Holiday Staff 101: Do You Need Additional Staff for the Holidays?
With the onset of fall, the holiday period seems just around the corner – before we know it, there will be Christmas songs playing in stores and gifts appearing on shelves. For business owners such as yourself, the holiday period presents a particular concern: the need for holiday staff.
What types of businesses need to hire holiday staff?
The most obvious answer here is retail businesses – the holiday rush is usually the peak of the retail calendar, so extra staff will always be needed. Brick-and-mortar retail stores will usually need to hire extra staff to work on the shop floor and keep queues down, while e-commerce businesses need to recruit to help handle a higher volume of customer service inquiries and to assist with order processing.
However, retail stores are not the only type of businesses that are busier – and can thus benefit from more staff – during the holiday period. Product manufacturing companies will usually see a significant increase in orders from retailers, and logistics companies – and especially courier companies – will also see their workload increase. In addition, hospitality businesses – and particularly restaurants – are often at their busiest during the festive period as people gather together to celebrate the season.
When should you start hiring holiday staff?
Many people who are looking for holiday jobs will start looking ahead and seeking opportunities almost as soon as summer ends, so realistically, there’s no time like the present. You can learn more from PRIM about software that will help simplify recruitment and make it easier to onboard new staff members, so the process should be smooth, and you can enjoy the reassurance of knowing that you will definitely have enough staff to cover the season.
When should the holiday staff start and finish?
If your business was in operation last year, look back through your records and try to identify when the busiest period started and finished for your company. While there is no guarantee that this year will be exactly the same, it is a sensible starting point to work from. If, however, your business is relatively new and you do not have records to reflect on, then any time from mid-October is a good starting point (especially if you own a retail store), and contracts usually finish around the middle of January.
Are holiday staff always hired on a temporary basis?
Holiday staff is short-term temporary workers who will not continue to work for the company past the New Year (or if they do, it will again be for further, short stints over busy periods). However, if a holiday staff member is particularly impressive, then you could always consider taking them on as a permanent team member in the future; this actually tends to work very well, as you are able to hire them with a sound knowledge of how they perform in the role.
In conclusion
Holiday staff is absolutely crucial to businesses, and the above guidance should help ensure you can find the help your company needs over the busiest period of the year.
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