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Many companies rely on seasonal workers to bolster their customer service teams during busy times like the back-to-school season.
To customers, these agents are indistinguishable from regular employees. That is, of course, until they experience a service failure due to the seasonal employee’s lack of training.
To the company, these temporary employees are a bit different than the rest of the team. They often receive minimal training. They’re frequently grouped together, away from the rest of the team. Their direct supervisor might not be fully invested in their development.
In some cases, seasonal employees don’t have a direct supervisor at all. Those duties are left to someone from a temp agency. That person’s real job is to check people in for the day and quickly replace them if their job performance isn’t satisfactory.
It shouldn’t be a surprise that seasonal employees are plagued by high turnover and poor service.
You can avoid this disconnect by taking a few steps to position your seasonal customer service team for success.
Some companies skimp on training their seasonal workers. If a regular new hire requires six weeks of training, they might try to get by on three.
That just doesn’t make sense. How can you expect someone to be competent in their job if you only give them half the training they need?
A better solution is to simplify seasonal jobs. This allows you to reduce training time while still ensuring that seasonal workers are fully trained for the work they’ll be doing.
For example, if you have agents who handle multiple channels such as phone, email, and chat, you might train seasonal workers to only handle email inquiries. This gives other employees more availability to handle higher volume from other channels and it makes it easier for seasonal agents to provide great service.
Seasonal employees are often lost in the shuffle when it comes to direct supervision. Other supervisors are already maxed out with headcount and companies are reluctant to hire seasonal supervisors.
The result is seasonal agents are poorly managed. They receive very little feedback or direction, even though as new agents they need it the most.
Some companies view seasonal employees as expendable and let them go at the first hint of trouble. It seems like a convenient way to get rid of a potential problem, but it ignores the time and money already invested in helping that person become a productive member of the team.
Seasonal employees need proper supervision if you want them to succeed. They need any experienced manager who can offer coaching, guidance, and regular feedback.
Many companies have had success bringing back the same seasonal employees year after year.
There are numerous advantages: They require less training. These employees are more likely to provide great service because they’ve already proven their performance. They’re often less expensive to recruit if you already have a relationship with them.
Some companies make note of their best seasonal performers and keep in touch with them throughout the year.
Another approach is to partner with an organization whose seasonal needs run counter to yours. This allows you to share an entire workforce and keep them throughout the year.
Other companies in-source their seasonal employees by tapping into other departments for temporary help. This approach has the added benefit of helping people who wouldn’t normally come into contact with a customer become much more customer connected.
Hiring seasonal workers is a necessary strategy for many organizations. It can be expensive and time-consuming to hire, train, and supervise these extra employees.
However, this isn’t a place to skimp on quality. It’s a cost of doing business. And, in the long run, providing customers with poor service during busy times will be far costlier.
Jeff Toister is the author of Service Failure: The Real Reasons Employees Struggle with Customer Service and What You Can Do About It, a book that reveals hidden obstacles to outstanding service. His company, Toister Performance Solutions Inc. helps clients identify these obstacles so they can improve customer service.
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