Every question about staffing London, answered.

Minutes, in many cases. Search the date, time, venue and role, and Able immediately shows verified workers we know are available. Results appear pseudonymised — Worker 1, Worker 2, Worker 3 — so you choose on skills, experience and reliability first; click any profile to see who they are, with their full name and video bio. The shift is offered straight to their phones to accept. One corporate event needed five bartenders with 36 hours' notice — all five positions were filled within 90 minutes.

Able charges hiring managers 8% per booking. You set the hourly rate for the shift; the worker keeps 100% of it, and the 8% platform fee is added on top. There are no joining fees, minimum volumes or lock-in contracts. Traditional staffing agencies in London typically charge 30–50% on top of wages.

An agency margin of 30–50% is what you pay for trust — the assurance that the person turning up is verified and capable. Able builds that trust into the platform itself: every worker is Right to Work checked and reference-checked, and shows you their experience in a video bio, while the value of that verification is handed to the worker, who keeps 100% of their rate. We're democratising what agencies charge a premium for. The 8% covers everything — matching, verification, payment processing and same-day pay. See the full breakdown on our fee comparison page.

Yes. Every worker completes a Right to Work check and has references collected before they can be offered shifts. Each worker also builds a Gigfolio — a verified profile with their skills, experience and a video bio — so you can watch who you're booking before they arrive.

Yes. Single shifts are one of Able's core booking types. Search the date, time, venue and role — bartenders, waiting staff, event stewards, brand ambassadors — and the shift is offered immediately to candidates we know are available and verified. There are no minimum booking lengths and no minimum headcount.

Post the shift as soon as you know. Because workers keep live availability calendars and are offered shifts rather than browsing listings, short-notice shifts reach the right people immediately — including evenings and weekends. Many venues use Able precisely for same-day and next-day cover when someone calls in sick.

Yes. When a worker has done a great shift for you, you can book them directly for future shifts, subject to their availability. Reliability is tracked on the platform, so your best people are also the ones the matching engine prioritises for you.

Yes — that's the Trial-to-Hire™ pathway. Book a worker for one or more trial shifts, see them in your venue, then convert to a permanent offer through the platform for a flat £250 placement fee, whatever the role.

Yes. Verified bartenders and mixologists across London are bookable for single shifts, event cover and ongoing part-time work — from high-volume service to craft cocktails. Each bartender's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Baristas on Able range from speciality coffee experience to high-street volume service — book cover for a single morning rush, regular weekend shifts, or a trial shift ahead of a permanent hire through Trial-to-Hire™. Each barista's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Waiting staff are among the most-booked roles on Able — for restaurant service cover, private dining, weddings and corporate events. Each waiter's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes, at every level: commis chefs and food-prep support, sous chefs, and head chefs — for a single service, holiday and sickness cover across a week, or trial shifts before a permanent appointment. Each chef's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, alongside cuisines, section experience and qualifications such as Food Hygiene certificates, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Kitchen porters are available for same-day and advance bookings across London, and KP shifts are often the fastest to fill on the platform. Each kitchen porter's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Bakers and pastry chefs on Able cover early-morning production shifts, patisserie work and event desserts — one-off cover or a recurring weekly pattern. Each baker's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Hosts and greeters are bookable for restaurants, private events and corporate receptions — the first face your guests see. Each host's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Verified cleaners are bookable for venue turnarounds, post-event cleans and regular patterns. Each cleaner's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Event stewards on Able support conferences, exhibitions, stadium events and festivals — managing entrances, guiding guests and keeping events running safely, as individuals or a full stewarding team. Each steward's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

An event brand ambassador represents your brand face-to-face at activations, launches, exhibitions and experiential campaigns — engaging guests, demonstrating products and embodying the brand. It's one of a set of emerging event roles Able recognised early, alongside event representatives and networking facilitators. Each brand ambassador's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

An event representative acts as your organisation's on-the-ground presence at an event — greeting guests, answering questions, handling registration and representing you professionally when your own team can't be everywhere. Book one for a single conference or a team across an exhibition season. Each event representative's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

