Organizing events involves various parts that might be tough to follow up with, including event staffing. For many event organizers, this might be a daunting task. Such a large crowd! So many responsibilities! Such disparities in availability! Besides, it is obvious that to provide a memorable experience for all involved, every event needs to assign the right people in the correct roles. In the old days, a spreadsheet was a preferable choice for event organizers to manage databases of staff and events. However, as time passes out, the world has changed a lot with the appearance of many advanced technologies. This can offer many more effective ways to schedule your event staff. In today’s article, let’s find out what they are!
Why Do Spreadsheets Need To Be Replaced when scheduling event staff?
Spreadsheets are quite useful for a variety of tasks. They are a great assistant in storing, archiving and calculating data when working with numbers. However, planning and scheduling event staff is quite another story. This process is extremely complicated with many diverse factors to keep track of. So, here are some of the reasons why spreadsheets are inefficient in event staffing these days.
Scheduling Event Staff is Time-consuming
This is essentially the greatest issue with utilizing spreadsheets to schedule event staff — it takes too long! Shifts are rarely fixed and there may be many changes throughout the lead-up to the event. As a result, managers have to continuously update their spreadsheets and provide new ones to their employees. Making schedules is all about saving time and avoiding misunderstanding. However, spreadsheet scheduling can have the opposite effect on occasion.
Lack Of Automation
Spreadsheets are ideal for calculating data because they allow you to insert formulas that execute computations for you automatically. There are no algorithms, however, that can handle the complexities of event staff scheduling. Besides, everything has to be input manually in spreadsheets, which slows down the process and doesn’t make your job any easier.
Error-Prone
Human mistakes are unavoidable when using spreadsheets for the event staffing process. You must manually enter everything and regularly update your spreadsheets. This can increase the chances of making an error. Moreover, finding the problem can be even more difficult when your spreadsheet has a lot of data and formulas.
Lack Of Intuitivity
In case of shift conflicts, spreadsheets can not inform you. If you have an available shift that you haven’t assigned to someone, they won’t tell you. They can’t assist you with planning staff for events because there’s no way to make your spreadsheets more dynamic and proactive.
Manually Scheduling Event Staff
In event staffing, the connection between managers and their staff is vital. However, manual planning of an event can result in communication problems. Scheduling staff events manually means that if there are any sudden changes in the shifts of employees, managers will have to update it on spreadsheets and then contact directly to inform them. This will be time-consuming and even inefficient for several reasons:
- Phone-tag: It is obvious that nowadays, the development of technology delivers many useful contacting types. However, phone tag is still inevitable. In case there is any shift conflict but you lose contact with the people in charge, this can lead to havoc in the workplace. The ambiguity of the circumstance can cause unwarranted concern about staff coverage. It might be aggravating not knowing whether you will have enough coverage for your next shift.
- Slow staff responses: It is obvious that the staff is not always available for every unpredictability of shifts or last-minute changes. For some reason, they can reply to your call or messages late. This will affect many following processes and even many other employees. Moreover, it can exert negative influences on the events as the confusion among staff can cause a shortage of employees needed.
How To Manage The Event Staff Scheduling Process Effectively
To deal with all these problems, there are many great ways for your company to control the event staffing process. And in this article, let us show you the three best options for managing your event staff:
Hiring Event Staff
The event’s crew has an impact on the overall experience. It may sound like a relief, but selecting the ideal staff isn’t as simple as you might think, especially when the team you’re banking on fails to match your expectations. So, before you recruit workers for your next event, consider these important considerations.
- Make a thorough description of the position: Make sure not to miss any crucial requirements when drafting your event. Do not forget to mention the event description in your post. This will help the candidate visualize their tasks and know if they are suitable for the position or not.
- Do not forget a face-to-face interview: Never underestimate the value of a phone call or an in-person interview. Someone who appears excellent on paper may not have the enthusiasm you require for your event.
