SLIVERS OF TIME - WHAT'S IN A NAME?
September 1, 2008 Posted by Stephen Hilton in : Bristol, Bristol City Council, South Bristol, jobs, Guest Bloggers, Business, humanising the council , trackback
I am Stephen Hewitt, Bristol City Council’s Slivers-of-Time Co-ordinator.
As you may know ‘Slivers-of-Time‘ is a Government backed initiative to help tackle worklessness, improve local services and develop skills. Slivers-of-Time IT already operates in a number of places - East London, Hammersmith and Fulham, Leeds and Liverpool.
It is a virtual employment agency that brings together casual workers (sellers of time) and employers (buyers of time) through a web-based system. It offers a radical new employment model to those who have limited or irregular work availability and therefore find it difficult to gain access to employment through the usual means. It allows them to balance family and caring responsibilities, study commitments and health issues with part-time work commitments. For employers, it allows them to use the Slivers-of-Time to more efficiently meet their business needs by employing temporary/casual staff just when they need them, and at short notice.
The City Council is looking to set up a Slivers-of-Time service within Bristol. This will be on a phased basis. Initially within the City Council to get the system up and running and deal with any teething problems, then to roll it out it to other public bodies and then extend it to all employers - private and voluntary sector - across Bristol.
What we now need is a name for the Slivers-of-Time service in Bristol. Slivers-of-Time is fine as the name of the initiative, but it doesn’t work as a public brand or website name or says what it is about. Admittedly this is not scientific, but when asked what Slivers of Time is, responses I have had back include - an episode of Doctor Who, the next James Bond film, a modern art installation and an album by a second rate heavy metal band.
Successful web sites tend to have short, simple, easily memorable names that are easy to say and hard to misspell. What is needed is a name for the Slivers of Time service within Bristol that is user friendly and reflects that the service will be available to all employers across Bristol (public, private and voluntary sector), not just the City Council.
Some ideas so far include:
- wwwBristol (Work - Whenever - Whatever)
- eWorkBristol
- work2suitU
- timeforwork or time4work
- timetowork or time2work
What do you think of any of these? Or can you think of something better?
Let me know here by Wednesday 10 September 2008.
Comments»
I've just registered all those so you'll have to buy it off me if you want to use one
How about
bristolworks.net
or
abitofyourtime.com
or
24hourweek.net
I've got more, just ask
I have just registered all of those too - what else you got Sean?
It's a shame the initiative is called Slivers because I keep talking about snakes slithering. However I'd be wary about changing the name because you won't benefit from national coverage of what is a good innovative initiative. There is more chance of consistent branding for all SoT initiatives being recognised than if they all develop there own branding.
Why not keep SliversofTime and use a tag line to explain: Short Term Work for Time Short People (c)2007
Shane
We were intending to keep Slivers of Time as a tag line and reference to the national initiative.
However SoT is alerady operating under differnt names elsewhere - eg Leeds Flexible Working, Work Link (Kirklees), U&Me (Liverpool) and Right 4 Staff (Sheffield) - so there is not a consistent national branding, rather local solutions reflecting locla situations.
Stephen
Stephen, Thanks for the feedback. That's a shame about the lack of national cohesion. It could have made all your lives that little bit easier.
BTW of the ones you mention Bristol Flexible Working seems to sum it up nicely. The others aren't exactly "Does what it says on the tin".
Dear all
Having consulted with a wide of range of people on the best name for the Slivers of Time service in Bristol, including those who attended the Slivers of Time launch, involved in its implementation, who work in regeneration and via a blog on the Connecting Bristol website - the winner is:
work2suitU
This was overwhelmingly the favoured option. There was virtually no support to stay with Slivers of Time. Therefore that will be the name we will be going with and using in the future.
Stephen