This post is also available in:
English
Depending on the type of business you have, you may get busier during the summer months. While some businesses make it work by using existing staff and increasing the workload, hiring a few seasonal employees can not only help with the increase in demand, but can also keep the potential workplace stress low. By hiring seasonal employees, your company is more likely to run efficiently during a busy season and your customer/client base may increase even more. Another plus? Your year round employees can take some time off without compromising your busy season.
Although the idea of training in a few seasonal employees may sound like too much work, particularly right before a busy season, if you make the time to train them in properly, you are likely to see positive results in your productivity. Whether you’re planning on hiring a few seasonal employees this summer or twenty, here are some things you should know:
Seasonal Employees Have the Same Rights
Even if you’re only planning on only keeping a seasonal employee on for a few months, he or she has the same employment rights as your full-time employees. According to U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA), laws that harassment, discrimination, and workplace health and safety apply to all of your employees, whether temporary or full-time. Depending on where you live, it’s also important to find out if you need to offer unemployment benefits. However, in regards to Obamacare, you are not required to offer health insurance to seasonal employees unless you staff over 50 full-time employees for 120 days or more.
Taxes, Workers’ Comp, & Social Security
As you would with other employees, you must withhold part of Social Security and Medicare taxes from your employee’s wages. Additionally, you must provide worker’s compensation for all of your employees, regardless of how long they are employed by your company. When hiring a seasonal employee, make sure you have and know the correct tax information for seasonal workers or part-time help.
Training Employees This Summer
If you anticipate hiring a seasonal employee each year, you may want to create a special training program or manual just for seasonal employees, however (for consistency), consider training seasonal employees the same way that you would a full-time employee. Make sure to go over standard operating procedures, all workplace safety information, and any employee rights and company expectations. When you’re in a rush to hire on new employees, it may be easy to go over information quickly or unintentionally skip some information all together, but if you take the time to train properly, you are less likely to face issues at the peak of your busy season.
You May Have Found a Future Employee
One of the nice things about hiring a seasonal employee is that if they don’t work out, it’s not as big of a deal than having to terminate a full-time employee. On the plus side, you may have found a future full-time employee or someone who is willing to return when you need seasonal help.