Seasonal staff come into your agency during particularly busy times of year. Hiring more workers means you have more people to get things done, and increases the productivity of your workforce. However, seasonal staff aren’t as experienced as permanent staff, and like other new hires, will often be less productive than seasoned employees. Since you’re hiring seasonal staff to help your company at peak time, it’s important to get them up to speed quickly.
These are three techniques you can use that will maximize your seasonal staff’s productivity:
1. Train your new hires. During busy periods, throwing new seasonal staff into the workforce immediately and hoping they’ll learn fast is an alluring proposition. But you’re likely to end up with confused employees who decrease productivity with constant questions and mistakes. Instead, hold group onboarding training for groups of new hires, and show seasonal staff the ropes before they get on the floor.
2. Have a buddy system. Training will get your seasonal staff up to speed more quickly, but won’t answer all their day-to-day questions and needs. Assign your experienced permanent staff members to seasonal staffing partners. Staff buddies will be the new hires’ go to person for questions that come up or any additional on the job support they need. This is also a great opportunity to give your permanent staff supervisory and leadership experience.
3. Rehire former seasonal staff. Every year, get in touch with past seasonal staff who met expectations and ask if they would like to return again this year. Seasonal staff who’ve done the job previously will already understand the basics and get back to old productivity levels quickly. Many seasonal employees look for extra work annually at times of year like the holidays or summer, so this is a win-win situation for companies and employees.
To hire seasonal staff that will learn quickly and be easy to train, go with the best. We received a Best of Staffing® Award this year for our high quality service, and ability to connect companies and staff. Contact us if you need seasonal staff or are looking for new work.