With the big day fast approaching, chances are most companies will be looking for seasonal staff this christmas to cover staff leave or to help cope with a sudden surge in demand for a product/service. There are certainly plenty of candidates out there who are keen to fill these roles so we won’t discuss how to recruit seasonal workers in this article, but more so the matter of keeping a new temporary workforce motivated and productive.
Just like it is with permanent staff it’s also very important to keep a temporary workforce motivated for a number of reasons:
- The happiness and motivation of worker directly correlates with their productivity.
- An unmotivated worker could end up delivering poor customer service, which in turn could lead to a plethora of hangovers and an overall negative impression of your company.
- Unmotivated staff may show a lack of commitment to the company
- An unmotivated worker may pay less attention to quality/detail
So now you should be starting to understand why it is important to motivate your staff this christmas, be they a temporary or permanent member of the team, let’s look at some easy to implements ways of achieving this.
- Respect your staff – Acknowledge their work efforts, offer compliments where due and if deserved you could perhaps offer small bonus.
- Encourage current workers to engage with the temp staff, making them feel welcome and able to ask for help when needed.
- No matter how big or small the position, try to create a detailed job spec and plan of action for your temp staff. This will ensure they know what is expected of them from day one and will also create a sense of importance.
- Make an example of the best workers – For worthy candidates the presentation of an award in front of peers with acclaim from the boss for a job well done is a fantastic way to spread the Christmas joy and creates positive lasting memories.
- If feasible, it may be the case that the position a temp worker is filling may become a full time vacancy in the new year. If this is the case be sure to express this intention and watch the best workers shine through.
