2001 Employment Office Report

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We Fest Employment Report
Having Fun in 2001
August 22, 2001

Over all Report

With many hurdles to overcome, the employment office personnel encountered new challenges and obstacles but we able to surmount them all. Among others things, these relatively major things happened this year:

In the short amount of time we had to get the jobs done for Spirit Fest and We Fest, we had to hire two extra personnel. The extra computer was brought in to help us do to data entry. This was great. However, with almost three weeks into June, and we were given a budget to follow, stress started to creep up on us. So, Bill Dale, Web Designer, was asked to come aboard, to help put a budget together for us. He will be providing the statistics. Barb Nordine, data entry personnel staff, worked on data entries of Spirit Fest and We Fest employees and volunteers. She also helped in answering the phones. Sue and Beth worked on contacting and signing the hired staff. Bill and Barb have never worked in our office before. Bill (Hilltop Camping Manager) and Barb (Night and After Fest Cleanup Manager) worked in these other areas. We were very happy with the results of these two individuals. They worked very hard and were willing to stay late to help get the job done. Overall, as far as dedication and meeting the challenges we were up against, our office worked efficiently and came together with team spirit to provide as best we could, an employment office that was positive, caring, look out for the best interest of the company and the employees we hired for the company, but most of all got the job done.

We sometimes questioned ourselves as to if we had enough people hired for the events. Following a budget did give us a point as to where to start and stop hiring. Due to no shows, the people that would get fired, and the people who showed up for one day and leave, we did try to build in a few extra people.

Importantly, communication and appreciation amongst all colleagues, Accountant, Ticket office, Ranch House office, Maintenance, were one of our top priorities. Not to mention, the Managers and Supervisors of the different areas (Camping, Parking ect….) Without communication and appreciation of each individual and each department, we would feel like we had not done our job.

We are very pleased with the changes we’ve made in our office and we’ll continue to make positive changes and more progress to help the festivals run more smoothly.

Camping

The camping area came within 5% of their budget. The camping supervisors are in favor of working 12 hour shifts. This would keep camping staff on the same schedule as camping managers. Also, they would like to have a camping cashier manager be one of the four camping managers that are normally hired. Their responsibility would be that of taking care of the front entrance to the campground, assist with the running of the camping cashier booth, wristbands and any other ticket related item. They would work closely with Kathy Haley’s Ticket office. Referring to the supervisors camping report: they have a list of campground vehicle needs, especially golf carts with lights on them for night time driving and how many vehicles needed per campground.

We would like to see an employee specified campground next year. We prefer not shuttling, but if this may be the case, we need our own driver with a radio. The last time we did this, it was a disaster. The traffic was awful and it took too long for the employees to get here. The difference would be the time the concert starts and ends. If we know this ahead of time, it could be beneficial. This may cut down on the number of employees who get away with all of the stuff given to them. The employees received T-shirts, camping, wristbands, and guest tickets. The problem is because they can stay anywhere in the campground, we can’t find them. So, we can’t cut their wristbands or kick them out. The only employees who need to stay in each of the campgrounds would be the ones that work there. However, if we communicated to the managers to keep track of the employees and where they camp, we could possibly work on this problem. We need to let the managers know to contact us right away when someone doesn’t show up.

Due to the different size campgrounds, next years budget on hiring employees for the campgrounds will go according to the size and need of employees in the campgrounds. For example, Hilltop may not need any staff to start except for one day manager until Thursday afternoon, but Viking would need a full staff Wednesday afternoon. Also, a camping cashier person would start in VIP campground on Sunday evening.

Last but not least, we should have four total managers in each campground. Three of the managers would be hired to take care of the patrons and manage the grounds, along with staggering their hours. One camping cashier manager should work from 6:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. The second manager would start at 6:00 p.m. at night and go until 6:00 a.m. in the morning. A third manager would be hired to be coming in at 2:00 p.m. to 2:00 a.m. The rovers who were hire this year worked out great for the troubled areas. We need more of them. We would like to hire eight to ten more rovers to go into any campgrounds during the fest to assist with running, sighting vehicles, anything and everything. The camping staff, who have been working here a number of years should get an increase of pay. This should be discussed for next year. This would include rovers.

For all the campgrounds, there should be more orange vest. It seem to work much better to drop off the camping employee permit to each of the different campgrounds they were staying at.

Beer

The swing shift that was added to the beer booths this year was really needed and it was successful according to the beer supervisors. It was a 3:00 pm – 10:00 pm shift at a $90.00 total wage.

