Permanent Seasonal Staff (Benefit Tips ® - © 2015)

Human Resource Challenge

It is time-consuming and expensive to recruit and train seasonal staff each time you anticipate a surge in business. Prefilling permanent seasonal positions with experienced staff would improve your quality and free you up to invest your time more strategically.

Opportunity

You can gain a labour market advantage by prefilling permanent seasonal positions. Rather than compete with your peer employers at the beginning of each busy season, simply offer an inexpensive benefit package to your best recruits at the end of their first season.

Cost

You can design your benefit plan at any price-point, but $50 per month during the first off-season and $100 or more monthly thereafter is common. Some employers base their employee retention budget on the cost of recruiting and training replacement staff.

Strategic Questions

  • Which seasonal positions require the most experience, trustworthy, motivated staff?
  • What percentage of seasonal positions do I want to prefill?
  • When do I know which staff I want to return next season?
  • What is the most cost-effective way to secure a commitment from my best seasonal staff to return season year?
  • How do my labour market competitors secure a commitment from their best staff to return next season?