Privacy Policy
The Work Club (which includes our Insta$Crowd and Rent-a-Crowd programmes) is a South African platform connecting work seekers, employers, venues and brands. This page explains, in plain language, what personal information we collect, why, who can see it, and the rights you have under POPIA. It is also our formal notification to you under Section 18 of POPIA (Act No. 4 of 2013).
The short version: we never sell your information. One switch controls whether employers can find you, and your contact details stay hidden until you are shortlisted or you accept an invitation. Where we do need outside help (like signing in with Google, or the optional AI writing helper), we say so plainly in sections 6 and 7.
1. Who is responsible for your information
The Work Club is the "responsible party" under POPIA. Our Information Officer can be reached at info@theworkclub.co.za. We are based in Gqeberha, South Africa, and our database and uploaded files are stored on our server in South Africa. Some limited processing happens outside South Africa — see section 6.
2. What we collect
- Account details: your name, cellphone number, email address, optional username, and a password (stored only as a secure cryptographic hash — we cannot see your password). If you choose Sign in with Google, we receive your name, email address and a Google account identifier from Google, and store them so we can recognise you next time.
- Member profile (work seekers): city and area, skills, availability, work preferences, work experience, photos you upload, and your answers to badge questionnaires.
- Programme registrations: whether you have joined Insta$Crowd programmes (VIP guest, atmosphere model, mystery shopper, creator) and, for creators, the social media handles, follower ranges, content niches and portfolio links you provide.
- Business details (employers and venues): trading name, legal name, company type, registration number, VAT number, address, contact person, logo, and any website or social links you add. You choose, per link, whether it is shared with applicants.
- Messages: messages you send us in the app, and — if you contact us there — on WhatsApp. These are kept as one conversation history so our team can help you properly.
- Activity on the platform: job applications you submit, jobs you post (employers), application statuses, badges and achievements you earn, and enquiries sent through our forms.
- Technical basics: a session cookie to keep you signed in, and standard server logs (including your IP address, browser and the pages you request) kept for security and troubleshooting. We use no advertising trackers and no third-party analytics.
3. Why we use it (and our lawful basis)
- To provide the service you signed up for (POPIA: performance of a contract) — matching work seekers with employers, making your profile findable by employers looking to hire (while your visibility switch is on), showing your profile to employers you apply to, sending venue invitations to programme members, generating your CV, answering your messages, and operating your account.
- With your consent — sending you promotional offers, invitations and news (only if you opted in; you can withdraw that anytime), and any future use we ask you about separately.
- Legitimate interest — keeping the platform safe, preventing fraud and abuse, verifying that employers are real businesses, and maintaining security logs.
4. Who sees what — the important part
| Information | Who can see it |
|---|---|
| Your profile (skills, experience, city, availability, badge answers, photo) | Registered employers and venues can search for and view it — that is how work finds you — but only while your visibility switch is ON. Switch it off and you disappear from their search entirely. Applying to a job also shares your profile with that employer. |
| Your phone number and email | Hidden. An employer who finds or receives your profile cannot see your number or email, and can only reach you through the platform. Your contact details are revealed to them only when they shortlist your application, or when you accept their invitation. |
| Your public profile page (QR code on your CV) | Anyone with the link — but only while your visibility switch is ON. Turn it off and the page shows nothing. |
| Programme membership (Insta$Crowd guest, model, creator, mystery) | Venues and brands running invitations — matched by city. Mystery shopper identity is never revealed to the venue being reviewed. |
| An employer's website / Facebook / LinkedIn links | Applicants — but only the links the employer has ticked "share with applicants". |
| Everything else (password hash, login history, private settings) | Nobody. Not employers, not venues. |
One thing to know about free-text boxes. Anything you type into your experience or intro is part of your profile, and is seen by anyone who can see your profile. If you write your phone number or email in there, you have shared it yourself — the shortlist gate above can no longer protect it. You do not need to: employers get your contact details automatically the moment they shortlist you.
We never sell your information, and we never share it with outside companies for their own marketing. Insta$Crowd and Rent-a-Crowd are part of The Work Club — one account, one database — so joining any programme never sends your details to a separate company. Employers and venues who receive your details through the platform may use them only for the recruitment or invitation you took part in (this is a condition of our terms with them).
