Organization
Social Element
Social Element is a global social media agency renowned for its expertise in creating genuine human connections online. Founded by Tamara Littleton in 2002, the company offers a comprehensive range of services, including social media strategy, trendspotting, creative engagement, community-led content, and brand protection. With a diverse team of over 300 professionals worldwide, Social Element partners with leading brands across various industries, including FMCG, travel, financial services, retail, and entertainment. Committed to maintaining a small business feel, the company is known for its flexibility, friendliness, and dedication to going above and beyond for clients.
Over nearly two decades, Social Element has grown from a small team to a global powerhouse. Danielle Warren, who joined Social Element in 2006 as the 11th employee, has been instrumental in managing the company’s increasingly complex scheduling needs. Her journey at Social Element is a testament to her longevity, evolution, adaptation, and unwavering commitment to excellence in workforce management.
Location: London, United Kingdom
Industry: Social Media
Company Size: 300 Employees
Challenges
Cumbersome Spreadsheets
Initially, Social Element managed schedules with simple, color-coded spreadsheets where green meant “available” and red meant “not available.” However, as the company expanded, managing the schedules of a diverse, global workforce became significantly more complex.
GDPR Non-Compliance
The existing scheduling software was not GDPR compliant and was limited to North America, posing substantial risks for Social Element’s European operations. This was a significant challenge that Danielle realized their old system was no longer adequate to meet, particularly regarding GDPR compliance and managing a large volume of shifts efficiently.
To address these challenges, Social Element needed a new system to handle GDPR compliance and streamline the scheduling process. Their workforce included hourly workers in the US, Canada, and the UK and freelancers spread across different time zones, making manual scheduling a logistical nightmare.
Solution
Danielle embarked on a mission to find new scheduling software, turning it into a company-wide project. She combed through over 100 options, each falling short of her high standards. Only through a lucky Google search for “scheduling autofill” did Danielle discover Celayix. This discovery marked the beginning of a transformative period for Social Element, where scheduling woes were replaced with seamless operations and newfound efficiency.
Celayix provided everything Social Element needed and more. The software was GDPR compliant, a crucial feature for Social Element’s European operations, and offered advanced rule settings and an autofill feature that automated the scheduling process. This discovery didn’t just solve their immediate problems but set Social Element up for long-term success in managing their global operations.
“When Celayix showed that it had GDPR compliance, we did a demo, and I was shown all the things that can be uploaded to make it really easy to onboard and then all the rules settings as well. That’s something we didn’t have in our previous software.”
Danielle Warren, Social Element
Autofill
One of the standout features was the powerful autofill functionality. For a company like Social Element, which schedules thousands of shifts each week, the ability to automate this process was a breath of fresh air. Danielle emphasizes, “Just how many shifts we schedule using autofill, it’s amazing. Thousands of shifts that we are scheduling weekly, I can’t do that by hand.” The autofill feature not only saved countless hours but also ensured that all shifts were assigned in compliance with various rules and regulations, crucial for Social Element’s diverse workforce.
Schedule Xpress Dashboard
Transitioning from the previous software to Celayix wasn’t easy initially. Danielle explains, “It was a hard sell to get people into Celayix. They were very used to the old visual.” However, the introduction of the Schedule Xpress Dashboard marked a turning point. Danielle recalls,
I really like the Schedule Xpress Dashboard. Our previous software didn’t have dashboards; it was all manual reporting, no manual functionality at all. With Celayix…It gave me what I needed to make my life easier, and then seeing it pop into Schedule Xpress, you know that it takes me 2 seconds to pull my KPI report. And that report to me is perfect.
Danielle Warren, Social Element
This level of efficiency and ease of use was a significant improvement over their previous system.
Results
Enjoyable Experience for Schedulers
Celayix transformed Social Element’s scheduling process into a well-oiled machine, ensuring GDPR compliance and operational efficiency. The autofill feature made scheduling a joy for Danielle, turning a once-daunting task into an exciting challenge. “While doing the schedule, I’ll look at the number of hours that autofill has assigned, and it will assign and leave maybe 25% open. I see that as my challenge,” she shares. “I publish every other Wednesday. I’m always looking; I keep a note of what Celayix managed and then what I achieve because the way I achieve it I don’t need to worry about rules and stuff. I like to use my jiggery-pokery.”
Happier Employees
The system’s flexibility and ease of use significantly improved the overall employee experience, particularly for new hires. Danielle mentions, “Every new hire is happy with it and finds it easy to use.” The positive feedback from new hires, especially after a recent expansion in North America, highlighted the system’s user-friendly nature and efficiency in managing schedules.
Easier Scheduling
I would definitely give it a 10 out of 10. It’s made my job so much easier, even on publish day…The ease of use has transformed our scheduling process. The ability to pull reports quickly and efficiently has made a huge difference.
Danielle Warren, Social Element
Danielle rated Celayix a perfect 10 out of 10 for impacting her job and the scheduling process. “I would definitely give it a 10 out of 10. It’s made my job so much easier, even on publish day,” she says. The ability to pull reports quickly and efficiently was a significant improvement over the previous system. “The ease of use has transformed our scheduling process. The ability to pull reports quickly and efficiently has made a huge difference,” she notes.
Wait, there’s more!
Celayix has not only met but exceeded Danielle’s expectations, turning a once-daunting task into a seamless and even enjoyable experience. The software’s robust features, combined with excellent support from the Celayix team, have solidified its place as an indispensable tool for Social Element. Danielle highlights the exceptional support she receives, particularly from Chris, saying, “He replies really fast, he knows what the problem is, (and is) always ready to help.”
Danielle’s proactive approach to providing feedback to Celayix has contributed to ongoing improvements, ensuring that any issues or suggestions are promptly addressed and making the scheduling process smoother for everyone at Social Element.
“I’ve created a dummy’s guide so that if I end up taking the week off on publish week, anyone could really go in and do some quick schedule publishing and not be confused by it because it is so straightforward,” she states, showcasing Celayix’s intuitive design and its ability to empower users.
Danielle was convinced after a demo—why not try one too and see the magic for yourself?
