How to maximise your short-term workforce
It’s that time of the year again.
The days are getting shorter and the nights are getting colder.
And that means a business boom is coming for many retailers.
Some of the busiest shopping days of the year, from Black Friday to Super Saturday, lie ahead.
So how can your business prepare for this imminent peak in demand?
Hiring seasonal staff can be an effective solution.
Seasonal staff offer scalability during busier periods and can be less expensive than full-time employees, as they typically don’t qualify for the same benefits.
But it’s important that these staff are properly managed, otherwise you risk spiralling costs with no significant improvement in your capacity to deliver during busy spells.
Start the process early
The more time you give yourself to carry out the hiring process, the better the results will be. You won’t be forced into making rushed decisions and can take your time reaching, evaluating, and ultimately hiring the right people for the job.
Define your requirements
It’s important to be clear on what you’re looking for in any seasonal worker. If the flexibility to help fill shifts at short notice is likely to be a key part of the role, make that clear.
Lay out the responsibilities and the expected length of the appointment so that you don’t end up with cross wires down the line.
Invite back past workers
If you’ve previously had seasonal workers who performed well for you, why not see if they’re available to join you again? Students who are back home for the holidays often look to pick up short-term jobs and can be a repeatable source of young, energetic workers.
Tap into local talent pools
Online job boards can help you reach certain audiences, but the best potential workers might be right under your nose. The right person might not be actively looking for a new opportunity, but a sign up in your store could convince them otherwise.
As mentioned above, towns with student populations often have deep hiring pools, which can be particularly useful for managing busy summertime shopping periods like back to school days.
Referrals from existing staff members can also be productive and offer a level of pre-screening that may attract a higher calibre of candidate, or at least some with realistic expectations of the job.
Choose quality over quantity
While it might be tempting to think that anyone can come in and help when you’re busy, the reality is that the best employees will be able to slot in and get to work quickly, while less suitable hires may require more supervision than they produce in useful output.
As such, it’s often better to build a smaller team of skilled and committed seasonal staff than take a chance on dozens of employees that represent an unknown in terms of productivity.
Streamline your onboarding
One critical aspect of bringing anyone new into your company is giving them the training and tools to do their job well. That is rarely more imperative than when you’re bringing in someone to support for a short period of time.
You don’t necessarily have the luxury of giving them weeks to get up to speed, because your store is getting busier and you need the help now. So making your training and onboarding process as quick and effective as possible is going to be worth the time and effort.
Look at the job responsibilities you outlined before and find a way to give new hires the capabilities to deliver on those tasks.
While it’s always nice to have employees that understand the story behind your business and what their career path might look like, those elements can be saved for longer term hires.
Who knows, maybe your seasonal staff will eventually become regular employees, but for now, all you need are effective workers that can do their job and don’t need to handle too much else.
Offer scheduling flexibility
One of the biggest challenges over busier periods is that there are ebbs and flows, so having a flexible and reactive schedule can make your life a lot easier. With new staff likely to be joining regularly and normal shifts changing around over the holidays, you don’t want to spend ages trying to rework your old pen and paper rota or Excel sheet.
A smart scheduling solution that’s tailored to retail like Findmyshift can be a key part of any manager’s arsenal of tools to help you navigate through the busiest times with ease.
Quickly change shifts, drag and drop employees onto your rota, and notify everyone of new timings with just a few clicks. However busy your business is set to get, Findmyshift can at least take the stress out of employee scheduling.