A networking facilitator makes connections happen at events — introducing guests to each other, keeping conversations flowing and making sure attendees leave with the contacts they came for. It's an emerging events role that barely exists at traditional agencies. Each networking facilitator's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Bartenders and waiting staff are bookable for private parties, weddings and celebrations anywhere in London. Search the date, hours and headcount, and the shifts are offered immediately to candidates we know are available and verified. Each worker's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Yes. Able suits exactly this shape of demand: scale a kitchen or bar team up for a pop-up, festival weekend or seasonal peak, then back down again, without agency minimums. Multi-day and contract bookings cover extended runs, and you can rebook the workers who impressed you. Each worker's Gigfolio shows their experience and a video bio, and the 8% fee applies, with pay handled by the platform within 24 hours.

Join Able at app.able.global and build your Gigfolio — your verified profile with your skills, availability calendar and a short video bio. Once your Right to Work check is complete, you're offered shifts that fit your skills and availability. You pay nothing, ever: no joining fee, no cut of your wages, no charges of any kind.

No. Able charges workers zero fees. The hiring manager pays the platform fee; you keep 100% of the hourly rate for every shift you work.

Within 24 hours. Your payment is held via Stripe Connect from the point the shift is offered, and released to you on completion of the shift. There are no weekly payroll cycles and no waiting for a venue to process an invoice.

Shifts are offered to you — you never apply, browse or search. Able's matching engine, running across multiple AI agents, matches shifts to workers using ten weighted factors across three questions: can you do the job, are you available, and are you reliable. Keeping your availability calendar up to date and adding all your skills means more offers reach you.

Your Gigfolio is your verified profile on Able: your skills, qualifications and equipment, your availability calendar, and a short video bio that lets hiring managers see who you are before they book you. It replaces the CV-and-application loop entirely — build it once, keep it current, and shifts come to you.

It depends on the role. Some shifts need certificates — Food Hygiene for kitchen roles, for example — and your Gigfolio lists what you hold so you're matched to shifts you qualify for. Other roles value attitude and reliability over paperwork. Every worker completes a Right to Work check before being offered any shift.

Able's matching engine runs across multiple AI agents and is pseudonymised by design: it never sees names, photos, gender, nationality or postcode. Matching runs purely on verified skills, availability, location and reliability. That's a deliberate architectural choice — the fairest way to match people to work is to make it impossible for the algorithm to discriminate on anything else. Read more in our AI & Gig-Work Fairness Policy.

Able uses recognition instead of ratings, with training and development as the response mechanism. Workers earn recognition such as punctuality badges and 'would work with again' feedback; where a shift surfaces a gap, the response is training and development. Public star ratings compress a person into a number and punish workers for one bad day — recognition builds careers instead.

Yes. Able AI Agent Limited is registered in England and Wales and handles data under UK GDPR. The matching algorithm operates on pseudonymised profiles, and hiring managers only see the profile information workers choose to share, such as their skills, experience and video bio. Full details are in our Privacy Policy and User Agreement.

Able covers Greater London, with particular depth across East London, where we deliver the Government's Connect to Work programme across nine boroughs. Able operates across hospitality, events, creative digital and adjacent sectors.

From a few hours to multi-day and contract bookings. Single shifts suit one-off cover; multi-day bookings suit festivals, seasonal peaks and holiday cover; part-time patterns and permanent placements are available through the same platform.

The shift is re-offered immediately to the next best-matched verified workers, using the same live availability data that filled it the first time. Because offers reach workers' phones in real time, replacement cover typically moves faster than an agency could return your call.

When a shift is offered, the payment is held via Stripe Connect. On completion of the shift, it's released to the worker within 24 hours. Hiring managers get one clean transaction per booking with the 8% fee included — no invoicing cycles, no timesheet chasing.

Hiring managers and workers both start at app.able.global. Post your first shift, or build your Gigfolio, in minutes. Questions the FAQ hasn't answered: email aw@able.global.