5. Service providers who process information for us
We keep the platform deliberately small, but a few trusted providers process limited information on our instructions and for our purposes only — they are not allowed to use it for themselves:
| Provider | What it does | What it receives |
|---|---|---|
| Google — Sign in with Google | Lets you sign in without a password (only if you choose it) | Google confirms your identity to us. Google will know you signed in to The Work Club. |
| Google — address lookup | Suggests addresses while an employer types their company address | The address text being typed. Used on the business-profile form only. |
| AI provider — the optional writing helper | Rewrites your rough experience notes into CV bullet points | Only the experience text you typed, and only when you press the button. See section 7. |
| Our hosting | Runs the server and database | Everything, stored in South Africa. |
We will also disclose information where the law requires it — a court order, a lawful request from the police, or a request from the Information Regulator.
6. Information sent outside South Africa
Your account, profile, photos and messages are stored in South Africa. However, POPIA (Chapter 9, section 72) requires us to tell you when personal information crosses the border, and some does:
- Sign in with Google and address lookup are operated by Google, whose servers are outside South Africa.
- The AI writing helper sends your experience text to an AI provider outside South Africa — currently Google (Gemini), with a European provider as a backup.
These transfers happen because they are necessary to perform the service you asked for, or because you chose the feature (POPIA s72(1)(b) and (d)). These providers operate under their own data-protection commitments and contractual terms. If you would rather nothing left the country, you can simply not use Sign in with Google and not press the AI helper button — everything else works exactly the same.
7. The AI writing helper
On your work profile there is an optional "Improve with AI" button. If you press it:
- We send only the experience text you wrote — not your name, contact details, photos or anything else.
- It is instructed to rewrite only — it may not invent employers, dates or duties.
- You see the result and can Undo it. Nothing is saved until you press Save.
- It runs on an outside AI provider (see sections 5 and 6). If you never press the button, your text is never sent anywhere.
Messages you send us in the app or on WhatsApp are read by our team, and an AI assistant may help us draft replies.
8. Your controls
- Visibility switch on your profile — the master control. On, and employers can find you in search; off, and you vanish from employer search and your public page shows nothing. Nothing is deleted, and you can switch back anytime. Use it freely when you are not looking for work.
- Programme toggles — join or leave any Insta$Crowd programme with one tap.
- Edit anything — your profile, photos, badge answers and creator details are editable anytime.
- Share toggles (employers) — decide per link whether applicants see your website or socials.
- Marketing opt-out — you only receive promotional messages if you opted in, and you can withdraw that consent anytime by contacting us (in-app setting coming). Messages about your own applications, invitations and account are part of the service and are not marketing.
9. Your POPIA rights
You may ask us at any time to: access the information we hold about you, correct it, delete it (we will delete your account and profile, keeping only what the law requires us to keep), object to processing, or withdraw consent where we relied on your consent (this does not undo what was lawfully done before you withdrew it). Email info@theworkclub.co.za and we will respond promptly.
If you believe we have mishandled your information, you may complain to the Information Regulator (South Africa): inforegulator.org.za, complaints.IR@inforegulator.org.za.
10. Security
Passwords are hashed with scrypt (an industry-standard, brute-force-resistant algorithm) — we cannot read them. All traffic is encrypted with HTTPS. Contact details are gated behind the shortlist step. Access to the database is restricted. No system on the internet can be guaranteed perfectly secure, but if a breach ever occurs that affects your information, we will notify you and the Information Regulator as POPIA requires.
11. Retention
We keep your information while your account is active. If you delete your account, we remove your profile and personal details; anonymised records (e.g. "a job received 12 applications") may be retained. Message history is kept so we can help you with a continuing conversation, and is removed with your account.
12. Age limit
The Work Club and Insta$Crowd are for people 18 years and older. We do not knowingly process the information of anyone under 18. Insta$Crowd invitations may involve licensed venues, which is one of the reasons this limit is strict.
13. Links to other sites
The platform may link to employers' websites, venues' social pages and other outside sites. We do not control those sites and are not responsible for their privacy practices — their policies apply once you leave us.
14. Changes
If we make material changes to this policy we will post the new version here with a new date, and flag it on the site. Continued use after changes means you accept the updated policy.