4 Ways Hiring a Temp Can Prepare Your Business for the Christmas Period

At this time of year, companies tend to fall into two broad categories, those who trade throughout the Christmas period, like hospitality and retail, and those who shut down for a couple of weeks.

However, this year, it sounds like there will be fewer businesses in the latter category.

With all the disruptions we’ve had throughout the year, instead of shutting down, many businesses have decided to stay open.

Regardless, of what you’ve decided to do, the Christmas period is always a unique time and hiring a temp (or temps) can help you navigate and get the most out this time of year.

1. Keep on Top of the Christmas Rush

There are not many organisations that are quiet in the lead up to the end of the year. Even if you’re not in hospitality or retail, you’re often busy completing work and trying to get projects finished before Christmas.

Like no other time of year, Christmas provides a hard deadline and a crazy amount of work to be completed before you, or your clients, take a break.

You don’t want to run your staff into the ground, and you definitely can’t let your clients or customers down.

Hiring more staff is an option but, with January likely to be quiet, you may not have enough work to justify their cost in the long term.

So, with higher levels of work and a short time to get everything done, hiring a temp to take on some of this work is a fantastic alternative.

Able to be hired for as long as you need them, they give you the flexibility to handle the Christmas rush and alleviate the stress of your team.

2. Experienced and Available

When you’re busy, and your staff are stretched, you don’t have time to train new employees.

The benefit of hiring a temp is they are used to working in this type of environment, likely have the skills and experience that you need, and are very good at picking things up quickly.

And, because they’re being provided by a temp agency who has done all the reference checks and verified their capability, you can trust that you’re getting an excellent (temporary) addition to your team.

Another bonus is that, in most cases, you can have a temp working in your businesses within a very short space of time. So, you can have any staffing gaps filled almost immediately.

3. No Additional Admin

There is a lot that goes into the administration side of having staff.

The advantage of hiring a temp is that you don’t have to worry about any of this, because the temp agency that you work with takes care of everything.

For example, they don’t need to be added to your payroll system. Instead, the temp agency invoices you for the hours the temp works at a fixed hourly rate.

And, if you are struggling with keeping up with your admin during the Christmas period, you can hire a temp to help out and get this under control!

4. Cover Staff Heading on Early Christmas Breaks

We touched on this in our last blog post. Temps make excellent cover for employees that are on leave.

With the year we’ve had, it’s not surprising if staff want to head off earlier in December on holidays or to see family around the country.

Usually, having people away at this time would put even more pressure on your team. However, if you hire a temp to cover, everything can continue to run smoothly, and your employee can have a well-deserved break.

Give Your Business Flexibility and Agility this Christmas

Temps can play an essential role in helping your business navigate busy periods – like Christmas – helping you manage increased workloads, and covering staff who head off on holiday early.

Crucially, they are experienced, available when you need them for as long as you need them, and your temp agency, like us, takes care of all their admin and payroll.

To see how a temp could benefit your business, contact us on begin@origintalent.co.nz or phone (09) 302 0647.