How should retailers best on-board seasonal staff?
Mary Gordon and Kim McCutcheon
Through a special arrangement, what follows is an article from the blog of Graff Retail.
With summer just around the corner, many retailers are in full-force seasonal hiring mode. Yet beyond finding solid candidates to work your selling floor, shouldn’t it be just as important to train them?
Here are some ideas to get your seasonal staff up to speed quickly and efficiently:
- Prepare a list of FAQ’s your seasonal staff should know before getting on the floor: Cover the basics on product, service and policies.
- Run a series of “mini-orientation” workshops: For a large number of seasonal hires, group training can be productive.
- Make seasonal staff feel like part of the team: Stay involved with your entire team, seasonal staff included.
- Give seasonal staff highly-structured tasks and roles: The more specific, the more likely they’ll succeed at doing it.
- Manage their performance from their start date: Constant reporting and strong supervision boost individual accountability for performance. Catch them “doing things right” early on.
- Make it worthwhile and fun: Use plenty of contests, incentives and games to provide incentive for engagement and performance. Showing recognition and appreciation for a job well done is also important.
Remember, you know they’re only seasonal staff, but your customers don’t and won’t care.