Customer spotlight: how a bouldering co-op runs 40 volunteer shifts a week

Every few weeks we ask one of our customers to tell us how they actually use Tidewell, warts and all. This month it's a member-owned bouldering co-op in Sheffield with about 600 members, one paid manager and a lot of volunteers.

The problem

Before Tidewell, the co-op ran its front-desk shifts from a shared spreadsheet. People swapped shifts in a group chat, nobody updated the sheet, and twice a month the doors opened late because the person on the rota had swapped with someone who didn't know.

What they set up

• Recurring desk shifts, two volunteers each, posted four weeks ahead
• Shift swaps inside the app, so the rota updates itself
• A reminder the evening before and again two hours before opening
• A short induction volunteers complete before their first shift

Their manager told us the swap button did more than any other change. Volunteers still trade shifts as often as before. The difference is that the rota now knows about it.

What they would change

They asked for a way to mark a shift as needing a key holder, so a shift can't be left with two volunteers who can't lock up. That request is now on the roadmap thread in the Tidewell Customer Community, and you can add your vote there.