Prepare in Advance for Holiday Hiring Needs
Black Friday has evolved from a single day of shopping into a multi-week retail event, marking the start of the year’s busiest season. As retailers roll out early deals ahead of Thanksgiving and extend promotions past Cyber Monday, Black Friday remains the top in-store shopping event, drawing over 81 million consumers. And, because of the tremendous demand it generates, retailers have to staff up well before Thanksgiving. With so many businesses competing for top seasonal talent, early preparation ensures you’re ready to manage the influx of customers.
Black Friday is one of the most high-pressure shopping days of the year, with massive sales driving customers to line up for hours before opening. Whether helping customers, ringing up sales, or restocking shelves, having the correct number of people in the right roles is critical to success. While it may feel early, starting your holiday hiring strategy months in advance is essential to staying ahead. Waiting until the last minute to staff up can lead to missed opportunities, longer hiring timelines, and overwhelmed employees. The earlier you begin your hiring strategy, the better positioned you’ll be to meet the season’s demands with confidence and precision.
To help retailers prepare early and effectively, here’s a guide to building a strategic holiday hiring plan, from choosing the right staffing model to ensuring your team is ready for peak performance.
Consider Seasonal Hiring Strategies
Seasonal hiring is an innovative, flexible solution for managing the holiday rush without the long-term commitment of onboarding full-time associates. A temporary staffing approach allows retailers to scale up quickly while saving on training time and overhead costs.
Analyze past data and sales figures to determine how many seasonal hires your store needs. This exercise will help identify the busiest times and areas in the store, allowing for a more effective staffing plan. By looking at previous sales data, retailers can spot missed opportunities caused by understaffing and plan accordingly.
Ultimately, the goal is for those working on Black Friday to function as a well-oiled machine, with enough staff to maximize sales performance.
Set Up Staff for Excellence
When considering seasonal hiring for a major sales event, bring temporary workers in a few days early to familiarize themselves with the store layout, products, and team dynamics with permanent staff. Creating strong relationships between seasonal and permanent staff is key to a successful event.
Training should cover the essentials such as point-of-sale systems, product knowledge, and back-of-house operations. When training temporary workers, strike a balance between providing enough information and giving specific details about what they need to do. For instance, if someone is assigned to crowd control, explain that they should greet customers upon arrival and pair them with an associate. If they are working at the point of sale, walk them through each step of the checkout process carefully.
Finally, review the schedule in detail. Highlight the break and lunch times and clearly define the station for each team member throughout the day.
Don’t Get Caught Understaffed
Having extra staff on hand during peak shopping days like Black Friday is more than just a precaution; it’s a smart strategy. Being overstaffed is a good problem because things can get dicey when a store is understaffed. Additional staff can help manage unexpected situations.
Managers can always reallocate extra staff wherever needed, such as working back of house, cleaning inventory up, putting product out on the sales floor, or making sure the cash wrap is stocked with all the necessary supplies throughout the day.
Think Beyond Black Friday
When retailers plan for temporary help, they should also consider their needs before and after working on Black Friday. Temporary assistance with tasks such as inventory, customer service, marketing support, and brand positioning can help them prepare for any high-sales-volume fluctuations throughout the year.
Similar to temporary help working on Black Friday, this form of project, high-volume, or seasonal hiring can reduce overhead costs by minimizing onboarding and benefit expenses, allowing for cost-effective scaling while maximizing productivity.
Start Early for Peak Season Success
Black Friday can be a make-or-break event for many retailers. Because of this, retailers should have sufficient staffing in place to ensure a smooth and successful shopping experience for customers. Failing to adequately staff up leads to long lines, frustrated customers, and lost sales opportunities. That’s why it’s important to start thinking about your holiday hiring strategy months in advance. The earlier you begin, the more time you’ll have to onboard, train, and prepare your team to perform under pressure.
Atrium has been in the Talent Solutions business for over thirty years, and we understand the nature of retail staffing requirements. Whether you need sales associates on the floor or inventory support behind the scenes, we can help you build the right team for the season. Contact us today to learn how we can help you prepare for the holiday shopping season.
