# Drifting and carrying a lot

> Two flags for whoever follows up with someone. Drifting means they have gone quiet and nothing holds them. Carrying a lot means they serve in many places or nearly every week.

For: Leader, Pastor, Admin, Owner
Canonical: https://giftwell.app/docs/drifting-and-carrying-a-lot

![People filtered to Care: Drifting, each with a badge beside their status.](/docs-img/drifting.png)

GiftWell joins signals it already has into two flags. Each flag goes to the person's **shepherd**: whoever **follows up** with them on [People](/docs/people). GiftWell never contacts the person. The next step is always yours.

## Drifting

Someone is drifting when they have **gone quiet** and **nothing holds them**.

Gone quiet means any of these:

- Their last check-in in Planning Center Check-Ins was over 90 days ago, and they had checked in before.
- They have stopped serving where they were [placed](/docs/placements).
- They haven't taken a step on a [track](/docs/pipelines) they had started for 90 days.

Any of these holds someone, so they are not flagged:

- They are in a Planning Center group, or on a serving team.
- They checked in within the last 30 days.
- They are in a [walk](/docs/walking-with), or serving where they were placed.
- Someone on your team logged a conversation with them, or added to their timeline, in the last 30 days.

Not being in a group on its own is not drifting. Many people never join one.

**To clear the flag**, check in with them, then log the conversation on their page. The flag stays off for 30 days.

## Carrying a lot

Someone is carrying a lot when they serve in **3 or more places** (Planning Center teams, placements and roles together), or when Planning Center scheduled them in **3 of the last 4 plans** on a team.

The fix is usually a conversation, a break, or someone to share the load. [Where we need people](/docs/where-we-need-people) lists people with more room.

## Where you see them

- **People**: a *Drifting* or *Carrying a lot* badge beside the status. Hover or focus it for the reasons. **Care** filters the list to either flag, and **Follows up: Me** narrows it to your own people.
- **A person's page**: the same badges under their name.
- **Overview**: *Who needs me?* counts your own flagged people. The *Drifting* and *Load* vital signs count the whole church and open the list. The brief says how many of your people may be drifting.
- **[Weekly digest](/docs/weekly-digest)**: each shepherd gets their own flagged people by name, with the reasons. Everyone else who gets the digest sees the counts and how many drifting people have nobody following up.

## Who sees what

- The flags show only on screens that already name people: People, a person's page, and the Overview for staff who may see names.
- Faces on the Overview are for pastors and up. Leaders see a count.
- In email, only people who shared their result with the pastoral team, and who aren't held back for age, are named. Everyone else is counted ("in GiftWell only").
- The reasons are facts your team can already see elsewhere: a check-in date, a team, a placement. GiftWell never scores a person, and never tells them they were flagged.
- Planning Center's scheduling is read-only and refreshed at most every 6 hours.