Summer working had me a blast. How do I employ temporary staff?

One of my clients has a restaurant in a very popular tourist destination and I got the panicked call … Summer is here and I have no staff (the recent warm weather was responsible for this latest bout of panic). What can I do?! Lots actually!

The easy part is the temporary staff employment contract

The easy part, believe it or not, is the temporary staff contract. Casual, fixed term or zero hours (ok ok I hear you, but a lot of employers and employees run on them just fine) – Tercus HR can sort that out.

Casual contracts

As for the type of contract you wish to use, a ‘Casual’ contract is exactly that.  You can call them in whenever you have a need, at short notice, and they have the right to refuse to the work when offered. There’s no obligation on you to provide the work, or on the employee to accept the work. They are paid exactly for the time they actually work.

Zero Hours contracts

Much derided, again you can call them in whenever you wish, the only difference being that they need to be available to carry out the work when called. They are only paid for the time they are in work.

Fixed term contracts

You employ them for a fixed period of time, and they get the same benefits as permanent employees. The only difference is that they know when they are leaving.

Temporary staff

Temporary staff are usually employed through an employment agency, who is in turn their employer. You have no obligation to them as employees, as your relationship is with the agency.

Recruiting temporary staff

So with that sorted, you now need to find the staff. Where do you find these people without paying hefty agency fees (just in case it rains and we don’t need them). I always find going to places like-minded people congregate, like colleges, halls of residence and Youth Hostels is a useful tactic – if the people you want aren’t coming to you, go to them! Of course social media works like a dream for promoting temporary staff vacancies too – try Gumtree, Facebook, Instagram, and of course Twitter.  Once the word’s out you’ll start to receive enquiries, and once you get one person employed for the Summer, you tend to find they self refer, so you’ll end up getting 5 of their mates or acquaintances with no trouble at all.
When you’re recruiting temporary staff, go through the same selection process you would do normally – and hey presto no more worries for the Summer season. Just in case you’re unsure, here’s a quick 10 point recruitment plan to make sure you have all the bases covered:

1. Decide on a role
2. Advertise or go through an agency
3. Shortlist from the initial selection
4. Interview whoever’s reached the shortlist
5. Offer/Reject after interview
6. Appoint in writing
7. Process the paperwork (if we can help let me know)
8. Take up references
9. Decide on a start date
10. Induction (always remember the induction!).

If you need any more reassurance or shrewd temporary staffing solutions, get in touch with us here at Tercus HR