No matter your industry, business structure, or individual niche, you’re bound to have some ups and downs over time. That’s a natural part of owning and running a company. Even the best of the best can’t maintain record-topping margins or previously-unseen engagement forever. As they always say, what goes up must come down and that is bound to happen within your business at some point.
If you’re a seasonal business, though, things are a little bit different. That downturn? That’s as reliable as clockwork – negative for the frequency attached but positive for the fact you know what to expect, which puts you in a rather unique position.
It allows you to actively plan for highs and lows in a way other brands and businesses can’t. And a great way to start said planning is to partner up with a staffing agency for all your hiring needs. Wondering why? Here are six ways using a staffing agency will benefit any seasonal business.
1. Reduces Liabilities
As wonderful as owning a brand can be, there’s always some level of risk and worries attached to it. Just overlooking a couple important lines in a policy can lead to horrible consequences, leaving you accidentally in violation of various rules. You can then lose out on everything from amazing employees to thousands of dollars in legal fees.
Problematic doesn’t even begin to cover it – which is part of why opting for a staffing agency is a fantastic choice. Since your workforce is employed through the agency and not you, liabilities can be totally avoided or severely reduced, and you’ll be left in a much better position for it.
2. Decreases Administrative Costs
Selling goods or offering services may make you a considerable amount of cash depending on your situation, but you’ve also got to put a huge chunk in to get that far. Remember, it takes money to make money, and administration costs alone add up pretty fast. For seasonal businesses that only have a particular window where the income is still flowing freely, that can be a serious issue!
Using a staffing agency can give some helpful savings, though, and sometimes significant ones. Give the agency a single fee, and they’ll take care of payroll, social security, benefits, and every other financial reality that accompanies having seasonal workers. That means you pay less and don’t have to deal with the hassle of certain day-to-day operations, giving you more time and money to invest elsewhere.
3. Assists in Avoiding Hiring Mistakes
When business is booming, and the market is competitive (as it always is), you don’t have a lot of time to sit back and deeply consider your actions. Not a good thing by any means, but it’s the reality of doing business in a world where thousands of others can offer the same thing you are. Hiring mistakes are often the unfortunate result of this. After all, how are you supposed to make a thoroughly informed decision when you have to decide ASAP to keep your productivity and profits up?
Short answer: you’re not, and it’ll hurt you on several levels, including finances, reputation, efficiency, and more. Hiring through an agency can keep this at bay as decisions are less rushed, candidates are more thoroughly vetted, and wrong workers can immediately be replaced rather than hanging out on your roster, taking up time and money.
4. Supports Fresh Perspectives
There are certainly some downsides to owning a seasonal business, but they have their own unique benefits, too. One of them is the fact that seasonal brands get to play around more than other companies. Downtime allows them to deeply analyze where changes are allowed, and they can experiment once they’re operating at full force again. Rebranding, marketing strategy alterations, and exploration can occur more frequently and naturally, giving them a major leg up in some regards.
Partnering with staffing agencies also supports this, with workers cycling in and out as often as product or service offerings. This invites fresh ideas and new perspectives, supplying your business with opportunities for further growth and change. Things avoid getting stale as a result, and your company stays at the top of its game for longer.
5. Makes for Seamless Transitions
Know how we mentioned that seasonal business welcomes an ever-changing cast of characters (i.e. workers)? That may be fantastic for giving your company culture and plans a much-needed breath of fresh air, although there are also a few negatives attached. Perhaps the most obvious is that it makes hiring, scheduling, training, and everything else related lengthy and costly processes.
A constantly rotating door of employees leaves plenty of room for inefficiencies, snags, and small annoyances. Not good. But outsourcing these points to a staffing agency can bring large improvements here. Since they ensure candidates are the right fit skill-wise, provide tons of needed training, and routinely handle temp workers, transitions in employment rosters and scheduling are completely streamlined. Seasonal workers can then join the team almost seamlessly, and you can get on with your critical business.
6. Helps Businesses Find Balance
Speaking of seasonal workers, it can become incredibly easy to lose track of what you need from them. Changing periods of busyness and customer engagement means what worked for your store or brand one month won’t necessarily work this month. Whereas July might necessitate all
hands on deck to merely try and keep up with demand, December could just as easily require a handful of employees to pick up the very last of the stragglers.
It’s difficult to navigate that regardless of how experienced you are. A staffing agency can lend its expert knowledge and assist in identifying the right employees needed at any one time, helping you find a proper balance. And what happens after that occurs? Improved employee morale and turnover rates – fantastic benefits for any seasonal business looking to the future.