If you own a seasonal business, such as a day camp, amusement park, or pool cleaning company, you rely on your summer employees to operate. But what if you’re a year-round business and experience increased customer demands during the summer? Or perhaps your staff requests time off for vacations and childcare responsibilities, leaving you short-handed or upset that they can’t take time off they’ve earned? Hiring summer employees is an option you may want to consider. Seasonal employees can be a viable solution for keeping your business—and your team’s morale—strong during the summer. They can support your business during peak times and fill in gaps to help mitigate scheduling conflicts. Here are some summer hiring pros and cons regarding payroll management, overtime, training, and more.
Summer seasonal hiring pros
Cost-effective payroll
Wages vary depending on the type of industry, but seasonal employees are often part-time or earn lower rates than your permanent team. You’ll be staffing up, but the costs won’t be as high as your regular full-time employees. Plus, the expenses are temporary, so any added payroll costs will only be incurred during those months your seasonal hires are employed.
That being said, you’ll still need to adhere to any federal, state, and local employment laws, including Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA) regulations that dictate laws for minimum wage, overtime, recordkeeping, and child labor.
Thinking of ramping up your staff with seasonal employees? Calculate their potential pay with a paycheck calculator to estimate your small business payroll costs.
It can boost business and make you more competitive
More staff can help you keep pace with your busy season demands so that you can continue providing the top-notch service your loyal patrons expect—and that will attract new customers and turn them into regulars. Whether you run a full-service restaurant, ice cream shop, or landscaping business, seasonal hires could make you more competitive and boost your business and its reputation well beyond the summer.
Increases the morale of your year-round team
Seasonal employees can alleviate some burdens off your year-round team members, who may request paid time off during the summer months. Your temporary hires may also be more open to working weekends or late shifts. This scheduling adaptability gives your full-time employees added flexibility that can enhance morale, prevent burnout, and improve productivity when they return to their job refreshed and recharged.
Summer seasonal hiring cons
Training issues
Your seasonal workforce needs to be onboarded quickly, which can be stressful for both the new employees and their training managers. As managers dedicate time to getting the summer hires up to speed, their focus will temporarily be taken away from some of their regular tasks.
Less loyal
Most seasonal employees are hard-working and eager to learn, but there are others who won’t be as committed to your business simply because they know they’re temporary. They may lack motivation and loyalty. Competitive pay and respectful treatment, combined with expectation-setting early in their training, can help incentivize workers and establish proper guidelines for your processes and professional work environment.
Recordkeeping and overtime requirements
Seasonal employees for year-round businesses (with the exception of landscapers) are usually non-exempt, which means they are entitled to overtime pay. According to the U.S. Department of Labor, non-exempt workers can receive overtime pay for any hours worked over 40 hours in one workweek. At a minimum, overtime pay should be time and one-half of their regular pay rates.
To ensure compliance with overtime requirements and other labor laws, the FLSA requires that you track the following:
- Time and day of the week when the employee’s work week starts
- Hours worked each day
- Total hours worked each week
- How the employee’s wages are paid, for example, “$15 per hour” or “$500 per week”
- Regularly hourly pay rates
- Total daily or weekly straight-time earnings plus total weekly overtime earnings
- Employee’s full name, Social Security number, birthdate if younger than 19
- Additions to or deductions from the employee’s wages
- Total wages for each pay period
- Date of payment and the pay period covered by the payment
Remember, you’ll also need to comply with any other federal, state, and local laws regarding recordkeeping, wages, and overtime pay, which may be more stringent than the FLSA. Penalties for FLSA violations, such as unpaid minimum wages or unpaid overtime compensation, are subject to substantial penalties, including fines and imprisonment. Accurate recordkeeping can help prove that you have been compliant with laws.
Support summer hiring with small business payroll management software
Seasonal summer hiring doesn’t have to mean payroll and recordkeeping headaches. Consider how small business payroll management software could assist your team with a range of payroll, recordkeeping, and bookkeeping tasks. With plenty of features on one easy-to-use platform, payroll software can free up valuable time as it helps you do the following and more:
- Create, organize, and streamline the payroll reports you need for compliance
- Manage W-2 forms
- Calculate taxes automatically
- Track time, including overtime, as well as miles
- Automate payroll and customize pay stubs
- Manage 1099 contractors
Discover how a robust payroll software solution could support your year-round and seasonal employees so that you can turn up the heat on your business revenue this summer.