The holiday season will be here before you know it. Thirty-nine percent of retailers plan to hire holiday help. It is up 36% from last year, according to Forbes magazine. However, seasonal hiring is not limited to retailers. Eighteen percent of IT firms, 16% of companies in the leisure and hospitality sector, and 16% of financial services firms plan to hire seasonal staff.
This is huge growth, but with the increased use of seasonal workers, comes a difficult onboarding process. Many companies are loathe to spend the time and money to properly onboard these workers. They figure that, during the holidays, it is simply a matter of getting warm bodies to fill jobs.
However, here are 3 reasons why you should make the effort to effectively onboard your temporary workers.
- Just because a position is “temporary”, does not mean you want to call in and retrain someone every few days. The goal is not to have someone walk out in frustration. You want them to stay and be productive.
- Without proper onboarding, it is very easy for temporary workers to feel isolated. Any worker will work harder for an organization that they feel connected to.
- Connected temporary workers are usually more willing to accept a job offer or accept another chance to work with your company. These returning workers will be more knowledgeable about your policies, processes and culture, allowing the onboarding process to be even quicker and more seamless.
Now, here are 3 tips to effectively onboard your temporary workers:
- Make them part of the team. Fully introduce them to others on the team, and not just by names and job titles. Temporary workers need to know who else is on the team, their roles, and their specialties. In turn, employees need to know what role the temporary workers will play. The sooner people are comfortable turning to each other, the faster work gets done and the less time management must spend being points of contact.
- Tell them why they will be doing something. Everyone needs to know the “how” and “why” of a job. Explaining how the tasks are done and why they need to be done in a certain way, frames the job for the temporary worker. It gives him perspective and makes it possible for him to contribute faster.
- Teach them to be self-reliant. Make sure that the temporaries know where to go for answers, whether that is a website, shared drive or another person. If you do not, the manager will always remain the point-person. This is ineffective, since management has more important things to do that constantly direct people to the right person.
At Job Store Staffing®, we understand the importance of effectively onboarding temporary workers. During this holiday season, you may not have the time to properly train and onboard your workers, so let us help. If you are looking for temp agencies in Denver, contact Job Store Staffing® today!