Food Service

Yesterday and today, portions of the HotSchedules team took turns putting in a few hours at the Capital Area Food Bank. If you've never done it, you should. Who knew sorting cans and frozen food could be so fun? I swear I'm not being sarcastic.

Here's how it worked: Each day, twenty or so of us went down to the Food Bank and got a brief description of what we needed to do. I was part of Shift 2 (today), so I can't speak for yesterday's crew...although, I did hear that they take the no open-toed shoe policy very seriously.

Anyway, we were assigned to frozen meat. Some of us sorted it, checked it for ickiness and then sent it down a conveyor to others who sorted it by type and boxed it up. Another group palletized it, got rid of the extra boxes and threw out the meat that didn’t pass the ick factor. 

After a short break, we did a quick clean-up, then switched to frozen bread and pastries. All in all, it took us maybe 2.5 hours and we managed to process enough food to create 5,500 meals. And that was just today’s group!  Amazing!  

What’s even more amazing is how much fun you get to have with colleagues you may not interact with on a daily basis. I got to sort with three co-workers I don’t get to talk to everyday and we joked and laughed and had a blast.

So, let’s see if I can sum up the advantages to our volunteer work:

• Do something good for the local community
• Get that warm fuzzy feeling for doing something good
• Skip work for a few hours
• Hang out with fun people and have a good time

Yep, that pretty much sums it up.  If your team, group or company doesn’t volunteer at the Food Bank, they should!!

Oh, and one more thing - the Food Bank is SUPER low on food!  Even if you don’t volunteer, grab a can or two or three off your shelf, or throw a few extra in your shopping cart and donate them.  Thank you!

Hot n' Healthy!

On Tuesday, I was lucky enough to be able to attend an award ceremony where HotSchedules was honored as one of Central Texas’ Healthiest Employers by Seton and the Austin Business Journal.  The event and luncheon were hosted by Austin Mayor Lee Leffingwell, and the award was presented by Paul Carrozza, CEO/Owner of RunTex and Chair of the Mayor’s Fitness Council. 

The Healthiest Employer awards program recognizes organizations that are committed to creating a healthy workplace – and HotSchedules definitely qualifies.  For starters, there’s our annual HotFit Challenge – an employee competition that consists of cardiovascular, strength-building and weight loss contests.   Not only do winners receive great prizes, but also the longer term boost to confidence and overall fitness.

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HotSchedules bowls in prom attire for kids, community

If it seems like HotSchedules has a great corporate culture, that’s only because it does.  As evidence of that, last Friday evening, most of our executive staff and several managers attended the Trudy’s Bowl for Kids, benefiting Big Brothers and Big Sisters of Central Texas (BBBS).  And we did it in really bad 80s-ish prom attire (which looks great with bowling shoes, by the way).  

Trudy’s is the signature sponsor of the event, and is also a HotSchedules customer.  The fundraiser makes it possible for BBBS to create and nurture life-changing relationships between the children they serve and caring adult mentors.

But you be the judge.  Let me know if you think giving to a good cause has ever looked more fun than this…

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