Seasonal Staffing Strategies: Optimizing Workforce Management for Peak Seasons

Seasonal staffing is crucial for businesses during peak times like holidays or tourist seasons, impacting workforce and budget planning across industries like retail, hospitality, and manufacturing. While vital for profitability, seasonal staffing requires significant effort in recruiting, hiring, and training staff, especially if businesses experience several peak seasons per year. Balancing costs and maintaining a strong team is key amidst Canada’s ongoing labour shortages. This article explores several different seasonal staffing strategies and their pros and cons, focusing on effective workforce planning.

Identifying Seasonal Staffing Peaks and Valleys

Before diving into the specifics of different seasonal staffing strategies, it's crucial to understand your business’s peaks and valleys. This initial analysis is the cornerstone of workforce planning. If your team hasn't conducted this assessment yet, we highly recommend starting there before proceeding with this article. We offer a comprehensive guide to phase one of workforce planning. Understanding your company’s specific needs is vital before evaluating strategies, as the best approach depends on factors such as the required number of additional staff, the duration of your peak season(s), and the necessary skills required for the job.

 

 

In-House Recruitment

In-house recruitment is often the first staffing strategy many companies attempt, and for some, it may be the sole strategy required. Small businesses, unable to afford external assistance, may rely on word-of-mouth or personal connections during peak times. Alternatively, resourceful managers may utilize platforms like Indeed, job fairs, or partnerships with educational institutions. While effective for small-scale hiring needs, this approach becomes challenging for larger staff requirements. Conversely, large companies may have dedicated in-house recruitment teams resembling traditional agencies and still face challenges when meeting seasonal demands. To address gaps, these teams often augment strategies, such as increasing part-time staff or enlisting outside help.

 

Pros:

• Cost-effective, especially for small businesses

• Minimal additional spending on recruitment tools or expertise required

• Potential for better candidate-company fit, especially for larger businesses

• Suitable for industries with predictable seasonal peaks

Cons:

• Small businesses may lack specialized recruitment skills, leading to subpar results

• Internal teams in larger businesses may lack agility and scalability

• Long-term costs may not justify maintaining a permanent team for sporadic hiring periods

• Internal teams may lack specialized recruitment skills in key areas or verticals

 

 

Traditional Recruitment Agencies 

Traditional recruitment agencies vary widely in size and specialization, from independent agents to global firms with extensive networks. They may focus on specific industries, roles, or regions, or might offer specialization across a variety of verticals, but the wide majority focus on permanent placements. Some traditional agencies are extremely old school when it comes to seasonal staffing and haven’t changed their methods in the past fifty years (with excellent results), and others might be on the cutting edge with industry-defining tools. Despite their size, many adhere to a standard commission structure in Canada, limiting negotiation on pricing. Some agencies also provide additional HR services or partnerships, such as fractional HR departments or backend office support, enhancing their value proposition for clients.

 

Pros:

• Diverse agencies offer the potential for finding the right fit with thorough research

• Traditional agencies blend technology with personalized account management

• Payment is only required upon a successful candidate's hire

• One replacement candidate per hire or credits are often offered if new hires don't work out within 3 months

Cons:

• There can be difficulty reaching account managers outside business hours

• Specialization in certain types of recruitment may necessitate multiple agency engagements, meaning multiple account managers

• Limited scalability and geographic reach for smaller agencies

• Standardized costs with minimal room for negotiation

• Some agencies may not work with lower salary ranges

 

Temp-to-perm Contracts

In recruitment, various contract types cater to diverse needs: project-based, fixed-term (common in seasonal staffing), and leave coverages like parental leave. These contracts resemble permanent placements: agencies source candidates, you pay a commission upon hiring, and they stay for the contract duration, with you as the employer. Temp-to-perm contracts bridge temporary and permanent staffing, allowing for a trial period before a potential full-time hire. Typically, the agency is the initial employer, with companies paying a billable rate or markup on the candidate's wage, and the option to hire them permanently for a fee or commission.

