A Guide to Seasonal Hiring: Full-Time and Part-Time Employees

Overview

• How seasonal workers can help during your busy times of the year
• Save money and reduce risk through seasonal hiring
• Your legal obligations regarding pay and overtime

At certain times of the year, companies need to do seasonal hiring to keep up with the volume of business. Seasonal workers might be used in the summer to help at a resort with an increased number of vacationers, for example, or at an office to fill in while full-time employees are on leave.

Qualified seasonal employees are often required for all jobs, from accounting firms during the tax season to florists on Mother’s Day. But the single biggest demand is by retailers during the holiday season. As the U.S. Department of Labor points out: “For many retailers, the holiday shopping season is a ‘make-or-break’ period, which can define their bottom lines for the entire year. Temporary and part-time employment spikes as retailers and other businesses increase staffing to accommodate their seasonal increase in business.”

How many hours do seasonal employees work? What are the benefits of using seasonal workers? Who qualifies for temporary positions? What legalities do you have to keep in mind? This article will answer all of these questions and more.

You might think that seasonal employees and seasonal workers sound similar enough on paper. And the truth is, both terms do indeed share some overlapping meanings. But legally, the Affordable Care Act (ACA) draws particular distinctions between what constitutes a seasonal employee vs. a seasonal worker as outlined in the Employer Shared Responsibility (ESR) provisions.

Seasonal employees are temporary workers customarily employed for six months or less. The "employee" in their name owes to their traditional W2 status. Like traditional employees, they are generally entitled to some benefits, such as health insurance, and may be granted additional benefits, such as paid time off or vacation days. Owing to the "seasonal" in their name, the IRS distinguishes that their employment "begins each calendar year in approximately the same part of the year, such as summer or winter.”

Seasonal workers, on the other hand, are a subsection of the workforce who perform labor or services on a seasonal basis for less than 120 days in a calendar year. They typically are independent contractors or consultants, meaning they do not receive the same benefits as traditional employees. However, it's important to remember that both part-time seasonal workers and seasonal employees are subject to the same tax withholding rules that apply to other employees.

In judging whether a job is considered seasonal, you can use a couple of common criteria. First, is the period of employment under six months? Usually, summer work is about three or four months long, and something like providing help to flower shops on Mother’s Day could only be a few days.

The second thing to consider is whether you need this help at the same time every year. The summer, winter holidays, tax season, and so on have seasonal activities that occur annually.

While college interns hired by postsecondary institutions during summer breaks, accountants temporarily hired during the tax season, and retail sales clerks employed during the holiday rush are all seasonal staff hires, some part-time workers don’t fall under this category. For example, graduate interns hired for 12-month internships, computer programmers hired for two-month contracts to complete special projects, or a consultant hired for a few months for a particular job would not be considered seasonal workers.

Whether you’re a brick-and-mortar store, an ecommerce operation, or some other kind of business, chances are there are a lot of seasonal workers out there willing and qualified to help you. Online shopping giants like Amazon have a huge demand for seasonal hires.

Some of the most common types of seasonal worker jobs include:

• Seasonal retail work
• Holiday drivers (for companies like FedEx, for example)
• Resort holiday jobs
• Warehouse associates
• Customer service reps
• Summer camp counselors
• Tax season work
• Travel guides
• Production workers
• Stockers and order fillers at fulfillment centers

Some of the benefits of seasonal hiring for businesses include:

• Flexibility. You only need to do seasonal hiring when needed, easily adjusting your workforce size according to demand. You don’t need to pay full-time salaries or worry about layoff notices since seasonal workers are, by definition, temporary.
• Payroll savings. With seasonal workers, employers often pay lower wages than full-time salaries, and in some cases, don’t pay part-time workers benefits. If seasonal workers only put in part-time hours, they also may not receive overtime pay.
• Reduce risk. Regarding full-time employment, hiring carries a certain risk because if the employee doesn’t work out, it could be costly and difficult to let them go. Since seasonal workers are temporary, you have no obligation to rehire someone the next year, and you don’t have to put forth the same level of energy hiring temp workers as you would with full-time ones.
• Trial employment. As a business, you could use seasonal hiring as a method to try out job seekers temporarily during a heavy work period and to see if you want to offer them extended or full-time employment. Or, if your business only runs a certain number of months of a year, you can rehire the best-performing workers from the previous season when you reopen.
• Boost morale. If your permanent staff is frazzled during a peak busy period — trying to meet difficult deadlines and working a lot of overtime — hiring seasonal workers could boost morale by shouldering the workload. The extra help can also provide a better customer experience.

Businesses that rely on seasonal workforces face a series of unique challenges when it comes time to hire. When business peaks, and you have to look outside your team to supplement existing staff, you don't want the quality of your workforce to suffer as a result. These seasonal hires will represent your company in some capacity, so they must reflect the same core values that full-time workers do, or else problems may arise.

