Singapore-based recruitment platform Workmate is acquired by Persol Asia Pacific

Workmate, a Singapore-based on-demand recruitment platform, has been acquired by Persol Asia Pacific, one of the region's largest HR service providers. Workmate is focused on frontline and essential workers, and the acquisition will allow it to expand its HR solutions across Asia Pacific. Workmate currently operates in Thailand and Indonesia and is expanding operations to Singapore this month.

Persol Asia Pacific is part of Persol Holdings, which is listed on the Tokyo Stock Exchange. It is one of the largest HR companies in Japan and has invested in HR technology companies including Glint.

Workmate Thailand Team

Workmate was founded in 2016 to help businesses find frontline staff, while ensuring workers get stable employment. About 120,000 frontline workers and more than 800 businesses are currently on its platform. The company defines frontline staff as essential workers, typically in low- or mid-skilled jobs, who provide essential services to the public. Sectors include logistics and warehousing, manufacturing, food and beverage, retail, and back-office roles such as administration and customer service.

Workmate provides companies with a pool of pre-screened workers for short- and long-term jobs and uses proprietary AI scoring algorithms to improve quality and attendance rates, worker retention, and productivity. The algorithms consider data points such as work experience, location, and skills, and combine them with first-hand behavioral data and worker history on the Workmate platform, such as attendance and supervisor evaluations.

Workmate will retain its own brand image after the acquisition and will operate independently with Persol Asia Pacific as its parent company.