When it comes to managing your staff, one of your top priorities is creating a practical staffing schedule. Employees need to come in when there is enough work to do, and if business picks up during certain times of the year, you’ll need extra staff ready to lend a hand.
But how can you reliably recruit a seasonal workforce? Since seasonal employees come and go, engaging these workers is far trickier than connecting with your permanent staff. Fortunately, a strong employer brand can help you do just that, forming relationships and making the recruitment process easy.
In this guide, we’ll explain exactly what an employer brand is and how your business can leverage it to cultivate a positive environment among your seasonal workforce.
How does employer brand impact seasonal hiring?
Your employer brand is how current and prospective employees view your business. Businesses that treat their employees fairly, offer competitive benefits, and engage employees have strong employer brands that attract equally strong talent.
When it comes to seasonal hiring, many employees look to find temporary work and move on in a few months. To meet your business’s and job candidates’ needs, the hiring process needs to move quickly. As a result, job candidates may not do the same thorough research they would when applying for permanent positions and instead rely more heavily on word-of-mouth referrals and local businesses’ reputations.
This means if your business has a strong brand in your local community, individuals looking for seasonal work are more likely to apply. Additionally, if they have a positive experience at your business, they’re more likely to come work for you again next season, making future seasonal hiring easy.
How to improve your employer brand
Offer competitive benefits
Seasonal workers may not expect the same benefits as a full-time salaried position, but they still want to earn as much as possible in the few months they have. As such, one of the major deciding factors for these job seekers is wages.
Ensure your business is competitive for hiring by offering benefits and wages on par with the rest of your industry. Astron Solution’s compensation trends report points to a few developments relevant to setting your business’s pay scale and benefits, such as:
- The gig economy will outpace all other job creation. Gig work, such as driving for a rideshare service or delivering food, is increasing in scope, with many workers juggling multiple gig opportunities. Be conscious of these other commitments by offering flexibility. Additionally, win over seasonal workers from gig positions to your business by offering stable, competitive wages.
- New overtime protections. Seasonal work is busy and often comes with overtime hours. Recent legislation has increased compensation thresholds for overtime eligibility, ensuring that lower-income positions qualify for overtime pay. If this applies to your businesses, update your pay policy to maintain compliance and attract seasonal workers interested in putting in extra hours.
- Projected slowing of compensation increases. Across industries, salaries have continued to increase to keep up with inflation, but that growth rate is expected to slow from 4% in 2023 to a projected 3.5% in 2025. Keep an eye on businesses you compete with for seasonal workers to see how they respond to wage increases. If all businesses around you start to offer stagnate pay, you can stand out by offering to pay above market.
Additionally, while seasonal workers are primarily concerned with wages, other types of compensation are still meaningful. Consider benefits you can offer, such as arranging transportation, taking employees out to lunch, or sending employees gifts as thanks for their hard work.
Build employee relationships
Seasonal employees who feel connected to your business are more likely to re-apply next time you need additional help and recommend your business to their friends and family. By building strong relationships, your business can:
- Create a positive work environment. If employees are treated fairly, have safe working conditions, and feel supported, they are more likely to feel comfortable and open to making connections. While the times of year when you need seasonal employees may be busy, don’t let your work environment suffer. Reduce stress by hiring adequate help, accounting for common new hire mistakes, and referring back to your company values.
- Ensure open communication. Seasonal workers need to get up to speed quickly to keep up with heavy work demands. As such, onboarding is often condensed, and employees are likely to have questions afterward. Ensure managers and senior employees are available to answer questions, provide feedback, and lend a helping hand as needed.
- Cultivate a sense of community. When possible, have your seasonal employees work together with a mix of other seasonal workers and permanent staff. This provides seasonal employees with opportunities to socialize while on the job and build connections with the rest of your staff. For instance, you might delegate onboarding and mentoring tasks to senior staff or create a buddy system to give new seasonal employees someone they can easily turn to and start building a working relationship with.
Additionally, don’t underestimate the impact a structured appreciation strategy can have. This guide to employee recognition shares a few statistics about the impact an appreciation strategy can have:
- 80% of employees would be motivated to work harder if they felt recognized by their superiors.
- Turnover rates are reduced by 31% when effective employee recognition programs are in place.
- 37% of employees report that recognition from their superiors is the best way to improve employee engagement.
- 92% of employees are likely to repeat a specific action if recognized for it.
Incorporate seasonal workers into your standard recognition practices as much as possible. This might involve sending them appreciation e-mails or e-cards, calling out their accomplishments at staff meetings, or encouraging managers to always thank them for their work when they clock out each day.
Maintain an active social media presence
If your company lacks a digital foothold, prospective seasonal employees will be unfamiliar with your organization or potentially even distrustful of your job postings. Stay on top of your social media presence by:
- Staying active on relevant social media platforms. Make accounts on professional job sites like LinkedIn. Ensure you make routine posts to show visitors that your account—and, subsequently, your business—is active.
- Asking employees to make professional posts. Your employees represent your brand. On sites like LinkedIn, ask them to maintain professional accounts and follow your business’s main profile. When you post content, ask employees to comment on, share, or like the post. This shows that your business is active and increases the chance the platform will show your content to others in your industry.
- Monitoring relevant business review sites. While it’s challenging to actively manage this content, be aware of what is being posted about your business on job review sites like Glassdoor and Indeed. Job candidates may have questions about your business based on these reviews, and it’s essential you have answers ready.
By being active online, you can cultivate your brand in professional spaces. This increases the chances seasonal workers will see your content, look into your business, and decide to apply for one of your open positions.
Seasonal workers come and go, and a strong employer brand ensures you’re not starting from zero each time you need to start hiring back up again. Get your business’s name out in your industry by offering competitive benefits, building relationships, and maintaining an active online presence.