Tips for hiring seasonal workers

SY expert stresses the importance of due diligence when recruiting.

Tourism business owner Jarkko Kuusisto, who has operated in Levi for 20 years, knows how to recruit and hold onto seasonal workers. Kuusisto runs businesses including Levi’s oldest panoramic restaurant, Peak Lapland Tuikku.

“The main thing is to ensure that your staff enjoy their jobs. I try to make sure that the same workers return season after season.”

Tourism companies are currently recruiting for the coming winter season.

“The company culture should ensure that the job is not just a transitory one for the worker, but a job they want to come back to and recommend to others. You can also achieve permanence by investing in year-round operations.”

Kuusisto uses a temping agency which can offer seasonal workers other work off-season. The worker usually signs their contract with the temping agency. In the peak months, Kuusisto’s company has around 15 seasonal workers and four permanent employees.

“It’s important to keep employees and find enough other work for them so they can plan their future. From the perspective of Kittilä municipality, it’s essential to get the workers and their families to move to Kittilä and stay living there. Then the whole area does well. Often, the problem is that the employees just come to Lapland for the winter and then return home.”

Kuusisto recommends that companies seeking seasonal employees start recruiting early. He says they should invest in constant employee training.

“Of course, the training could be wasted if the worker immediately goes somewhere else. I’m happy that I’ve managed to keep people at work. It means the know-how doesn’t leave with them. Even though the employee is only working for the season, they should feel that they matter.”

Tips from an expert at Suomen Yrittäjät, the Finnish SME association

1. Be early and carefully chart roles

Businesses should start recruiting seasonal employees early. As early as possible, decide what roles you know you will need extra workers for during peak season. Think about what doing those roles will demand and the type of worker you are looking for, as well as whether a certain season will demand special traits or work-related requirements. Also think about whether your company will hire the workers directly or whether you will use a temping agency.

2. Do the recruitment carefully

A company should be just as careful when recruiting seasonal workers as when recruiting other workers. At the recruitment stage, ensure that the worker understands the nature of their duties, working hours, and any variations in working hours. Ensure that job applicants are clearly informed about the practices needed in the job and the workplace. Use external help for recruitment, if necessary.

When hiring, remember to inform the unsuccessful candidates that they did not get the job this time around. That gives a good, professional image of the employer. An unsuccessful applicant may well be interested in applying or other jobs at the same company later.

3. Draw up a written employment contract

You should draw up an employment contract in writing, even if the job is only short term and seasonal. The employment contract should contain, as a minimum, wages, working hours and how they are determined, responsibilities, start date and duration of employment, collective agreement, if applicable, as well as the grounds for a fixed-term contract.

Also, check if the collective agreement contains any obligations regarding young employees or requirements related to wages.

4. Onboard employees diligently

You should orientate your peak-season employees just as diligently as your other employees, even if they are only working for you short-term. If the work is remote or can be done remotely, it is extremely important to diligently orientate the employee in the role, (remote work) practices, and the technical procedures and tools of the job.

Make sure that new employees are also included and made part of the team in their work.

5. Remember payslips and an employment certificate

You must always issue a payslip when paying wages, as you do to other employees. When the seasonal worker’s employment ends, remember to give them an employment certificate and talk to them about future employment needs as well as any possible future openings.

Tips provided by Suomen Yrittäjät specialist Atte Rytkönen-Sandberg.

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