The summer can be a hectic time for businesses in virtually any industry. Retail businesses and restaurants see a spike in customers, while industrial facilities see an increase in orders and shipments due to heightened demand in the consumer sector.
The uptick in activity also means that many businesses need to hire temporary employees to handle their workload increase. For many smaller companies, this usually happens only when they realize that they’re already overwhelmed by the staff shortage, while larger businesses are better able to predict their staff shortage months in advance.
Either way, there are many things to consider when hiring temporary workers over the summer. In this guide, we look at a few of these factors.
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Don’t Limit Your Search to College Students and Fresh Graduates
While it’s true that the average summer worker is likely to be a college student or a fresh grad, there are just as many people out there with work experience looking for seasonal opportunities. There may be people in your city who are in between jobs and need something to kill the time, or there could be candidates returning to the workforce and need something relatively easy to help them make the transition. You may even have former employees looking for temporary work opportunities.
Either way, don’t rule out the possibility of hiring seasonal workers with experience as they can make onboarding faster and speed up the training process.
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Don’t Treat Summer Workers Differently
Yes, your summer workers are only working for you temporarily, but that doesn’t mean you should treat them any differently from regular staff members. Get the most out of your contract with summer workers by training them properly and treating them as real members of your team, which will ensure they do their jobs to the best of their abilities.
Bottom line? Treat them well because it’s the right thing to do and because it makes them happy. And happy workers are productive workers.
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Invest in Thorough Training
When hiring temporary workers for the summer, many business owners make the mistake of investing as little as possible in training, thinking that the job is too easy for training or that the duration of their employment is too short to require the investment.
But the more untrained an employee is, the higher a risk he becomes for your business. This is especially true for businesses hiring summer workers to operate special equipment. The last thing you want is for an employee to hurt himself, making you liable for the injury because you failed to provide proper training.
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Go Over Your Insurance Policy
Talk to your insurance company about your plan to hire summer workers and ask about what it means when complying with local labor laws. Temp workers may not be covered by your current worker’s comp policy, so you need a plan of action should they injure themselves while on the job.
When done right, hiring seasonal workers can be a great way to cover gaps in labor during peak season, allowing your business to operate efficiently. If you need help looking for summer workers, let the staffing services specialists of Top Notch Personnel connect you with our network of local candidates. Contact us today to learn more about our staffing services.