Hiring Seasonal Employees

The holiday season can be an extremely lucrative time for many businesses. From Black Friday through Christmas and sometimes beyond, the end of the year often creates a flurry of spending from people who have been saving up all year for this moment. It’s true not just for retail operations, but for many service providers as well.

The blessing of greater demand also often creates the issue of seasonal employment. To be able to fill out all those order requests on time, many businesses need to take on seasonal team members to handle the load. Here are some tips and advice for approaching the need to hire new employees quickly and for a matter of just a few months.

Tips for Hiring Seasonal Team Members

You may want to start by asking your current team members — the ones you trust — if they know anyone who might be good for the job. Just like you’re looking for employees for the holiday season, others are anticipating needing extra cash and looking for work, and existing team referrals can be a great way that you can help out trusted employees and help yourself as well.

In fact, an Institute for the Study of Labor paper suggested that employees who are hired through referrals generate 25 percent more profit than those who aren’t. This opportunity can be a great way to quickly fill out your team with qualified individuals.

That said, it’s essential to vet your seasonal employees carefully no matter who their references are. Seasonal employees may not have the sense of ownership and loyalty to the company that long-term employees have, and therefore may be tempted to take actions that are not in the best interests of the company. A bad seasonal employee can do a lot of damage, even in only a few months. You should vet seasonal employees with at least as much scrutiny as you vet your regular employees, if not more.

Putting Seasonal Team Members on the Payroll

Seasonal team members can create some complications when it comes to payroll. You may pay them differently than you pay your long-term employees, with different benefits and tax implications. You’ll have to take the time to add them to the rolls when they start, and probably remove them a few months later when the holidays are over. This process can generate a lot of headaches that you don’t need.

This situation is just one of the reasons that many businesses in South Central PA and Western Maryland choose BCM Payroll Services, Inc. to handle all of their payroll needs. With BCM, there’s no headache at all. You provide us with the information we need about the new employees, and we’ll add them or remove them as needed.

We’ll take care of any tax implications too, making sure that all employees have access to their paystubs and anything else you need. You don’t have to worry about any errors, because we’ll handle everything, and if there are errors, we’ll take care of them.

To learn more about how BCM Payroll Services can streamline your seasonal payroll, call us at 717-264-7374 or contact us online today.