Temporary Recruitment: Managing Timesheets for Seasonal Staff

If you run a seasonal business, you'll likely see huge fluctuations in your staff numbers throughout the year. Whether you employ your seasonal team on temporary contracts, or use subcontractors through an external agency, you'll need to keep track of their schedule and ensure everyone is paid for the hours they work.

Step 1: Allow your seasonal workers to track time easily

When new contractors or temps start working for you, they'll need to be quickly onboarded and start recording their time with you straight away.

Using a digital time tracking solution makes this easier - rather than needing to wait for new swipe cards or key fobs to arrive, your team managers can simply add new employees to the system with a few key details and let them clock in straight away. With TimeKeeper's tablet kiosk mode, this can all be done on site via your tablet, so doesn't require back and forth phone calls to head office to get new employees on board.

Step 2: Schedule shifts and update your team

Depending on the nature of your business, you might need temporary staff to fill in during a Christmas rush, or need to expand your team through the summer to keep up with demand.

Either way, you'll need to ensure your temporary staff know when they're required, and you'll need to keep on top of your staffing requirements using rota planning software.

Cloud-based rota software allows you to organise your schedule, then publish it to your employees - who are notified straight away and can view their shifts on their mobile. Using a digital rota rather than old fashioned pen and paper means you can be much more flexible with your scheduling; for example, if one of your team lets you know they're unavailable, you can quickly assign their shifts to another employee and notify them instantly.

Step 3: Keep secure records of everyone's hours

The purpose that timesheets serve for your temporary team members can vary, depending on how they're employed.

If you employ your seasonal workers directly, you'll need their timesheets in order to process payroll and ensure they receive the correct pay, including any holiday pay and overtime.

For agency workers, their timesheet can be used to generate an invoice for their hours. Although these workers aren't employed by you directly, it's handy to have a record of the work they did for you, and when, which can be forwarded on to the relevant agencies.

Having a clear record of the hours worked in your business across your busy periods also helps with strategic planning for next year, helping you make better hiring decisions in the future.

Keeping a record of everyone's hours can also prove very valuable when disputes arise - you may even opt for GPS stamped time tracking, which proves without doubt whether your team was on site, on time.

💡Temporary Timesheet Tips

Use flexible software for your fluctuating teams

If your business is flexible, your time tracking solution should be too. It's best to opt for a solution which allows you to add new employee licences part way through your billing cycle, and only charges you for the time they're active.

This means you'll only pay for each employee's account for the time they're using it - saving you huge amounts of money if your turnover of temporary employees each week or month is very high.

Get organised ahead of time

If you're planning to hire more seasonal workers soon, it's a good idea to trial your chosen timesheet solution in advance, to make the onboarding experience as smooth as possible.