Every business operates with some level of predictability. You know what hours you’re open and closed. You track buyer habits to learn your busiest times of day. You have set days for processing invoices, payroll, maybe even for interviewing job candidates.
Seasonal business, by definition, involves a different type of predictability. It could be driven literally by the four seasons and activity centered around warm weather or winter sports. Your business could ebb and flow with holidays; florists are busy around Mother’s Day, grocers around Thanksgiving, and retailers over the Christmas season. Or, your business may flex based on an academic calendar.
Even truly seasonal businesses, like snow removal or wedding venues, can experience highs and lows that are unpredictable.
Seasonal Business, Seasonal Labor
As an owner or operator, one of the most challenging aspects of a seasonal business is labor: how do you ensure you’ll have the people you need, when you need them, without spending all your resources managing the hiring and layoff of people you can trust?
The answer is simple. And predictable. Temporary staffing.
Staffing companies recruit employees year-round and make their living by putting those people to work when and where they are needed most. For seasonal businesses, partnering with a staffing company is an efficient and effective solution to flexing the workforce up and down to meet your needs.
In fact, when you work with a staffing company, you can add or subtract people from your workforce on a day-to-day basis without the hassle and expense of recruiting, interviewing, hiring and laying-off members of the team.
Seasonal Hiring Models
For most companies, a constantly shifting group of employees can be disruptive to their operation or distracting to their customers. There are several staffing models that allow for seasonal fluctuations AND limit disorder.
- Core group of employees, supplemented with temps. In this model, you keep your primary team busy at all times, then build onto the team with support personnel as required.
- Permanent management, temporary labor. This approach leaves the hiring and training of temporary labor to a small team of managers or department heads who build larger teams of people as seasonal business ramps-up.
- All temps. Some companies keep all of their labor on a temp basis and employ only the owners as regular employees. This arrangement requires a great degree of predictability and a strong partnership with a staffing company.
The Key: Reliable Staffing Partners
In any case, seasonal businesses need staffing partners they can rely on to provide the people they need, with the right skills and experience, precisely when business demands.
Form your staffing partnership in the slow season so you have time to build understanding and knowledge of one another’s business. That way you’ll be prepared to flex your labor force up in the busy time and be ready to meet your customers’ needs as the seasons change.
At Active Staffing, we’re ready to provide reliable temporary employees year-round. You can count on us to match your seasonal needs, 24/7/365. Contact an Active rep today and let’s get to know one another!