Many companies rely on temporary seasonal workers to meet demand and during the holidays when your employees want to take time off to vacation or be with their families. Different industries may need seasonal workers at different times, but these professionals play a crucial role in ensuring that the business runs smoothly, especially during times of high demand.
As a business, adopting the best practices for hiring and retaining seasonal workers will contribute to your success. When you go down the proper route for hiring these skilled workers, you’ll maximize the benefits they can bring to your business.
Advantages of Hiring Seasonal Workers
Seasonal workers come with many benefits to your business, especially during peak season. Some of the advantages include:
- Flexibility: Seasonal workers are flexible which means businesses can scale their workforce up or down on an as-needed basis, which helps control costs.
- Filling the gaps: During peak season when professionals are on leave, or the workload becomes overwhelming, seasonal workers can fill in and help maintain projects and deadlines as needed. This has the added benefit of keeping your regular employees engaged and not overwhelmed by higher workloads.
- Customer satisfaction: By staffing for key projects and other time-sensitive operations, you can help maintain customer satisfaction, which can lead to loyalty.
- Access to top talent: Hiring seasonal talent opens doors to a wide pool of professionals who are looking for hands-on experience.
- Future hiring potential: If the seasonal worker you hired shows exceptional skill and is a great fit, they could potentially turn into a long-term hire who can help grow the business in the long run.
Challenges of Hiring Seasonal Workers
While there are great benefits to hiring seasonal workers, managing temporary staff can be challenging. Turnover and low engagement can be challenges when temporary employees are not well-trained and onboarded properly. Having a plan in system in place or working with a temporary staffing firm that focuses on these crucial elements is key to overcoming these obstacles.
Best Practices for Hiring and Retaining Seasonal Workers
Here’s how your business can hire and retain seasonal workers in the most effective ways.
Tip #1: Recruit early
The earlier you start your plans to hire seasonal workers, the better chance you have of attracting a high-quality of talented workers and getting ahead of the competition. Working with a staffing firm that specializes in seasonal help is a smart way to approach this, as experienced recruiters can find the individuals you need while you continue to focus on running your business.
Tip #2: Offer competitive compensation
You want to give a good incentive to workers who know they are only at the job for a short period. Offering a competitive wage is a great way to motivate seasonal workers. Additionally, offering an opportunity for performance-related bonuses and other rewards will help these workers stay committed and engaged throughout their assignments.
Tip #3: Create a positive work environment
Making sure the workplace has a positive culture will not only keep temporary workers engaged but will also keep them coming back during the busy seasons because they like your company over others. Additionally, a positive workplace boosts productivity and efficiency. You want to make sure all your employees feel valued and respected no matter what their role is in the company. Any concerns should be addressed to create a supportive environment that fosters loyalty.
Tip #4: Focus on training
Since seasonal workers are on assignment for a short period of time, it’s important to ensure that training and onboarding are done properly and without haste. Even though these workers are only here temporarily, you want to keep training materials as efficient and informative as possible – tailored to the role and department so they can learn their duties quickly. Ensure there is support and feedback to have things run as smoothly as possible.
Tip #5: Offer future opportunities
If it’s possible that you’ll want temporary seasonal workers to stay on board after their assignment, be sure to make it clear that this is an option. Hiring seasonal workers full-time can save you time and increase the efficiency of the onboarding process when you hire individuals who already know the business.
Tip #6: Leave it to the experts
Hiring a staffing firm specializing in temporary and seasonal help can free up your time and energy while you run your business during this busy time. Staffing firms have access to networks of candidates looking for temporary work and can help match individuals who are the right fit for the role and your company culture. Working with a staffing firm also means they can handle the paperwork, again freeing up your valuable time.
Implementing these best practices can help your business attract top seasonal talent, ensure smooth operations during busy times, and maintain good relationships with high-performing workers.