 

Pros:

• Recruitment and hiring costs are covered by the staffing agency, reducing expenses

• Higher success in filling lower-salary positions

• Faster timelines for filling roles

• Ability to live-trial candidates on-site, ensuring suitability for the job

• Reduced administrative burden as the agency handles paperwork and HR tasks

• Flexibility and negotiation options with temp-to-perm contracts, suiting specific needs and budgets

Cons:

• Less effective for higher-level positions where candidates are seeking guaranteed job offers

• Higher wage costs due to the agency handling payroll and related expenses

• Potential commission fees for permanently hiring successful candidates

 

Temporary Labour Providers

Temp labour offers flexibility tailored to your seasonal staffing needs. When partnering with a temporary labour provider, they serve as the Employer of Record throughout their workforce's tenure with your business. Unlike brick-and-mortar providers, digital platforms like Grizzly Force enable convenient ordering anytime via an app/web portal (or through a dedicated account manager). This model allows precise labour requests for specific periods, optimizing budget efficiency. Plus, minimal paperwork and administrative costs make temp labour a hassle-free option, akin to temp-to-perm contracts.

 

Pros:

• Precision in labour budgeting, posting jobs only when necessary.

• Rapid deployment of large workforces, even with short notice, by digital providers like Grizzly Force

• 24/7 accessibility for posting jobs through digital providers, offering flexibility

• Minimal HR and administrative resources are required, with the provider handling payments and paperwork

• Negotiable temp labour rates, often lower with higher volume guarantees

Cons:

• Many providers will not be able to guarantee the same workers come back every day, meaning increased training costs (Grizzly Force offers additional tools like Preferred Worker Lists or Multi-day Jobs to mitigate this) 

• Higher per-hour salary costs compared to full-time or part-time hires, as the provider covers all expenses and bills a flat rate

• Difficulty in sourcing specific skills with temporary labour, necessitating careful role selection

 

Increase Your Part-time Roster

A recent change in how global organizations are approaching seasonal staffing is by increasing their year-round part-time roster, instead of hiring for short seasonal contracts. The reason more and more organizations are turning to this solution is due to the significant labour shortages faced by many industries. Year over year it becomes harder and harder to find seasonal staff, and the cost of that has become so great that it makes more sense for them to just hire and keep staff on year-round. Essentially, during non-busy times, companies have a huge roster of part-time staff that they keep minimally employed, and then during busy times, they ramp up the hours expected from each staff member to full-time or close to full-time hours. Most organizations are not solely relying on this tactic but rather using it to reduce the stress of seasonal hiring. 

 

Pros:

• Rapid scalability to a substantial workforce during peak periods if executed effectively

• A large part-time roster reduces the pressure and costs associated with seasonal hiring

Cons:

• High turnover potential during non-busy periods as employees seek more hours elsewhere

• Part-time employees may struggle to commit to full-time hours during peak periods, undermining proactive hiring efforts

• Redistribution of hours from full-time to part-time staff may lead to dissatisfaction and turnover among full-time employees

• Significant costs involved in recruiting, hiring, onboarding, and training a large number of part-time employees

 

Seasonal Staffing Cross-training

If you have a dynamic team that experiences different peaks throughout the year, you may be able to reduce your reliance on seasonal staffing through cross-functional training of your team. Although this strategy doesn’t work for the majority of businesses, it is an ideal solution in some very specific cases. In your workforce planning, take a careful look at the different work units you have, and their individual peaks and valleys to see if there are any overlaps you could take advantage of. If so, the big focus for your management team could be investing in training each department to be able to do the other’s job at opposite peak times.

 

Pros:

• Enhanced employee engagement and year-round employment opportunities

• Potential reduction or elimination of reliance on seasonal staff

• Efficient labour budgeting under ideal conditions for cross-training

Cons:

• Lack of available cross-training team potential during peak periods in most companies

• Potential dissatisfaction among lower-paid employees performing additional duties without additional pay

• Higher time and budget investment required per employee for cross-training

• Difficulty in finding suitable candidates with the skills and desire to undergo cross-training

• Reduced agility in responding to sudden shifts or demand changes

 

 

Takeaway

Seasonal staffing plays a pivotal role across a variety of industries, aiding businesses in managing peak seasons efficiently. However, recruiting, hiring, and training staff for short durations entails significant effort and resources. From in-house recruitment to traditional agencies, temp-to-perm contracts, temporary labour providers, and increasing part-time rosters, companies have various options to navigate seasonal demands. Additionally, cross-training offers an alternative to traditional seasonal staffing, enabling companies to optimize their workforce year-round. Each approach has its pros and cons, necessitating careful consideration based on industry dynamics, labour shortages, and budget constraints. By employing the right seasonal staffing strategy, businesses can enhance operational efficiency and maintain profitability during peak seasons while mitigating the challenges posed by labour fluctuations.

 

Need help with seasonal staffing? Our team offers consultation and workforce planning support, as well as permanent, contract, temp-to-perm and temporary staffing. Book a call with our staffing strategists today!