Does your business experience peak customer service periods? Maybe spring is one of them, after a seasonal slowdown during the cold weather months.
How do you effectively manage meet customer demands during these high-volume times? Temporary staffing can be your best solution, as it provides a flexible workforce that you can scale up and down based on your current needs.
When customer wait times increase, service levels suffer and your permanent employees are stretched to the brink, leading to a risk of frustration, burnout and ultimately, turnover. You may even lose valuable clients as a result. Temporary staffing allows you to relieve pressure on your existing employees while maintaining service quality and keeping costs under control.
Benefits of Temporary Staffing During Peak Season
Scalability
Temporary employees can join—and be terminated from—your team on short notice, offering you staffing flexibility to align your workforce precisely with customer needs.
Quick Onboarding
Temporary agencies pre-vet candidates with the skills you need, so you avoid expending costly onboarding time and resources.
Access to Specialized Skills
Staffing firms maintain a vast, diverse network of candidates, so you can quickly source specialized talent on demand. For instance, if working with customers across borders, your agency can provide multilingual employees to help you better connect and build brand loyalty.
Fresh Perspectives
You can integrate temporary workers with your permanent staff so they benefit from new viewpoints, innovations, industry developments, and perspectives. For instance, during a new product launch, temporary and permanent team members can collaborate on creative troubleshooting and other operational methods.
All this adds up to cost-effectiveness, as you pay only for temporary staff as needed – avoiding the cost of maintaining a large permanent workforce year-round.
How to Best Utilize Temporary Staff During Customer Service Peaks
Identify Your Peak Periods
By analyzing historical data, you can predict when your peak customer service periods will occur. Then, you can adapt temporary roles to address your most urgent needs as you complete operational and budget planning.
Set Clear Expectations
Communicate with both permanent and temporary employees to set clear expectations and build an atmosphere of trust, teamwork, and success. Regularly provide feedback to help temps adjust and feel connected. With everyone on your staff, maintain an open-door policy to keep two-way communication flowing.
Monitor Temporary Employee Performance
Just as you do with permanent employees, monitor the performance of your temporary employees to identify areas of improvement and maintain quality standards. With temps, you have the added advantage of evaluating them on the job for possible permanent hire, if they meet your requirements and that’s part of your long-term plan.
Need Help Hiring During Peak Season?
Working with an agency that specializes in customer service staffing solutions, you’ll benefit from a business partner who knows your company and its culture and offers quality candidates who can contribute from day one. In the Central Valley, let that partner by PrideStaff Fresno. Contact us today to benefit from our vast talent network and customer service insight and experience.
