The Christmas holidays are coming, probably you planned everything to meet the peak of sales. Depending on your sector, you will fill the warehouse, increase the seats or restock the shelves. Have you also thought about how to manage the staff during the holidays? To avoid gruelling shifts and unhappy workers, hire more people with flexible contract. You will have all the advantages and professionalism of an employee without the fixed annual costs.

Why hire more staff during the holiday season

During December every year, a very intense period for activities begins, which can turn into a boost for your business if managed in the right way. It starts with Black Friday and Cyber Monday and ends up in the New Year. For the logistics, food and beverage, retail, entertainment and hospitality industries, the Christmas holidays represent a peak in workloads. However, why hire more staff during the holiday season? There are many reasons and here are the most important.

Increased work

The main reason is clear: increased orders, sales and visitor numbers. This means that you are going to receive more demand than usual. To ensure the same level of service and product quality, hire more staff. This avoids potential complaints and guarantees the same user experience.

Customer Satisfaction

To increase customer satisfaction, you can create extra services that attract new potential customers and retain existing ones. One example is offering gift wrapping. By hiring freelancers, the work of the entire staff continues without slowing down.

Employee welfare

To maintain a high level of team cohesion and satisfaction, consider requests for holidays and time off. A flexible contract allows you to fill vacancies quickly and easily. You decide which shifts you want to cover with freelancers so that you can offer work on weekends or holidays.

How to use flexible contracting in your sector

Let’s explore how the implementation of flexible contracts is a winning strategy for dealing with work peaks during the holiday period and sales in any sector.

Retailers

If you have a shop, you can hire flexible staff to install the lights for the start and end of the Christmas season. You can offer the added service of personal shoppers. It can also be a nice idea also create a Santa’s house and elves corner.

Logistics

At this time of year, if you own an e-commerce business, you are likely to see an increase in orders. To meet the growing demand, you need to boost your logistics and stock management.

Catering

In the catering sector, you can increase the number of place settings. You can also consider the expansion or addition of a home delivery service. You can hire flexible delivery drivers. It is up to you to decide whether to provide company cars or to hire staff with their vehicles, such as bicycles, scooters or cars.

Hospitality

When your rooms are full, you need to expand your staff. You will be able to offer your guests the highest level of comfort during check-in, checkout and breakfast. You can also respond quickly to all kinds of needs. Whether it is ironing a shirt or providing information. You can also offer extra services such as wellness massages, tour guides or bike rides with a flexible working contract.

Entertainment

Museums, theme parks and cinemas are just a few of the entertainment venues that are likely to be sold out during the Christmas holidays. Hire more staff to meet the needs of visitors. Provide maximum safety and entertainment for customers.

These are just a few ideas to keep your business running over the festive season. With a flexible contract, you can hire staff only when needed, with no fixed costs.

hire with a flexible contact to wrap gifts

How to manage staff during the festive season

Now that we have established the need to increase staffing levels during the festive season and winter sales, let us take a quick look at five tips on how to manage your staff the best.

Plan in advance

The key to successfully managing the festive season is to plan. To avoid chaos and stress, a wise business owner must plan working hours, shifts and holidays. This preparation allows staff to be aware of expectations and helps maintain an efficient workflow, improving the overall customer experience.

Constant and clear communication

During this period of peak activity, communication must be constant and clear. Hold regular meetings to ensure staff are kept informed of targets, promotions and how to sell. Open communication reduces confusion, increases efficiency and promotes a collaborative working environment where everyone works towards common goals.

Flexible working hours

To help your team manage their commitments during the holidays, offer flexible working options. This flexibility promotes a better work-life balance while maintaining the company’s operational efficiency.

Prepare a contingency plan

If you work in business, you know that you must always have a solid contingency plan to deal with unforeseen situations at peak times. This could include training replacement staff, planning back-up shifts or dealing with unforeseen illness. A well-structured plan will ensure that your organisation is ready to deal with any crisis while maintaining business continuity.

Performance monitoring and feedback

During the sales and holiday season, it is vital to implement an effective performance monitoring and feedback system. Providing regular feedback to employees on their performance not only motivates them but also helps to identify and resolve any problems in real-time. This monitoring process helps to maintain high operational standards and promotes a culture of continuous learning.

Where to find holiday staff

If you have not yet considered taking on additional staff for the festive season, there is still time. Both employers and employees benefit from flexible working. But where do you find the right people? A safe and quick way is to rely on those who do it regularly for a living. At Jobby, we are specialists in helping businesses hire vetted and qualified freelance professionals.

Our smartphone app brings together job supply and demand. Within the digital platform, you can post jobs in minutes. You will instantly receive applications from freelancers who are interested in what you have to offer. Review and approve only those you are interested in.

On our platform, you can choose between senior profiles with more experience or young talent from the Gen Z generation. You can also do recruitment, shift management and payroll from the dashboard.

Activate your 7 days free trial and use the best platform for finding and managing flexible workers.  Use flexible labour as a winning strategy for peak holiday and winter seasons.