How to Recruit Seasonal Employees

Seasonal employees are essential to keeping your business running smoothly during the busiest times of the year. Discover how to recruit seasonal employees successfully, how to retain seasonal employees and what you need to know about insurance for these temporary workers.

What Are Seasonal Employees?

Seasonal employees are hired to work on a part-time basis, and they can only be employed for a maximum of 6 months out of the year. If your business tends to have higher demands during certain months, you might want to consider hiring seasonal employees. When you need seasonal employees depends on your line of business. Seasonal jobs are common in industries such as retail and travel. Pay attention to the natural increase in demand and plan ahead for when you’ll most need the extra help.

Tips for Hiring Seasonal Workers

In order to attract seasonal employees, your business may need to get creative. For example, optimizing your recruiting strategy might include developing new, engaging job postings,  or requesting employee referrals on social media .

While there are a lot of ways to go about the seasonal hiring process, we recommend getting the fundamentals right first:

Start Early.

Post your job descriptions months in advance — long before your busy season — so that you’ll have applications to review and ideas of who you can hire in advance.

Get Recommendations.

Ask your employees for referrals. Nobody wants to work with someone they can’t get along with, right? That means you’ll get strong candidates to consider.

Look to Your Customers for Ideas.

You might be scared to start the process of hiring someone new, so reach out to your own clientele. Start with some of your most loyal customers, and see if they, or someone they know, is looking for seasonal work.

Benefits of Recruiting Seasonal Employees

Believe it or not, hiring seasonal employees could actually save you money in the long run. Although the statistics vary from company to company, in general, hiring an employee in the short run is often cheaper than hiring a long-term employee.

This can be due to a number of things, like paying your employee based on hourly rates rather than a salary.

Temporary employees also bring adaptability to your business because their labor can be adjusted in any state of the economy. The ability to hire more employees or scale back your workforce with changing demands from your customers not only gives you flexibility as an employer, but it can be positive for your full-time employees as well by giving them help when they need it the most!

Insuring Seasonal Employees

Seasonal employees can be a huge asset to your business during busy times. However, the insurance needs of seasonal employees could differ from what you’re required to offer your full-time employees.

Although it varies by state, there are certain benefits required by law that you, as an employer, must provide to your seasonal employees, which include: unemployment benefits, Social Security/Medicare and workers’ compensation. Make sure you check your state’s requirements before you begin the hiring process.

Retaining Seasonal Employees

Now that you’ve gone through the process of hiring the right seasonal employees and insuring them, you may want to keep them — or bring them back next season. That means you need to know how to retain seasonal employees. The good news is that, as a successful business owner, you already know how to retain great employees. Those same techniques apply to your seasonal employees: Create a supportive work environment for your employees, pay a competitive wage and offer incentives like rewards and bonuses.

Coverage for All Seasons

Your business needs change, which is why you need coverage that keeps up! Find out if your business insurance is keeping up by talking with your local Farm Bureau agent; he or she can help you navigate your insurance needs, no matter the season.