The benefits to hiring a flexible workforce over the holiday season
With the festive season fast approaching, many businesses will be starting to think about hiring extra staff to help meet the busy demand over the Christmas period.
With this in mind Yves Schneuwly, Group Chief Commercial Officer at digital staffing platform Coople has put together advice and top-tips on the benefits for businesses hiring a flexible workforce over the holiday season.
As the holiday period approaches, it’s important for businesses to evaluate their requirements during a potentially busier time, and with that in mind, comes the question ‘do we have enough staff?’.
For many industries, the festive season is the busiest time of year, and a number of companies look to hire holiday cover to ensure their business remains organised and keeps delivering the service that their customers are used to.
Here are some reasons why it’s worth considering hiring flexible staff over the holidays, and the benefits in doing so.
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Candidates are motivated. Those who are looking for roles during the holiday season are proving that they are keen to work around this time and are therefore dedicated to their goals and responsibilities.
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Employee morale. The holiday period can be incredibly stressful in industries such as hospitality, retail and manufacturing, with permanent employees feeling the strain of additional workload and demand, whilst still wanting to take time off to spend with their loved ones. Therefore, hiring additional flexible staff to support this increase in demand, whilst still allowing holiday time for those who work within the company permanently, keeps morale levels high and fills in any gaps with the staffing schedule.
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Keep customers and clients happy. Without customers, you don’t have a business, therefore while your employees are critical in getting things done, those who purchase the goods or services also need to be kept happy. Having better staffing, supported by flexible workers, during a stressful time of year can prevent customers from getting frustrated and disenfranchised with your business and can keep services running as normal.
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Find future employees for your business. Some temporary employees may actually be in the market for permanent work, and hiring them during one of the busiest times can actually show you what they are made of and can act as a trial period for potential employment.
Some examples of companies who are boosting their hiring during the holidays are Aldi and Morrisons. Looking to increase their recruitment to generate 6,500 temporary roles for retail, manufacturing and logistics, with the aim of covering their increased demand. Amazon has also invested £170m in their minimum salary frontline operations from October 2023, while looking to hire 15,000 employees for seasonal roles in the UK.
Whether you’re looking to recruit or it’s something you’re considering the benefits of, it’s vital for companies to take into account the possible implications of being short-staffed during a busy season. Companies need to think about how to integrate flexible workers into their processes and this works best when temporary work is seen as a long-term investment.
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