ORGANIZING AND MANAGING SEASONAL EMPLOYEES
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
As the busy season begins, the need for seasonal help arises. But many employers fear hiring seasonal help, especially high school students, college students or even retirees because of their short-term investment in the company, and the process can be more of a headache than helpful. Hiring seasonal help doesn't have to be painful and overwhelming, the key is knowing how to organize and manage seasonal employees..
Whether you're hiring a few extra hands to fill in for vacationing employees or to meet customer demands, start your search early. This will not only provide you with more time to meet your hiring needs, but it will also benefit your business because you will reach more qualified candidates before other seasonal employers. Here are a few tips to help you sail through this year's seasonal help and keep your headaches to a minimum.
What to look for in seasonal help. What you look for in a seasonal employee should be very similar to what you would look for in a permanent employee. But there are a few characteristics that an employer should emphasize more strongly in seasonal help. Such as reliability, ability to learn quickly, a personality that makes them easy to supervise along with a customer-oriented personality.1
These traits are more necessary when hiring for the seasons because you need people who are going to be reliable and who you know will be there to work and can learn quickly, helping make the process move smoothly.
Seek candidates with flexible schedules. Flexible schedules are important as employees may not always be working regular full-time hours. During the interviewing process set clear expectations with seasonal hires around availability, as well as the fluidity of scheduling. Many times, seasonal workers are filling in gaps where volume is created.2
Put it in writing. To avoid any misunderstanding, consider having seasonal employees sign an offer letter that clearly states when the employment will begin and end. If the dates of employment aren't spelled out in writing, temporary employees can sue employers, claiming they were let go for discriminatory reasons or worse. Be sure to cover your assets.
Be upfront about benefits. If seasonal employees are not offered the same benefits as other employees, make this crystal clear in the beginning. If you do decide to offer certain benefits to seasonal workers, make sure you inform them of what benefits they do qualify for and/or are covered by the employer.3
Designate an orientation time for all seasonal workers. You can save a lot of time and aggravation by getting people up to speed right away on where things are, how things work and who will do what before they begin working. The time to start training a person is not when you've got a store full of customers.
You can also use an orientation session as a chance to talk about your products, your values and your policies. Consider creating an abbreviated handbook of company policies. In the abbreviated book, include policies that are applicable to seasonal workers, such as those pertaining to confidentiality, harassment, discrimination, ethics and more.
Make sure employees' legal paperwork is in order. Complete Form I-9 for seasonal workers as you would other employees. Just because they'll only be with you for a few weeks or months, doesn't mean you don't have to satisfy I-9 obligations. Employ minors with care. Many of those hired for seasonal work are under the age of 18. Double-check federal and state guidelines as to the type of work minors are allowed to perform and the number of hours they are permitted to work.3
Plan Ahead. It never hurts to look at a candidate as a possible long-term employee. You never know how someone's personal situation might change and if your seasonal employee performs above expectations, there is a good chance he or she may be a perfect fit for longer than just the season.
Keep in mind too, that once you find good temporary help, you just might want to rehire them next year. For top-notch seasonal help is worth year-round efforts to maintain a good working relationship. Instead of wasting money year after year on unknown workers, consider spending a portion of it on incentives to keep the good ones coming back.4
If this all sounds like a lot of effort, it is - but taking these steps will help prepared you for the busy season and the seasonal help that comes with it.
References:
1 “'Tis the Season for Temporary Hiring,” www.newswise.com, December 2009.
2 Yeh, MiMi. “Get the Most Out of your Seasonal Hiring,” hiring.monster.com.
3 “Hiring Seasonal Workers,” legalworkplace.com, November 2006.
4 “Five tips for hiring seasonal workers,” compass.ups.com, Fall 2007.