The beer supervisor’s staff who come back year after year and have camping available for them were unaware of the camping policy. I’m not sure if the supervisors received a letter on this policy of the camping permission letter. If so, they didn’t follow through.

Parking

The parking area was an area of need this year. Some of the employees that we hired didn’t show up. He was very short. We ended up borrowing employees from camping and sanitation. Both camping and sanitation were helpful. We may need to work on getting and or paying higher wages for this area. Let’s follow up on this next year.

Sanitation

Sanitation seemed to work okay with less people. At times when the parking staff got low, we requested from Shirley, Sanitation Manager, to let parking have a couple of her people. She was okay with this and the jobs seemed to get done without any hassles. One thing that I would recommend for Shirley is to do next year, would be to cover up all the toilets and sinks in the bathrooms with garbage bags. After that last storm, the bathrooms didn’t even looked like they were cleaned. There was debris all over. The birds are moving back in. I would think that next year if the bathrooms were covered, it wouldn’t be such a big job for pre-clean-up. We could possibly save a little money here.

Gates

The gates seem go okay. Steve Bachman had some of his friends come and work. The ticket office would like the Gates to be under their umbrella. This would have to be discussed a little more next year if not this year. We need to be clear on who does what by the gates. Wristband exchange, stamping, ect….

Ticket Office

We worked very close with the ticket office to meet all of their needs. For the most part, we feel we accomplished most of their needs. We need to discuss employee camping as far as what goes in the packets and if our office should take care of this since we have all the information. We are very pleased that the ticket office and all other departments are willing to work with us. It’s nice to know when were all on the same page.

Ranch House

The Ranch House was very accommodating. We feel that for the most part we were on the same page. Some of the stuff got to be confusing as far as the guest ticket and what we were going to do with that. I’m thinking next year, is it possible for a secretary to take notes during the meetings. Maybe, if we get on the internet, we could keep our meeting notes there.

Employment Dream List

If we could update the two computers in our office with the internet and multi-user capabilities, we would have a more efficient system to work with for all the people who use it. Also, we need to speed up the computers. They seem too slow. This includes the printer.

We would like to make some physical changes in our office to streamline the extra people we have in our office. An area for the budget person, this could be shared with the accountant who provided us with the numbers we needed to work with and help us learn how to work with the new software program. We also need areas for the data entry person and the two managers. We are in need of redesigning. We spend a lot of time here day and night. Making it more comfortable and flexible for our office would be great.

In the back of our building we believe we could add an additional room. We have many possibilities for this office. We would like to get together and discuss the possibilities for the employment booth.

If we were to add a campground space for the employees, would it be possible to provide a big tent ---like the national guard provided for us. This helped provide shade for the employees. However, after each storm the tent blew down. So, I’m not sure if this will work or not. Also, if at all possible, is there a way to offer coffee, juice, donuts for the employees. Maybe, we could offer some discount tickets or make arrangements with a donut shop. We were not given any tickets at all for the employees.

Tentative Employment Changes for 2002

We would like to spend more time on management improvements for the different areas. So, one change that we would like to make is to send the employees straight to their area of work. So the only way the employees could receive their stuff and make it to their destination of work, they would have to go to that area. This would free us up to follow-up on no shows and replacements.

It would be interesting to know if the guest ticket added more $ or was it a hindrance. This must be discussed before next year’s event.

We have discussed with Bob Bliss about on doing the hiring for Spirit Fest. We would like to discuss this involvement for hiring for Spirit Fest. We asked pastor Bob to put together an outline as to what exactly we are to know. The added responsibilities need to be inquired about in detail and how long does this all consume. The main thing is for our office to be prepared. We deal with a lot of people over the phone for We Fest. We need to know the specifics. If we were to do this, our approach to the different events will change as far as keeping track of the employees.

One huge goal that we would like to see is to have our bible (master list of employees) put on the computer. We would like to see the different employees quickly and to keep track on how many employees we hired and where we hired them. We would save so much paper work and time. But, at the same time, building this program would take some time. We want to stay in line with the accountant as far as doing the payroll. So, if we can continue putting our heads together maybe we can come up with a program that will work for all. With our other duties during the school year, we don’t have the time or knowledge to work on this project. But, we are willing to meet and discuss what we need.

We would like to hear of any response about this report and how we can better assist you.

Thanks for letting us meet the challenges and provide the best job we could do.

Sincerely,

Sue Holt, Beth Hagedorn
Employment



-- Anonymous, April 07, 2002


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