Many UK theatres rely on the support of volunteers to operate. Theatres from Shakespeare’s Globe, to Manchester’s Royal Exchange, to Bury St Edmunds’ Theatre Royal, to local community venues all use volunteers run their box office, provide admin support and steward patrons during performances.
Volunteer coordinators who often manage hundreds of volunteers performing different functions have a difficult task on their hands. But using a smart rota management system can simplify the process, reduce admin time, and improve the volunteering experience. Our customers also tell us that they are seeing volunteers giving more of their time. This is because when you make life more convenient for your volunteers it encourages them to do more!
RotaCentral saves time for volunteer coordinators
Many volunteer coordinators implement rota management software to save them time but soon learn that saving time is not the only benefit.
Here we share some of the top reasons why theatres should, and do, use RotaCentral’s rota management software.
Time-saving
The Acorn Theatre, a performing arts venue in Cornwall, enjoys using RotaCentral and uses it to manage their 55 volunteers. It saves them hours of admin time every week.
“RotaCentral has streamlined our volunteers’ roles, giving them 24/7 access to choose their shifts. We were previously using excel, sending out the sheet twice a week, updating every-time an email came in which was very time consuming for us.”
Read about how RotaCentral has transformed The Acorn Theatre’s volunteer management system here.
Flexible
With theatre performances showing on evenings and weekends, even the most dedicated volunteer will often be unavailable to work regular shifts. But with RotaCentral, volunteer managers can choose between a variety of shift filling methods including allocation, offering a blank rota to allow sign-ups, and a mix of both.
Tracking
Keeping track of volunteers is another function RotaCentral helps with. A simple and efficient dashboard instantly shows you who is working when and where there are gaps in your rota or shifts that need your attention. You can also receive notifications to tell you when shifts have been confirmed, swapped or cancelled. The ability to keep track of all this data in the platform means no more lost emails, no more out of date spreadsheets, and no more mistakes.
Automation
One of the features theatre volunteer coordinators love most about RotaCentral is the ability to schedule actions to happen automatically. Emails, texts and reminders can be sent out automatically and you can even use an allocation tool with fairness algorithm to fill your rota without you having to lift a finger!
Theatre volunteers love how easy RotaCentral is to use
For theatre volunteers, RotaCentral’s rota management software gives them a flexible, easy to use platform to manage their volunteer commitment without stress.
Interactive
The Subscription Rooms, an arts & community venue in Gloucestershire, loves the ‘live’ and interactive nature of the RotaCentral system and the ease with which they can keep track of upcoming and past shift records. Their volunteers love it too, and regularly feedback to their volunteer coordinator how positive they feel about their volunteer experience.
“Our volunteers have been hugely positive about the system and often give me feedback about how easy and straightforward it is to sign up and keep track of their volunteering. It has contributed to volunteers feeling and expressing that their volunteer experience with us is a very positive one.”
Read more about The Subscription Rooms’ experience of using RotaCentral here.
Communication
RotaCentral allows volunteers to keep all communication related to their volunteering role in one place. Compatible with desktop, mobile and tablet, volunteers can receive emails or texts to remind them of upcoming shifts, see shifts that have availability, and read messages from their volunteer coordinator.
Ease of use
Key to many of the volunteers we speak to is being able to swap, cancel, or change shifts to fit them around their busy lives. RotaCentral allows volunteers to do all this within the platform and without the need to send emails or contact their volunteer coordinator. Volunteers can also update the system with holiday dates and times when they are unavailable. Even those less technologically capable find RotaCentral simple to use and easy to get to grips with.
Discover how RotaCentral can improve your theatre’s volunteer management and schedule a demo.
