Why should you put time and energy into addressing how a business welcomes part-time or temporary people into the workforce, and supports them as they contribute? For one thing, after recent changes to United States health insurance laws, there are many more part-time and temporary people on the books, as companies severely limit their full-time hiring. But really, in any economy, there shouldn’t be any question of why companies should motivate part-timers, temporary employees and contractors, and make everybody feel welcome and included.

Staffing Issues

When companies take a hands-off approach to supporting and cultivating part-time and temporary workers, and only worry about their full-time staff, bad things often happen. Lots of companies struggle with turnover in general — people leave, and they need to have people coming in. In a competitive business world, companies need to attract the best and brightest people in their industries, but they also need to have a large enough staff to handle their daily operations. When so many of the part-time and temporary people who make the business work feel like they’re not valued, they flee, and the business often sags under the weight of staffing and scheduling pressures.

How to Change the Equation on Part-Time and Temporary Morale

There are a number of comprehensive ways that businesses can make sure that they spare themselves the pain of dealing with a crumbling workforce. Help make part-timers and tempers feel valued, and your business can really soar as it grows and expands with a reliable workforce in place.

Orientation and Training

People have to have adequate training. There are really two parts to this — on the one hand, you draw people in and make them feel welcome, which is significantly important in nearly any business. You let them know about the corporate culture and invite them to really take part in what the business is doing, not just show up for a while and do some menial tasks. At the same time, you have to be training people in practical logistics, like safety and the technical aspects of doing their jobs. The best business leaders understand that no job is too small — whether you’re doing data entry or scanning documents or putting physical items into boxes, everything that people do in the business has value – otherwise, nobody would be paying them to do it.

Job Flexibility

This is where the idea of real contribution by part-timers and temporary people comes in.

The idea is that you give everybody job flexibility — full timers and part-timers both get breaks. They both get managers who are attentive about the schedule, and accommodate vacations and sick days, etc. They both get choices in when they want to work, and the assurance that they’ll have enough hours to feed their families.

The irony is that most businesses only achieve this job flexibility by hiring part-time workers and temporary workers. It’s hard to do it only with a full-time staff, because companies don’t tend to overhire, so they only have schedules filled on paper. Then there is no flexibility in the schedule, and nobody can ever leave. It’s amazing how many businesses fall into this trap — they just don’t have enough backup.

Incentives

Another way to motivate part-timers and temporary people is incentives. Full timers don’t need incentives as much, because they have somewhat privileged positions that the company has invested in. But it’s not a bad idea to give everyone incentives — this can include appreciation gift cards, chances for career advancement, and other things that keep people motivated and working for a particular company over time.

About Full Steam Staffing

Full Steam Staffing is a full-service employment agency focused on providing clerical and light industrial staffing solutions to manufacturers, distribution centers and other organizations that need qualified, reliable workers. If you are looking for a new job in Modesto, California, browse our available opportunities or contact our team today!