The holiday season brings some of the highest activity levels of the year for retail and hospitality. When demand spikes and expectations rise, the right seasonal staffing approach can empower your people to do their best work, driving stronger business results.
In this article, we explore how you can improve your seasonal scheduling strategy, highlighting opportunities to better employee experiences, unlock potential, and set your seasonal workforce up for success.
1. Use data-driven forecasting to stay ahead
When the festive rush hits, planning with precision is what sets thriving businesses apart. Imagine walking into the season with clarity – knowing exactly how many people you need per shift, when demand will peak, how extended trading hours will impact workloads.
Data makes this possible. By using workforce management software to analyse previous trends, current sales figures, and customer foot traffic, you can prepare for what’s next with confidence.
For instance, if a store knows that they typically see a 30% increase in foot traffic the week before Christmas Day, they can schedule more employees during those days to avoid long wait times and disgruntled customers.
And by integrating external systems – such as booking or sales tracking applications – with your workforce management software, businesses can take advantage of predictive modelling and forecasting tools to accurately determine staff requirements for each shift, ensuring that they stay ahead of the curve.
2. Give your teams greater flexibility over scheduling
Flexibility is now an expectation – not a perk. It signals that you genuinely value your employees’ work-life balance, empowering them to perform at their best during the busy holiday season.
So how can you make flexibility part of the everyday work experience?
By leveraging mobile-friendly workforce management software, you can offer your employees greater autonomy in terms of shift swaps, time-off requests, and upcoming availability.
Rather than making endless phone calls to find someone to cover their shift, employees can easily request time off and manage their schedules with just a few clicks on the mobile app. It’s that simple.
3. Strengthen your communication system
Clear communication is integral to effective seasonal scheduling. It’s what connects employees to management and, ultimately, ensures that everyone is on the same page.
With last-minute changes in shift schedules at Christmas time, important announcements, or updates to company policies, it is essential to have a reliable communication system in place.
Email or messaging tools can help, but an internal communications platform built into your workforce management system takes it to the next level – giving your people a clear, unified view of what’s happening and when.
With alerts and notifications sent directly to your employees’ devices, everyone can stay informed and up-to-date on any shift changes, avoiding confusion and unnecessary stress.
Automated reminders for upcoming shifts and team-specific communication groups make it even easier to share updates with the right people at the right time, keeping operations running smoothly. Because when communication flows, so does success.
4. Build a contingency plan
During the holiday season, businesses must prepare for contingencies – such as increased employee sickness and holiday requests – to ensure that they are always equipped for what’s next.
One of the best ways to plan ahead is to ensure you organise a pool of backup employees who can step in when needed. This could include trained seasonal hires or past employees ready to help during peak periods.
Adding their skills, qualifications, and competencies to your workforce management system ensures that they are assigned to the right shifts and have the necessary skills to handle any task.
This not only guarantees that all shifts are covered but also creates a sense of security and support for your employees, enabling them to focus on what they do best – keeping customers happy.
Conclusion
By leveraging technology, data, and proper contingency planning, businesses can create more desirable, efficient schedules for employees, helping them reach their full potential, while achieving stronger business results.
What’s next raises the bar on employee happiness
This holiday season and beyond, our HR and workforce management solutions are here to support your organisation by empowering exceptional employee experiences.
