Some small businesses only operate during parts of the year, such as snow plow and lawn care services. These types of businesses are usually considered seasonal employers. The idea of hiring seasonal employees may sound appealing. But, you should weigh your pros and cons before you decide to become a seasonal employer.

Pros of hiring seasonal employees

Being a seasonal employer has its advantages. Check out some pros of hiring seasonal employees below.

Lower payroll costs

Payrollcan be a costly business expense, especially for businesses that operate year-round. As a seasonal employer, you can reduce payroll-related business expenses.

Seasonal employers typically operate for a few months at a time (e.g., four months during the summer). As a result, your business only incurs payroll expenses when you have employees.

When hiring seasonal help, seasonal employers may offer lower pay rates, as long as they meet minimum wage requirements and followseasonal employment laws. And because seasonal workers are typicallypart-time employees，他们可能没有足够的时间来接收overtime pay, cutting down on additional payroll costs.

Less risk and worry

Hiring new employees is always risky. Will they be hard workers? Are they reliable? Being a seasonal employer allows you to stress less about risky hiring decisions.

If you hire a seasonal employee and they aren’t a good fit, you don’t have to worry. Seasonal employees leave at the end of your business season. And, you have no obligation to rehire them.

You also don’t need to spend as much time stressing about thehiring process因为季节性员工是暂时的。

审判就业

If your business is open during peak seasons or on and off year-round, consider trial employment. Because seasonal workers are employed for a short period of time, use your peak season to test out employees.

如果您在忙碌的几个月里喜欢员工，则可以为他们提供额外的工作时间。对于不锻炼的员工，让他们在赛季结束时离开。

如果您的业务仅在今年的一部分中运作，则可以看到下个赛季要重新雇用哪些员工。

Cons of hiring seasonal employees

在雇用季节性员工之前，请考虑以下内容。

Uncommitted workers

因为季节性工人只在您的业务for a short amount of time, they may not take their job as seriously as other types of employees (e.g., full-time workers).

Seasonal hiring may result in unreliable, less motivated, and uncommitted employees.

You can avoid this disadvantage early on by clearly stating your expectations, rehiring reliable employees from previous seasons, and creating a fun work environment.

Less training

Training seasonal employees is usually a quick process. Due to little training, employees may be unprepared, stressed, or unable to keep up with the workload. And, less training may result in higher turnover rates.

Lack of loyalty

Many seasonal workers don’t have the same level of loyalty as employees with permanent就业类型. Nothing stops seasonal employees from switching to a different job with better pay,benefits for employees, and flexibility.

您无法控制季节性员工对您的业务的忠诚。但是，采取诸如提供有竞争力的工资或灵活的时间之类的措施可以阻止员工离开为另一家企业工作。

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This article is updated from its original publication date of 5/13/2011.

This is not intended as legal advice; for more information, please点击这里。