Alpe d’HuZes: strong legs on the mountain, a tight roster behind it

More than 1,500 tasks and 1,000 volunteers to schedule

Alpe d’HuZes raises money for cancer research and improving the quality of life for people with cancer. In 2026, the event will take place for the 20th time. Since 2006, more than 245 million euros have been raised. But the event is about more than athletic achievements and donations: it’s about stories, connection, and people turning powerlessness into strength.

The preparations take months behind the scenes. Around 350 permanent volunteers work on the organization throughout the year. In the week leading up to the climb, another 1,000+ people join for all kinds of tasks: from making sandwiches and decorating strawberries to placing flags in the bends, handling supplies, and serving meals.

The volunteer coordination team at Alpe d’HuZes starts planning early. In January, they ask the various teams what help they need. In April, the roster opens and volunteers can sign up for when and where they want to help.

“During the event week, from Saturday through Friday, we need to fill around 1,500 tasks,” says Willem van Leeuwen, member of the volunteer coordination team.

And that’s without even mentioning the 35 trucks heading to France loaded with tents, ovens, generators, and more. Behind the event is a serious logistical operation. That exact scale made choosing the right rostering system crucial, and that’s where worldofwork™ provided an extra pair of eyes on selection, planning, and implementation.

A clear rostering system for all volunteers

The challenge isn’t just the 1,500+ tasks packed into one Alpe d’HuZes week. The work is spread across multiple locations, and many volunteers are new to the event.

“A big part of the volunteers have never even been to France,” says Willem. “They don’t know the location or the jobs. It needs to be really clear for everyone what they have to do, where to report, and to whom."

With those requirements in mind, Alpe d’HuZes started looking for a new rostering system: clear for the volunteer coordination team and easy for the volunteers to use. Gina Honders, team leader of volunteer coordination, Willem, and their team created their own list of requirements and reviewed four options. After an initial selection, two systems remained.

At that point, worldofwork™ joined as a sponsor. Digital HR consultants Tali Droog and Deen Ertman reviewed the process drawing on their experience with software selection, implementation, and workforce management.

Reviewing the rostering system selection, security, and planning

Alpe d’HuZes had already done a lot of the work themselves and stayed firmly in the driver’s seat. worldofwork™’s role was mainly to test the choice, ask additional questions, and keep the timeline on track toward the April 1 go-live date.

Willem: “As volunteers, we know very well what we need, but we don’t always know how to set up a system like this or run the project. It’s great to have people with experience selecting and implementing rostering software."

That experience showed up in questions about security, GDPR, data storage, certification, and feasibility. Gina: “We had our requirements and knew what we wanted. Deen and Tali looked closely at the surrounding conditions and thought along with us.”

One key tip was not to rely only on the supplier. “When you talk to a supplier, everything sounds fantastic,” says Willem. “Deen and Tali said: make sure you also speak to an actual user: what are they running into? I hadn’t thought of that myself.”

That helped lead to the final choice: Inzetrooster, a rostering program designed for volunteer organizations. The system’s features and especially its user-friendliness for volunteers were decisive. Positive answers on security, certification, and GDPR compliance also played an important role.

For Willem, everything clicked into place: “That gave me the confirmation: we chose the right system.”

Testing the rostering system before go-live

Next came the setup. The Alpe d’HuZes team entered the tasks and information themselves. In the run-up to go-live, worldofwork™ reviewed it again: Did everything work as intended, and was it clear enough for the people who would use it?

Deen and Tali advised looking not only at the technical setup but also at the user experience. Can people easily sign up? Are the tasks clear? Is the information logical?

“They suggested letting some of our own volunteers test the system first,” Willem explains. “A diverse test group of younger and older people who know Alpe d’HuZes well.” Eight volunteers went through the system and signed up for different tasks. It went smoothly.

worldofwork™ also created a practical manual in case volunteers needed help signing up. In the end it was barely needed, but it was ready just in case.

Thinking along at the right moments

What Gina and Willem appreciated most was the way they collaborated. “Contact with Deen and Tali was low-threshold and friendly,” says Willem. “They were open to our opinions and ideas and acted on them."

Gina sums it up nicely: “It wasn’t overly theoretical, it was practical thinking along.”

For Alpe d’HuZes, the value came from the combination: keeping control themselves while being able to fall back on people with real experience in HR software selection, implementation, and planning. For worldofwork™, it was a great way to put their knowledge to work for an organization with a very special mission.

Or, as Gina puts it in the spirit of Alpe d’HuZes: “You help each other and you find each other.”