No matter the business you’re in, you need to have a seasonal staffing strategy in place to keep things running smoothly through highs and lows. Many industries have seasonal fluctuations where business increases, meaning they need to bring on additional staff. Preparing with a staffing plan covers your business so you are ahead of the game when the upswing starts. Here are five ways you can prepare for your seasonal staffing needs.
Look at Your Past Demand
Turnover is costly. Every time you recruit, hire and train a new employee, it costs both time and money – something to be avoided for sure. Look back at past busy seasons and figure out what your ideal combination of permanent and temporary staff is. You don’t want to hire too many people. An excessive staff means that individuals probably aren’t getting enough shifts, and they’re likely to get frustrated and quit. If you don’t hire enough, however, your team will likely become overwhelmed and overworked, also causing turnover. Knowing the perfect balance of temporary and full-time staff your business needs is crucial.
Keep Your Employees Challenged
During your slower periods, you need to make sure your permanent employees are challenged and busy by adapting their roles a bit. Give them additional responsibilities or new projects to lead so they stay engaged and focused. They probably have leadership skills, talents, and innovative ideas that you haven’t even tapped into yet. Employees who feel underutilized aren’t likely to stick around for long.
Treat Your Employees Well
If you want your employees to stay with you for the long haul, you have to invest in their success. Respect, trust and kindness are obvious, but you should also provide clear job expectations, proper training, regular performance reviews and the chance to offer feedback and opinions.
Provide Professional Development for Current Staff
If you don’t have the capacity to take on as much seasonal staffing help as you’d like during busy seasons, it pays to invest in training for your current staff. This benefits the company, of course, but it also makes employees feel more confident, competent and satisfied. Investing in training also sets an expectation for excellence and shows your employees that you value and respect them and you’re willing to invest in professional growth.
Partner with ICR Staffing Services
If you’re looking for assistance with assessing and filling staffing needs, work with ICR so we can have your hiring needs on our radar. Our staffing agency can access talent pools that are already screened. Allow us to take on the work of contacting and engaging candidates. It pays to build a strategy, identify times when your business will need additional staff and hire quickly to keep business running smoothly.
Ready to get started with top talent? Contact us today!
