Does your business need more help around the holidays? Here’s how to attract the best seasonal employees.

Hiring seasonal labor is a crucial experience for many Canadian business. Construction, agriculture, and retail are just three Canadian industries that depend heavily on seasonal labor. The challenge many business owners encounter is attracting the best seasonal employees. Happily, there are a few things that can be done to help your business attract high-quality seasonal employees.

Consider turning some seasonal positions into year-round positions

While there are some seasonal workers who enjoy working one season before moving on to a different location and different type of work, there are also seasonal workers who are excited about the possibility of staying on in the same position full time. When you’re going through the interview process, mentioning that there is a chance of full-time work is a good way to encourage hard working seasonal employees to say yes to your job offer.

Let seasonal employees know you’d Love to have them back next year

When the end of the busy season ends and you’re saying good bye to your temporary workforce, let them know that you appreciated all their hard work and would love to add them to the payroll next year. Seasonal employees who come back year after year reduces the amount of effort you have to put into recruiting and training brand new workers.

Let technology help you find seasonal employees

In the old days, you could create a high quality, seasonal team of employees by posting a flyer in the supermarket or running an advertisement in the classified section of the local newspaper. These days, you’ll get better results when you take advantage of more technologically advanced recruitment methods. Employers across Canada have found that recruiting software is an effect means for reaching a large portion of qualified seasonal employees.

Be clear when creating recruitment ads for seasonal employees

Whether you’re using recruitment software or posting an advertisement in the paper, you need to be very clear about the type of employee you’re seeking. The description must include:

• How long the seasonal work is available and if there’s the possibility of extending it into a full-time position
• The necessary qualifications
• The type of work
• If there are any additional compensations
• The location

Create an employee referral program

Employee referral programs are a fantastic way to recruit both seasonal and full-time employees. The most successful employee referral programs involve paying a bonus to any employee who recommends a job to a friend and than that friend gets hired. Employee referral programs enjoy a 75% success rate and are quite easy to set up. Some businesses have found that by advertising that they have an employee referral program, the see a surge in qualified applicants who hope that the bonus program will help them achieve their long-term financial goals.

Be flexible

It’s okay to have a mental image of what your ideal seasonal employees will be like, but don’t get so hung up on your vision that you fail to hire an employee who is willing and shows potential, but who’s resume doesn’t hit all the points you’d like in your seasonal workforce. As many Canadian business owners are discovering, there seems to be fewer people who are willing to work at the entry-level, temporary positions that most seasonal jobs are. Not only might you have to alter your hiring criteria, you also may have to be willing to negotiate on hours, pay, and job duties.

E&E is a team of professional accountants who have a great deal of experience helping Canadian businesses navigate the financial complications that go hand-in-hand with hiring seasonal employees. Contact E&E with any questions you have about how hiring a few extra seasonal employees will impact how much you will have to pay the CRA.

E&E Professional Accountants has years of experience in assisting businesses with their accounting needs. We are founded and managed by an experienced corporate auditor and a former CRA tax auditor. Feel free to contact us for assistance with all your accounting and bookkeeping needs.