pictures and just hear my story period. I also ask that the union is forced to play my $5000.00 retainer for my attorney to represent me as I have the right to be represented. If the union can play for the wives and girlfriends to go to the conventions then they should give me $5000.00 of my money for my own attorney . Attached is the letter the union wanted me to write, the letter to the township about the hostile environment not only by myself but my counselor and the text message from Mr.
Guashino he was with his wife at the convention because someone said it was his girlfriend. I can be reached at cell 609-489-9875 or 609-660-7736. Also the union and the union’s lawyer has een notified for the past 3 years this harassment has been going on and I have tape recordings some of the employee’s who knows it has been going on but are afraid to come forward because of the kind of retaliation I am going through. Also there is so much more to this case you need to see all the paper work and the tapes to see what I am talking about. Please I ask you to give me that chance let my side be heard. But I have yet been given that chance.
Thank - you
For Your Cooperation in this matter
Matthew W. lighbody