Best Practices for Seasonal Hiring


[Phone rings]

Ann: “Cutting Edge, this is Ann.”

Santa: “Ho Ho Ho!” 

Ann (rolls eyes—this guy calls every year): “Hey Santa! How’s things at the Pole?”

Santa (bites cookie, takes a swallow of milk): “I’m starting early this year screening my elves. I don’t want a repeat of last year.”

Ann (shudders to think of elves run amok): “That is definitely one of the best practices for seasonal hiring. Want to hear more?”

Santa (rolls his eyes, she does this every year): “Ho Ho Ho. Lay it on me.”

Best Practices for Seasonal Hiring

Hiring seasonally shouldn’t be any different than the hiring that goes on year ‘round.

  1. Start early, in these times of COVID if you need seasonal employees fast because you’re busy, you may need to have more people screened than you plan to hire. 
  2. Have a solid application
  3. Obtain Authorizations and disseminate the same disclosures, state notices and Your Rights Under the FCRA
  4. Run the same background check for seasonal employees as you do for long-term hires

We get it. Employers want to minimize their investment in an employee that they will not see long-term.

If you are considering saving money by skipping background checks on season employees, consider the following:

  1. Seasonal employees have no vested interest in your company.
  2. Temporary employees may be tempted to steal.
  3. Increased traffic and frantic customers might make slacking off without notice that much easier.

Don’t end up with coal in your stocking. Check your list—twice if you have to!

Still considering skipping background checks?

  1. Temporary employees have the same access to your customers, your cash and your data as full-time employees.
    Losses from theft, fraud and paperwork errors and other sources cost businesses $46.8 billion in 2017, employee or internal theft accounted 33% of total retail shrinkage. Consider that a survey showed the for every $1 spent in background screening, another $15 were saved in shrinkage.
  2. Employers are still liable for negligent hiring no matter the season.
    Tempers run high around the holidays, don’t be responsible for a bad-tempered hire that can take your business down because you ran out of this year’s hot-ticket item. 
  3. What if that temp employee is really a gem? And you want that particular elf year-round? Then they will be pre-screened, making the whole on-boarding process that much smoother. 

Screening your temporary employees before the busy holiday season will make your holidays brighter and hopefully more profitable. 

Cutting Edge can help you find the way! Call us today—(714) 587-9166.