Like most hospitality organizations, you hired seasonal staff for the holiday seasons or will hire additional summer staff to help with the busy times of business. Having friendly staff serving guest on your restaurant’s patio is always a great time of the year- but what happens when the winter comes and the patio closes? Those hires must move on, or be hired permanently. Quickly after temps are hired, it’s easy to evaluate the newest hires performance levels and who you’d want to keep around.
Hiring from temp to permanent is a great way to “test the waters” – see how each hire works, responds to circumstances and accepts positive criticism. Are they the kind of employee you want others to model after? If so, it might be time to make a long-term commitment to a few of those season hires.
According to the annual Snagajob.com hiring forecast, major U.S. retailers and hospitality groups could keep as many as fifty percent of their seasonal employees after the winter holidays, turning them into permanent hires. Seasonal employment offers companies a chance to evaluate a worker’s efforts before making a long-term commitment.
Here are some tips for choosing whether or not to change the seasonal hires to permanent hires:
1. Find out the level of interest of seasonal hires and their long-term plans. Hold conversations to gage their intentions and if hired on post season, they will be around and worth your investment.
2. Look at an employee’s productivity and examine the numbers as well as their work ethic – punctuality, attitude with fellow employees, etc. Choose the seasonal hires that are the whole package and will produce the best results for what your goals are.
3. Take time and talk with your recruiter – as experienced staffing professionals, Pacific Coast Hospitality, we have recruited and placed hospitality professionals for years and can help to gage what temp hires would be the best converts to permanent staff that would help fit your company’s strategic staffing goals.
