The Challenge With Seasonal Hiring Today
The dilemma is, simply put, that hiring for seasonal and temporary jobs has become harder than ever.
The obstacles that companies are facing are, in part, due to both the rising consumer demand during the seasonal holidays, the transition to online supply platforms and the disrupting effect of Covid-19.
Generally, seasonal employment follows the same trend each year. As the holidays approach, job opportunities and employment increase. Following the holiday season is a noticeable decline in employment, along with layoffs (hence, temporary seasonal holiday hiring.)
The process of finding, recruiting and onboarding new workers is costing employers much more than they may be willing to spend, and employees are feeling the brunt effect of the inefficiency.
- The average US employer spends $4000 and 24 days to hire a new worker
- Nearly one in 10 employees have left a company due to a poor onboarding experience
- Hiring is expected to become more competitive in the next 12 months for 74% of recruiters
What Seasonal Hiring Looks Like Amidst Corona
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, seasonal hiring progressed in an upward trend from 2010 until 2013, where hiring and employment peaked. However, since 2013, employment has decelerated, meaning that each year the holiday seasonal hiring was less than the previous year.
Last year, supply and delivery companies made sweeping declarations for the 2019 seasonal recruitment. For example, UPS announced plans to hire around 100,000 new workers for the season. While the 2019 holiday season saw about 562,000 new workers, this year has entirely new results for seasonal hiring.
In-store holiday shopping has seen a major transition to virtual platforms over the years, but this year may have hit the peak. Coronavirus limitations and protocols may have put a damper on in-store visits, but consumers are flocking to online sites at numbers bigger than ever. The surge for goods and deliveries has prompted the retail, deliver and supply giants to put out a massive APB for seasonal hiring.
How Seasonal Workers Are Being Hired
The workforce has grown accustomed to seeing thousands of job postings searching for new recruits in all of its different forms, from flyers and newspaper callouts to online job sites and social media platforms.
You would think that the recruitment process had finally evolved, but not much has changed. HR and recruitment managers are still breaking a sweat with constant posting and reposting, weeding through responses and applications, and trying to mix-and-match schedule availabilities that now comprise of flexible, remote, seasonal, part-time or any other combination of work.
Social media can become a company's greatest asset in the hiring process - or greatest obstacle. Social media sites have become a popular recruitment tool: around 84% of companies are currently using social media for recruitment and 9% of those who don’t use it yet are planning to. Meanwhile, social media is used by 59% of candidates to research the companies in which they are interested. A messy social media page can drive away potential, talented hires.
This year, with a much smaller pool of individuals interested in seasonal employment, recruiting companies are in competition with one another to hire the same ideal employee.
Why Employees Have Had Enough with Poor Hiring Processes
It's not just employers, HR and operations managers who have their hands full. The friction-filled hiring and onboarding process is taking its toll on candidates as well.
No Response
For many, they never even hear back from the company they've applied to. While this is certainly frustrating and disappointing, in many cases employees don't have a surefire way or knowing whether their CV or application was even received. With n
o way to track their phase in the hiring process, employees are feeling left out to dry.
No Standardization
With so many options and platforms to find jobs, the process of applying and hiring becomes overwhelming. In order to find relevant and available jobs to certain skill sets, employees need to hop from one platform to another in order to access the full list of opportunities. It's exhausting, both mentally and physically, and wholly unproductive. The onboarding process can feel equally as disorganized. Three out of five (59%) employees think automation would benefit the companies they are being recruited for.
59% of the workforce thinks that automation would benefit their company.
Employers and Employees Are Demanding Change
Recruitment professional and managers are always on the lookout for new and improved solutions that can be implemented to relieve the work involved in hiring and onboarding new employees.
2 Important Approaches to Keep an Eye On
The way you communicate with your workers. If you don't have an efficient, streamlined way to communicate with individuals applying for a certain job, at whatever point throughout the hiring, onboarding and management process, you could potentially lose qualified candidates and talented employees. 55% of employees feel that a mobile app would help them become more engaged with their company. That's not surprising considering that the whopping majority of the workforce (97% of workers) believe that communication impacts tasks every day.
55% of employees feel that a mobile app would help them become more engaged with their company.
The way you prepare your workers. The employee onboarding should be easy and valuable for both the company and the new recruits. Your employees should feel well educated and prepared for the job. Unfortunately, Gallup found that 88% of companies do not onboard well. When the onboarding process composes of messy paperwork, scattered interviews and disorganized meetings meetings, this can also lead to a messy beginning of the new job, and just as quickly lead into a fast and high turnover rate. Nearly one in 10 employees have left a company due to a poor onboarding experience, while a great employee onboarding process can improve retention rates by 82%.
Great employee onboarding can improve retention rates by 82% and productivity by over 70%.
Long-Term Solutions to Avoid Seasonal Recruitment Challenges
Companies operating in today’s highly competitive consumer and labor market have more to worry about than sales since the hiring and onboarding process has become the greater challenge for both business and seasonal workers. This is one of the reasons why hiring is expected to become more competitive in the next 12 months for 74% of recruiters.
Delays in orders, mishaps in warehousing and understaffed schedules can be extremely costly, considering how time-sensitive much of the work is. It is critical that businesses implement a strategic way to successfully locate, hire and manage workers, whether seasonal or full-time (as many of these seasonal temporary positions transition into, according to Forbes.)
Streamlined hiring, scheduling flexibility and the ability to fill shifts on demand is a major game changer for companies hiring in the seasonal sphere. Leveraging the right software can help not only to avoid the paperwork involved in recruiting and releasing seasonal workers, but to ensure sufficient staffing levels, increase employee accountability and heighten engagement metrics to improve employee retention down the line.
