StarPark: 45% growth without extra personnel

About StarsFamily

StarsFamily is a family of companies, bringing together StarPark, StarClean, and StarSecure. All three currently use clevergig as their scheduling and time-tracking system. StarPark originated as a service organization for events and festivals, specifically aimed at managing visitor flows and handling everything related to parking and transportation. Infrastructure quickly became part of their services because with the same personnel (especially traffic controllers) working at events, they could also manage infrastructure projects safely. During the COVID-19 pandemic, civil engineering continued, and employees were deployed at Dutch vaccination providers test sites. This industry then quickly became their sole source of income. During the same period, StarClean was also established because Thijs, the director of StarPark, noticed a growing need for hygiene in workplaces.

Their focus now lies on package deals: if companies request traffic controllers, StarPark also offers them object security and cleaning services. This works both ways. The total flex pool at StarsFamily consists of 100 people, with 50 working daily at peak times. The company operates mainly in central Netherlands but occasionally ventures into other parts of the country. We visited them to interview Ivo Eenkhoorn, Sales Manager, and David Rijkeboer, Head of Planning at StarPark, about their company's growth and how they use clevergig as a tool for daily growth opportunities.

Planning with clevergig

Like most intermediary agencies, StarPark initially used Excel for staff scheduling and time tracking. They soon realized that as the company grew, more needed to be managed, and they were looking for something to make scheduling easier. This led them to a provider of Flex scheduling software, but after a while, it turned out not to be a good fit. Ivo explains: "They didn't grow with us as fast as we wanted. You could schedule someone, but you didn't know exactly what they could do. You had to remember how many hours they wanted to work and other important details yourself. The other package was mainly focused on scheduling internal staff, often at one location. We had different visions and couldn't reconcile. You couldn't create roles in the other software, and that's essential for us. We attach a certain rate to a role, so that 'role' is very important."

StarPark is a growing company, and to accommodate this growth without further expanding operational support, a new scheduling package was necessary. They looked for something else by approaching colleague companies and asking them what program they used for time tracking and planning. That's how they found clevergig via ABR three and a half years ago. Clevergig's software closely matched what they were looking for: the most user-friendly scheduling and time-tracking system for employees. Ivo says that it "worked easily and was childishly simple for the employees." StarPark doesn't see asking for help from colleague companies as competition: "Actually, we have no competition. Everyone has their own strengths, and we all help each other. You really need each other. There are only a few traffic controllers in the Netherlands, there is a considerable shortage. You really have to work together; otherwise, it's impossible."

Transition to clevergig

Switching to clevergig was relatively easy for StarPark. Initially, it was busy for employees to transfer all the data, but with a data dump, everything was quickly transferred. Many clients remained the same; only the jobs had to be re-entered. This was an advantage. All planned and executed assignments at StarPark eventually end up in clevergig, and because they do time registration from the app, they can export to AFAS for payroll.

Ivo explains that they were afraid it might be a bit more difficult with the mobile app: "We actually thought it would be a disaster with the mobile app. Our oldest employee is 70. You have to install that app, then log in and create a password. But out of 50 employees, it only went wrong once, and even then, it was quite easy to fix. We had made ourselves more fearful than necessary. With all the new applicants I have now, I have never had any problems. They just sometimes ask what their password is."

Experience with clevergig

We asked David, who started using clevergig immediately in his work, what he thought of clevergig. He shares his experience with us: "I thought clevergig was very user-friendly. Even when you open it as an employee. The tabs with 'open', 'confirmed', and 'completed' are very easy to work with. With that cross and checkmark, it couldn't be simpler."

Furthermore, clevergig has brought peace to StarsFamily. Planning became much faster and led to significant growth. Ivo says: "We started doing many more services with the same people. In recent years, we have really increased by 45%. We just didn't quite double in those four years. I think if we could recruit more workers, we could easily handle another 2000 hours. If we could recruit people, we could easily do 5000 hours per week with clevergig." The company has been able to grow and save a lot of costs by not having to hire new people.

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