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How to Effectively Bring in Temporary Employees This Holiday Season
Nov 7th, 2018

With winter on our doorsteps, some employers are looking to staff up for the season. Unfortunately, bringing in new, fixed-term employees isn’t as simple as it may have once been. Now, employers have a number of factors to take into consideration when bringing in these employees.
Employment Contracts (and terminations)
When crafting an employment agreement for a fixed-term contract, it’s important to highlight when the employment relationship will end. For example, the completion of a task or the set duration of time/specific date for which employment will be terminated. Any sort of ambiguity in this verbiage may not hold up in court, and an employee may not truly be “terminated” following the contract. For an example of this happening, check out the case linked below.
Make sure your contract with fixed-term employees is crafted by clearly disclosing the date the contract is complete or what task completion will look like.
Training
If a new employee is coming in to your organization for a relatively short period of time, it can be assumed that employers want this employee to hit the ground running in order to make the most of their time at work. Consequently, temporary workers are more likely to be injured while on the job when compared to their full-time equivalents.
So, why does it happen? Employees may not be receiving thorough training compared to their full-time counterparts. Training takes time and money, and if an employee is only going to be with the organization for a short period of time, some organizations may cut corners on training they may not deem to be important.
What can employers do? Plain and simple, have a standardized on-boarding procedure. This will help employers make sure their due diligence is complete and all boxes are checked off for ensuring employees perform their roles safely and effectively.
For on-call assistance with building an on-boarding program, or if you have questions about what training should be standardized for all full-time and contract employees, add Selectpath HR Connection to your resources and connect with one of our experienced HR Advisors today!
To read about a case regarding seniority growth for seasonally fixed-term employees, check out: https://www.canlii.org/en/on/onlrb/doc/2013
For more information about the issue of safety with temporary workers, check out: https://canadasafetycouncil.org/safety-and-the-temporary-worker/