To avoid these pitfalls, here are some tips on how to hire the best seasonal employees.

Some companies rely on a glut of people looking to make an extra buck, so their job descriptions are scant on details — possibly forgoing compensation entirely. To stand out from the pack, try including competitive hourly wages in a prominent position in the job posting.

Another smart move is highlighting any benefits or perks your company offers its seasonal workforce. Some benefits to consider are flexible schedules, employee discounts, and bonuses for those who work undesirable days, like on holidays.

This one might seem like a no-brainer, but boomerang hiring — or rehiring former employees from previous years — can save time, money, and energy. Hiring a brand-new workforce every busy season is woefully inefficient. Streamline the process by offering incentives to previous workers, like raising employee discounts by X% if they return for another season.

Similarly, you could provide a gift card or similar incentive to any trustful employees who recruit from within their family circle or friend group. This way, you'll have a better idea of their aptitude prior to screening.

Since seasonal employees work in limited windows, it's tempting to save on short-term costs by offering a watered-down version of your company's HR processes. Don't. Problems can quickly arise, such as repeatedly fielding questions from confused workers to getting penalized by labor laws. Instead, utilize your regular HR system to bring them quickly up to speed in the right way, while simultaneously making sure everything is documented and air-tight.

Seasonal workers are employed across a range of various industries and disciplines that have nothing to do with one another, from manual labor to accounting and retail. However, the defining trait of these gigs is their impermanence, which means that oftentimes, the best candidates never apply, and companies have to make do with greenhorns. In any case, it's wise to add pre-screening questions to your applications to better pre-qualify your candidates.

The benefits of hiring skilled professionals cannot be overstated. Some positive outcomes include reducing onboarding time and adding another leader with relevant experience. The net positive is oftentimes felt across the entire team.

To better evaluate a large applicant pool efficiently, you might need to get creative with your interview process. Group interviews can be an effective way to save time while also evaluating your candidates. Grouping five or more individuals together to answer questions and engage in group exercises can quickly reveal who can work on a team, and who is best cut out for the role.

When it comes time to interview, don't let the temporary nature of the job cloud your decision-making. Workers should have the right aptitude, yes, but if their attitude is disagreeable, they might not mesh well with your team. When it comes down to it, the people you hire will represent your company, even if only for a season. Make sure they add value to your team and aren’t just a warm body there to do a temporary job.

When hiring seasonal employees, some businesses wonder how much they need to pay for salaries and whether they’re obliged to pay overtime and benefits.

Most employment laws, except the Family and Medical Leave Act (FMLA), apply to seasonal workers. Of particular note is the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA), which requires businesses to pay covered non-exempt employees at least the federal minimum wage per hour for all hours worked and overtime pay for all additional time worked over 40 hours in a workweek. Overtime is one-and-a-half times their regular hourly rate.

While the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour, jobs that require more expertise will usually require higher pay rates. Even entry-level seasonal jobs in high demand during peak busy times may require more competitive salaries to attract those doing a job search. An online salary search could tell you how much you need to pay to attract workers.

The short answer is: yes — but it depends on how much they work and for how long, as well as the company's size.

The ACA mandates that all applicable large employers (ALE) provide health insurance to their full-time employees. Your company is an ALE if you have 50 or more full-time equivalent (FTE) employees. Unlike the FLSA, the ACA is pretty clear on who’s considered full-time: employees who work 30-plus hours per week. So under these circumstances, full-time seasonal workers employed by ALEs would be entitled to health insurance.

If your staff includes 50 or more FTE workers for not more than 120 days per year, and if the workers who take you over that threshold of 50 are temporary, your business won’t be considered an ALE — meaning it won’t be subject to the ACA’s employer mandate of providing health insurance.

The duration of a seasonal job is dependent on the needs of the employer. Retail companies may only require seasonal employees for a couple of months during peak times around the holidays, while agricultural operations might require assistance for six-month stints. Likewise, the duration that seasonal employees will work depends on the task and situation. Their work might consist of five hours a week or upwards of 30 or more.

When deciding how many hours constitute full-time or part-time employment, the FLSA usually leaves that up to the employers. But in practice, many businesses consider 32 hours of work a week as full-time hours. Anything less is usually considered part-time.

The FLSA doesn’t require payment for time not worked, such as vacations, sick leave, or holidays. These benefits, or lack thereof, are decided in an agreement between the employer and the employee.

Whether you’re looking to fill permanent positions, need seasonal workers, or other types of help, the best place to find a qualified candidate is Joblist. Built by recruiting, human resources, and technology experts, Joblist provides access to tens of thousands of potential candidates across the country — both entry-level and highly experienced — many with the qualifications you’re looking for.

Posting a job is simple. Enter basic information about your job, upload your logo, and answer questions about whether the job is part or full-time, in-house, or remote. You should also include the type of compensation and a full job description, then wait for the right job seekers to apply for the seasonal help you so dearly need.