Okay, where has 2019 gone? It seems like only yesterday that we were welcoming in the new year and assisting our clients with all their staffing plans, now we’re planning Christmas parties. For many businesses in the hospitality and retail sector, the festive season is also an extremely busy time, which usually comes combined with an increase in holiday requests, so now is probably the time to add temporary workers to your Christmas shopping list.
Get started early
If you haven’t already done so, get your job adverts for seasonal roles written and advertised. Think about who you want to work for you and where you’re going to advertise. For example, for college and university students you might want to post your job ad on a college or university job board like e4s. Now would also be an excellent time to utilise your social media (did you know you can advertise jobs on Facebook?)
You need to also remember that because this is a temporary role, the applicants aren’t going to be interested in long term benefits, focus more on skills and experience and, also, remember to not discriminate in your language. You can’t specifically ask for students, mums or younger people for example.
Check in with past employees
Have you found yourself in a similar situation before? Who did you use to fill your temporary positions then? If you’ve previously employed temporary staff and were impressed with them, it’s a good idea to reach out and see if they’re looking for work this season. Even better, when all the festivities are over and they’re waving goodbye, check to see if they’d like you to contact them next year for similar work.
Ask your team if they know anyone
Ask your existing employees if they know anyone that’s looking for temporary employment and would be a good fit. Sometimes the best hires come from recommendations, after all you would hope that your team wouldn’t suggest someone who was unsuitable. Using a workforce that your staff know also helps with bonding over the short period that they’re with you and can ensure a good cultural fit.
Make time for training
Aside from the fact that anyone representing your company should be trained and able to do their job properly, initiating a training programme can create a feeling of loyalty amongst your temporary workforce. If you’ve put the time, money and effort into training them properly, they’ll be more likely to recommend your business to their friends and also return to you for other seasonal work (see our point about checking in with past employees).
Find a recruiter
If you need to, find a recruiter who can help advertise for and interview for your temporary positions. This choice brings two positives. Firstly, it gives you the time to carry on running your business effectively and to begin planning for the busy period. Secondly, they’re experts in finding the right people to slot in to job roles and will have a far wider net to catch them with. Make sure that you give them a good brief though, the last thing you need is a team of inappropriate or inexperienced staff because your job description was too brief.
Stay on the right side of the law
Don’t forget, just because they are temporary employees doesn’t mean they don’t have employee rights. We’d always recommend chatting to an HR expert about the legalities of taking on extra staff for busy periods. Also, remember to tell your accountant too.
While the festive period can be stressful, it’s not too late to find the perfect temporary festive team (well unless you’re near the North Pole, we’ve heard there’s a huge elf recruitment drive going on).