- Create a nondisclosure agreement if necessary: If your event or business involves secret information, a nondisclosure agreement is necessary. It prevents sensitive information from leaking, and potential employees will understand that your company’s privacy is paramount.
- Asking others for referral: Inquire about positive experiences and individual staff members who contributed to the success of the event. Referrals are often the greatest method to locate exceptional employees.
- Overstaffing is preferable to understaffing: Consider how many employees you’ll need if everything goes as planned, and then hire more. If a situation emerges that surprises you, you won’t be taken off guard, allowing you to focus on more crucial details.
- Before the event begins, form a huddle: gather everyone to go over the agenda, expectations, and how to respond in the event of an emergency. Your team must be on the same page as you, especially when your focus will vary from item to item during the day.
- Be courteous and kind: You may be stressed, but don’t vent your frustrations on your team—they are there to assist, not to impede. Once the event is over, send timely thank you notes to your team for their contributions to the success of the event..
Outsourcing To An Event Staff Company
Allowing a third party to organize an event might be a good choice for companies. However, whether or not to outsource event planning is determined by the event’s scale and complexity, as well as the company’s capacity to manage and execute the event successfully from start to finish. But here are some benefits of outsourcing an event:
- Access hidden resources: Event management companies have broad networks and may open doors that no one else can. This provides exclusive access to private venues, clubs, and vacation spots.
- Time is money: Businesses can save time on research, negotiation, and creative planning by hiring an events company. The company’s key personnel can then concentrate on providing high-quality material and other essential activities for event participants.
- Purchase in bulk and get a discount: Companies who are new to event planning are less likely to secure volume buying discounts than service providers who have been doing it for years. Volume purchasing enables them to purchase materials at considerably reduced prices, allowing their clients to save money and meet budget line items.
- Improved objectivity: An outside expert can help separate the wheat from the chaff when it comes to creative ideas. A third-party event planner can make cost-effective suggestions for theme, décor, materials, and supplies.
Using Event Staff Scheduling Software
A staff scheduling software, such as WhenIwork.com or an event staff app like Quickstaff – which is specifically built for event staff scheduling may be a good solution for growing caterers and event staffing agencies to schedule and communicate with on-demand/temporary staff efficiently. Let’s take a look at how the system may help your event staffing agency to manage the event staffing process better:
- Streamline Operations: Managing schedule adjustments and communicating with your employees is a daily operational problem. Automation of scheduling makes it easier to manage change and interact with employees, limiting the labor shortage and confusion among staff if there are any suđen changes in shifts.
- Time-saving: By automating all operations, the software will help you save time. The program allows you to streamline all procedures for swift and seamless execution, from registration tracking and reservations to payment processing and follow-up emails.
- Money-saving: With simple and user-friendly dashboards and reporting that allows you to visualize your spending and compare it to event budgets, the solution allows you to track your spending and compare it to event budgets to guarantee you get the most out of your event.
- Workforce flexibility: Use a central database to track employee preferences, overtime status, scheduling flexibility, and credentials to find chances to relocate qualified. It’s a good way to swiftly cover shifts amid a labour shortage or backfill shifts when usually scheduled personnel cancel at the last minute.
Quick staff is a simple and intuitive scheduling system that allows you to make extensive notes about events such as location, clients, special instructions, and dress codes. This ensures that every member of the team is aware of the event’s expectations.
The option to assign people to a role such as a server or a photographer is really convenient and efficient. This will eliminate the need to look for someone and double-check whether you have someone scheduled for a given task.
You can also create a waitlist of employees in the case that someone is unavailable. Not only will you be able to know who is available, but your employees will be able to mark out hours that they are unavailable, saving you time when scheduling them.
In the modern-day, managing staff event scheduling manually via a spreadsheet is no longer suitable because of all the drawbacks mentioned above. But do not worry! With the growth of the market and the technology, there are many other options to replace the traditional ones. Depending on the requirements of your company, you can choose the most suitable solution for you and your team. However, no matter which one you choose, implement the chosen option and see how much easier life becomes!
