Posted By: M. Martin
Have you noticed that it seems the holiday decorations start popping up in stores earlier and earlier every year!
Customer service, administrative/clerical, shipping/delivery, or manufacturing industries are headed for a busy – or even possibly the busiest - time of year. It's definitely not too early to plan your staffing needs if you're going to require extra help this season.
Here are a few of the reasons why:
- Get a jump on your competitors. Many companies will wait until the last moment to augment their work force. Starting your efforts now, allowing you to reach the most qualified candidates before other employers get them.
- Waiting until your needs are urgent may force you to make hasty hiring decisions and not let you avoid making rash decisions in hiring. Waiting until the last minute for hiring and recruiting can leave yourself with limited options when business does suddenly surge.
- Skip being overwhelmed. The seasonal job market will be flooded with applicants and with so many job seekers competing, the sheer volume of résumés and applications alone will overwhelm. Start the search process early to make sure you have as much time as possible to find the best candidates possible.
Reading about seasonal hiring is enough to make anyone’s stomach nauseous; fortunately you don't have to do it alone. Staffing and personnel firms specialize in helping companies effectively manage the highs and lows of business cycles by augmenting and assisting plan your workforce needs. With a firm as your staffing partner you can:

- Get much needed flexibility. Seasonal temporaries can handle surges in demand without impacting fixed expenses.
- Post-holiday layoffs can go "goodbye". Staffing services are the seasonal employees' employer of record letting you avoid the hassle and expense of letting workers go when the season slow down.
- Access the talent you need, right when you need it. Planning your workforce needs now gives your staffing firm time to locate the most qualified staff for you, especially when you require a large number of workers - so they're available right when you need them.
- Shorten learning curves. Your staffing provider will recruit seasonal workers with the specific skills and experience you require. The provider can also, at your request, develop customized orientation materials to help reduce training costs and get workers up-to-speed more quickly.
- Eliminate additional administrative and legal burdens. By using temporary employees, you avoid the social security, payroll and other tax and legal burdens associated with seasonal employees. Freedom from these hassles will give you more time to focus on other important priorities.
- Cut back on overtime. Temporary employees help you minimize the additional cost and burnout overtime causes.
Plan Your Workforce Needs with Personnel Plus
If your business has frequent or predictable surges in demand, a planned staffing option may be right for you. Planned staffing is the strategic use of temporaries to accommodate workloads known to vary in seasons or other cycles.
An expert from Personnel Plus will work with you to examine year-round fluctuations in workload and identify peak demand periods. Next, we will create a customized staffing plan for your business that: provides temporary employees to handle your busiest times; reduces or eliminates your need to lay off employees during slow periods; frees you to focus on the most critical parts of your job.