With the official start of summer just a few weeks away, the unofficial summer kickoff has arrived with Memorial Day around the corner and the start of festival season.  Here at Shiftboard we are lucky to work with some of the best festivals around the world to schedule thousands of volunteers.  The 36^th annual Seattle International Film Festival (SIFF) got under way on May 20^th, with a spectacular opening night and Seattle’s best and brightest in attendance.  Almost 5,000 volunteers have signed up to work on SIFF’s Shiftboard website, and the pay off will be well worth it as the festival continues to grow successfully from year to year.  As far as scheduling software goes, Shiftboard has proven to be as diverse in its uses as its users.  From the San Francisco International Jewish Film Festival, to the Devon County Fair in Pennsylvania,   to the FIFA International Fan Fest in Sydney, Australia.  We have a lot going on here at Shiftboard, and I look forward to posting more events as they happen!

-Nahid

Nearly all managers agree that referrals are the best and most effective way to recruit your workforce.  Generally, a lead referred from Jim, whose wife walks with Karen, who works for Kim, turns out to be a much better lead than a newspaper listing or online job post.  Utilizing the referral tools within Shiftboard will increase the quality of employees or volunteers you recruit and decrease the headache associated with these tasks.

How do Referrals work?

Shiftboard users can send a referral and personal message via email to anybody who may be interested in your organization. The potential candidate receives an email invitation and personal message from their inside contact.  Using Shiftboard, an interested recipient can click on the link provided to register and/or apply.  A huge bonus for managers is the ability to track and view all past and current referrals.  Managers can see which employees and volunteers are advocates for their organization and also track which referrals have been “redeemed” or have produced actual registrations.

Who uses Referrals?

•  Employee attrition at call centers is often high.  Many of our customers utilize Shiftboard not only for call center scheduling but also for the constant ability to network, attract, and grow workforces 24/7.

•  Event scheduling often requires hundreds and even thousands of workers.  Tracking the number of referrals submitted allows managers to provide incentives and reward employees accordingly.

•  Volunteer scheduling ranks top among market segments using Shiftboard’s referral tools.  The power of volunteers mass messaging and inviting their friends and family members to volunteer with them is significant.  Managers are able to sit back, relax, and watch their most enthusiastic volunteers advocate, recruit and build their organization’s volunteer database.

Get Started!

If you’re a current Shiftboard customer and have not been using Referrals it’s time to start! The process is very simple and already built into your current site.  Contact your account representative today with any questions.

-Alison J.

Thanks to TMCNet Healthcare Technology for including us with news about Beaumont Hospital and how it solves online scheduling for 1,500 individuals with Shiftboard.  If you are researching the healthcare technology world, TMCNet is a great first stop. “Shiftboard has been instrumental in standardizing the scheduling of over 1,500 volunteers placed at multi-sites. Recruiting and onboarding volunteers has been simplified for everyone involved. We have been able to increase our abilities to clearly manage over 135 projects. This includes documentation of 80 different items for each volunteer from references to performance notes,” said Keya Williams, Program Coordinator at Beaumont Hospitals.

Click here for Employee Scheduling case studies  covering nonprofit organizations and for-profit companies.

Links in this post:

http://healthcare.tmcnet.com/news/2009/05/13/4177167.htm

http://www.shiftboard.com/web-based-scheduling-case-studies.html

It is September and I don’t need my calendar to tell me that. I know it is September because of all the frantic calls I’ve been receiving from schools, PTA (parent teacher association) members and booster clubs.  School is in full swing and for involved parents this means schedules are completely packed. Parents who volunteer at school functions don’t generally have time to worry about details. They want to help and be involved, but the process must be very easy and stress free.  Shiftboard also understands volunteer scheduling needs to be affordable.

Different volunteer programs call for robust scheduling tools

Shiftboard allows you to create teams of different volunteers specific for your school. Tracking hours volunteered for the football or soccer seasons at both the ticket booth & concession stands is simple. Teachers can post a need for items like baked cookies for parties or parent drivers for a field trip. Teachers can easily track when parents are helping in the classroom or lunchroom. Email notifications and text messages serve as great reminders for parents with complicated schedules.

Parents login from any computer with their email address and password. Open shifts are Red and their assigned shifts are Green. Parents can schedule themselves based on friends’ schedules or system managers can keep all this information confidential. Everything is real time and always up to date. The parents I’ve spoken with are all very fun people. They want to help and know the best way to encourage and grow their volunteers is to communicate with an online schedule.

My favorite PTA mom asked if she could please buy stock in our company. She is absolutely thrilled with our messaging tools and confident she will be getting her 8 hours of sleep instead of 8 hours of cell time trying to communicate with parents.

-Alison J.

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Here is one Volunteer Scheduling case study involving youth. The main case study page showcases many web-based scheduling examples.

http://www.shiftboard.com