Tips for Hiring Seasonal Workers
Many retail stores add temporary staff during the holiday season to handle higher traffic and increased demand. Although hiring temporary employees helps to ensure customers are adequately served and the shelves remain stocked, it also brings with it some unique risks and challenges for employers.
The Labor Shortage, Inflation and Seasonal Workers
A recent report reveals that due to inflation, Americans will be watching their spending this holiday season. As the prices of everyday items continue to soar, including groceries and clothing, many individuals say they have no choice but to cut their gift giving down this year. It's estimated that holiday sales growth will be slower this year, between 4% and 6% compared to 15.1% during the holiday season in 2021.
While fewer people may be out shopping, retail stores are still dealing with a shortage of labor to keep checkout lines moving and shelves fully stocked. National companies are seeking to hire more than 20,000 employees ahead of the holidays, while smaller businesses continue to report struggles in finding workers. In fact, businesses in the U.S. with fewer than 50 employees have experienced slower hiring for five straight months. Many expect to remain short-handed through the holidays, despite their efforts to attract and quickly hire temporary employees.
Even when not in a rush to hire seasonal workers, businesses can make costly errors when hiring temporary employees if they are not properly prepared, which can be detrimental to their organization. Employers need to be aware of the many ways to avoid costly and common mistakes when hiring temporary staff during the holiday season.
3 Common Employer Missteps When Hiring Temporary Employees
After constructing the job description, carefully creating a fast-track onboarding process and going through extensive interviews, employers often let a few things slide when temporary staff starts work. Here are three commons mistakes businesses make when hiring seasonal employees:
Forgetting Labor Laws Still Apply
Laws governing workplace safety, discrimination and harassment, wage and hours, and full-time employee benefits apply to temporary employees; however, many businesses neglect to follow their established procedures when taking on temporary employees.
This potentially expensive and damaging mistake can be avoided by checking in with the local labor office to determine the requirements for short-term employees. If you’re not sure, it’s best to follow regular hiring procedures, even if the employees will only be with you a few weeks.
Neglecting to Perform Background Checks
A professional-looking resume doesn’t necessarily equate to a clean and tidy work history. More often than not, employers looking for holiday staffing or seasonal employees overlook the background check to save time. While this can quicken the hiring process, it also carries increased risk for the business.
Managers need to ensure they hire reliable staff members, even if it’s only for a few weeks. Employees with a criminal background or an unreliable work history may become much more of a risk than a benefit during the holiday shopping season.
Not Making Safety Training a Priority
New and inexperienced employees are more prone to injury than full-time, permanent employees; however, this is a completely preventable issue. Ensure safety training is a strong focus in your new hire orientation. Plus, offer ongoing training and mentoring to prevent injuries to your staff.
While it may seem counterintuitive to spend extra time training seasonal employees, the cost of safety is much more affordable than the cost of an expensive employee lawsuit.
Understanding the trends in retail workers’ compensation claims can also help business owners tailor their safety training to address the most common injuries and risks.
Pro Tips for Hiring Temporary or Seasonal Employees
AmTrust’s Loss Control and Workers' Compensation teams offer these top five tips for lowering risk when working with temporary employees:
Hire the right team. Apply the same rigor to hiring temporary employees as you would for permanent, full-time employees to help make sure your team is successful.
Prepare to prevent loss. During the onboarding process, set new employees up for success by teaching them to look for suspicious customer behaviors.
Arrange a plan. Employees should be trained to stay safe and not engage during a robbery or theft. Offer clear instructions to help avoid an expensive employee injury claim.
Protect the team. Busy times in a store can lead to difficulty maneuvering through extra inventory, which can increase trip and fall exposures. Plan ahead to help protect employees.
Avoid unique risks. Limit the addition of increased risk exposures in your operation during times with a large temporary staff. Instead, hold off on any big changes until you have time to prepare your team.
Mitigate the Risk of Temporary Employees
Extra time and a little care can go a long way to avoiding an expensive claim, employee lawsuit, or employee injury with temporary staff. Preparing your business inside and out for the winter season can help lessen the risks of employee injury.
Small business owners have many things to worry about from hosting a holiday party and giving clients gifts, or safely decorating your business for the holidays. Having the right temporary staff during the holiday season can help mitigate the risks of hiring temporary employees.
Dan Zeiler
dan@zeiler.com
877-597-5900 x134