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Valuing the Contingent Worker: Finding Ways to Effectively Manage Seasonal Employees

By Ms. Elizabeth Rice, SPHR

Current HR trends show an increase in the use of the contingent workforce, a popular and rapidly growing way for employers to save time and costs by hiring seasonal and contract employees on a need-only basis. Contingent workers have the qualities and skill sets of regular employees, but are only needed on a temporary basis, and can be a tremendous asset to businesses who experience a "peak" or "rush" season. Often, however, businesses that supplement their staff on a contingent basis must also find ways to retain these experienced temps year after year for help during these peak seasons and special projects.

For businesses that rely heavily on contingent staffing, developing a pool of temporary workers who are willing to work on a contingent basis but have the experience and skill set to keep up with heavy demand presents a unique challenge. Creating ways to ensure employees return each season can help companies save on recruitment, orientation, and training costs.

Based on research and interviews with companies involved in contingent workforce management, Innovative Employee Solutions® uncovered a number of ways to keep valued workers coming back year after year. The result: an integrated approach to managing contingent workers that focuses on treating them as valuable team members whose role is just as important as that of year-round employees. As part of an overall management strategy designed to retain contingent workers, IES suggests the following practices:

1. Give contingent employees in-depth training - New contingent employees can benefit enormously from participation in a one-time initial training program, in which they are introduced to the company's values, goals, and customer service policies, and given valuable product knowledge. This type of training is sometimes overlooked in the rush to bring on new employees during a crunch, but its benefits offer enormous long term value. In-depth training gives contingent workers the confidence to make decisions without having to rely heavily on regular employees, and saves time and money spent on retraining new temps each season. Such training also convinces the contingent staff of the company's value, and makes them want to help meet its goals.

2. Practice team-building - One of the best ways to show contingent workers that your company views them as a valued, inclusive part of your staff is by treating them as you would regular employees. This may include implementing practices such as shared workspace between permanent and contingent employees, company meals and parties where contingent staff members are invited, and general reinforcement of the idea that both regular and temporary workers are part of the same "team."

3. Offer pay incentives - To keep skilled contingent workers returning each season, consider offering returning employees a pay increase each year they return. This will keep the quality of your contingent employees high, and will save money in the long-run by cutting down on the cost of training new employees each season.

4. Maintain contact with valued contingent workers - Keep a database of all past and present contingent workers, and send them reminders and available work schedules as the need for more workers arises. Having a readily available list of past employees is a cost-effective way to select and recruit the best, most experienced returning workers.

To further save on the time and costs associated with the management of these temporary employees, consider outsourcing some of the HR functions associated with hiring contingent employees by using an HR administration service like Innovative Employee Solutions® (IES). Allowing IES to handle time consuming tasks such as payroll and benefits administration frees up a company's human resources department to focus on the demands of recruiting, hiring, and rehiring seasonal workers. In addition to these time-saving benefits, using an outsourced HR service as your contingent workers' employer of record can save your business between 15-20% in HR costs.

About the author:
Ms. Elizabeth Rice, SPHR is the President of Innovative Employee Solutions® - a San Diego-based company specializing in payroll and HR administrative services for the contingent, non-core workforce. Ms. Rice has more than 20 years of experience in HR and executive management and is noted both regionally and nationally for her particular expertise in employee relations, women's workforce issues, and temporary employment. Ms. Rice can be contacted at erice@innovative-es.com