Do you know the Fata Morgana in the Efteling? The Hello Carwash washing party is almost indistinguishable from this. The first branch is a great success. The peak rush during the frost period last year resulted in a boost of customers, who keep coming back. It's therefore not without reason that the flexpool has expanded considerably in numbers of FreeFlexers, who are only too happy to take on another shift at this client.
I spoke to Marc Verhees, manager at Hello Carwash. He makes sure the whole business keeps running.
The Rolls Royce of the car wash
Marc: "Hello Carwash stands for service and quality, that's it. Quality, because the most advanced techniques are used in the carwash. And service, because we want to give our customers the feeling of hospitality they know from hotels and restaurants."
The washing experience is also an important part of this, where the 60-metre long car wash is almost indistinguishable from an attraction in the Efteling. When you come out of the carwash, the helpers are already there to make your car spick and span from the inside as well. In the meantime, you can drink a cup of coffee in the Hello Carwash café.
Where people are number one
On average, a person washes his car eight times a year, leaving aside the fanatics. Especially with the frost period, Marc saw a whole load of new people. "This frost period has provided a boost in the number of customers, even now that the sun is shining again."
Besides the fact that they want to give every customer the same service, staff is also an important spearhead at Hello Carwash. Where they first aimed for 300 washes in nice weather, they now do 500. We have a very close team, which we are very happy with and can build on. Of course you want to be able to handle the pressure, but the staff always come first."
Helped out during the mega rush
The doubling in the number of washes also creates a staff scheduling challenge. Marc and colleagues initially looked at an internal flexpool. This proved difficult, so they arranged it externally. And this works out well. Marc: "Whereas FreeFlexers who do additional work via Temper's platform were initially deployed to fill the few empty gaps in personnel planning, they suddenly became a lot of gaps. So we really need them.
Now, if we see that the weather is going to be beautiful for a week, we add two extra shifts a day as standard through the Temper platform."
The planning - easy and self-organised
Marc raves about the user-friendliness of the platform. "You can arrange everything around FreeFlexers' planning easily and yourself. The flexpool is of course also ideal in this regard." A flexpool is a group of FreeFlexers who perform well on a specific job.
Marc: "You enter into an agreement with a FreeFlexer, as it were. They know what is expected. And the other way round too, because we can choose the right person for the profile we are looking for.
FreeFlexers really do it for themselves - you can tell the difference
Marc clearly notices that FreeFlexers work for themselves. "They have their own name to uphold. A FreeFlexer chooses very consciously to take a particular shift and come to work for us. This is reflected in the results and motivation on the floor."
Is the staff planning situation familiar to you? And would you also like to have a motivated on-demand flexible workforce? Read here more.
