Case Study: Spark Event Group - Powering the workforce at The Australian Open

Spark Event Group is the leading supplier of event workforce solutions in Australia. Combining event management, operations and event workforce, Spark services over 1,000 events per year including The Australian Open, The Formula 1 Australian Grand Prix, The Sydney Royal Easter Show and The Taylor Swift Eras Tour just to name a few.

With 5,000 paid staff on their database, Spark utilises Rosterfy to recruit, screen, schedule and payroll their extensive workforce requirements. 

Servicing Australia’s biggest events

With roles ranging from activation staff for sporting events, operational staff for bump in and out to food and beverage assistants at music festivals and guest services at some of Australia’s landmark events, Spark have one of the most extensive scheduling demands of any Rosterfy client. 

For The Australian Open alone, Spark’s workforce program, powered by Rosterfy, delivered:

• 4,386 shifts completed
• 593 casual staff scheduled
• More than 30,000 attended hours
• 98.91% attendance rate throughout the entire tournament

Harnessing Checkpoints to Automate Workflows

Taking place over two weeks in January, The Australian Open had significant workforce requirements with Spark providing casual staff for over 350 shifts each day throughout the tournament. 

For the first time this year, Spark utilised Rosterfy’s checkpoints functionality to help automatically progress staff through unique workflows - tailored to specific roles. From the initial expression of interest page through to interviews, screening and training, Rosterfy was used as the end to end solution for Spark’s workforce management. 

Checkpoints included:

• Expression of interest form completed
• Interview completed
  • Online - Microsoft Teams via Rosterfy
  • In Person - Shifts available via Rosterfy with interviews conducted onsite
• Request for further information upon successful application
  • Emergency contacts
  • Signed contract
  • Payroll details 
• Shift offer
• Shift confirmation

Screening, Interviews and Training

With events like the Australian Open garnering a huge level of interest from an application standpoint, having a system in place to remove the administrative burden of screening over 1000 applicants was necessary to ensure thorough due diligence in the form of screening.

Mick Battista, Workforce Director, Partnerships and Delivery said, “Rosterfy’s integrations with systems like Microsoft Teams were incredibly useful for our screening processes. Having a single source of truth for staff to access interviews but also for us as administrators to access recordings, interview notes and their credentials made it so much more streamlined and efficient when it came to screening and scheduling.”

“Looking ahead to the future, we’re excited to start using Rosterfy’s ‘availability’ feature, which will help to streamline and automate this process even more,” he continued.

For their major events, Spark also uses Rosterfy to help train their workforce. With training conducted in person, the team creates training shifts within Rosterfy, which helps them to manage who has and hasn’t attended, with checkpoints in place to progress staff based on whether or not training has been completed. 

Managing Last Minute Requests - 98.91% Attendance Rate

Thanks to Rosterfy, Spark Event Group now has a system in place to accommodate last minute requests that isn’t administrative heavy. For the Australian Open, Spark invited staff to register their interest for any ‘last minute’ shifts that became available, which helped to ensure a 98.91% attendance rate across 4,386 shifts. 

“It is not uncommon for staffing requests to fluctuate so having the ability to be flexible and adapt to changing requirements is really important for us. Since receiving the initial roster for the Australian Open an extra 504 shifts were added throughout the tournament but thanks to Rosterfy we were able to lean on our database and send out emails and SMS directly via Rosterfy to ensure shifts were filled and our target attendance rate was achieved,” said Battisa. 

“That single source of truth from a communications perspective is something we really love and haven’t seen with other systems. With different administrators onsite each day, being able to see what messages have gone out and who has replied without having to speak directly to one another is a game changer for maximum efficiency,” continued Battisa. 

Timesheets and Payroll

Rosterfy was also used by Spark to help manage timesheets and payroll for their casual staff. For the Australian Open, all staff were required to check in and out for their shift via Rosterfy, ensuring a central record for timesheets for both administrators and staff alike. 

At the conclusion of each day, timesheet reports were shared with the client and pending approval this data was then used to payroll staff and invoice the client throughout the tournament.

“Having the ability to check in and out staff via Rosterfy and have a centralised record to the minute of when a staff member checked in and out has made timesheets and payroll so much easier. We don’t have to pull reports and drop it into another system - Rosterfy does it all which is great!” Battisa added. 

Comprehensive Reporting to Drive Efficiency

As is the nature of major events, often things continue to change right up until the last minute. Thanks to Rosterfy, Spark can pull extensive reports with filters layered on filters to ensure detailed and comprehensive reporting.

Thanks to the ‘bulk update’ functionality these filtered lists can then be used to make changes in bulk rather than doing so one by one. 

“By far my favorite feature is the ability to filter comprehensively and then bulk update. If the time of a shift changes I can pull a report and update this change for everyone rostered on. I can then send an email or SMS to everyone registered to ensure no one misses the change. It’s simple things like this that are complicated but a no-brainer when it comes to workforce management that makes Rosterfy a dream to use.” Battisa concluded. 

About Rosterfy

Rosterfy is used by nonprofits, charities, sporting federations, local governments, and more to better manage their volunteer programs by improving how they can recruit, screen, train, and retain volunteers.

Our market leading technology helps you create an engaging experience throughout the whole lifecycle of your volunteer journey.

Book a call today.

About Spark Event Group

Trusted and proven, Spark is the one-stop shop with wide-reaching event expertise.

Spark combines event management services on every scale, with event workforce solutions for events in all shapes and sizes. 

https://sparkeventgroup.com/