We’re not talking travel insurance or sunscreen, although both of those are important during the summer months when people jet off on their holidays! We’re talking work cover. It’s common for workplaces to feel the strain during the summer months, with their workforce often taking extended annual leave for summer holidays, or to cover childcare during school holidays. But how do you mitigate that strain?

The simple answer is to use a temp to cover!

Those in the know, who’ve been utilising temp cover for a while, understand it is a no-brainer, but those who are new to the idea it can seem like a daunting and expensive task.

At RE Recruitment, our team of temps are exactly that – a team. Our team. We know them, we’ve interviewed and referenced them, and they work for us across a variety of assignments. They’re not just anyone off the street, these are professionals who choose to work in this way for variety and flexibility.

Our temps are adept at hitting the ground running, adaptable and friendly, and slot into a team seamlessly to keep the wheels turning even when you’re a team member down. As we supply in excess of 1,000 temps per week across our entire business, we have a substantial team and can definitely find the right fit for your business!

The best way to ensure a great experience when using temporary cover is to plan in advance. Book in the week(s) you need and if there’s more intricate understanding required, add in a half-day handover shift to reassure your team that you’re covering the holiday with a safe, and known, pair of hands.

You have to look a bit deeper at the way in which a temporary employee makes financial sense, because at surface level you’re looking at additional cost. What you need to do is look at the financial impact of operating with a team member down. Delays on payments, overstretched teams covering the gap letting customer service standards slip, things being missed because no one is there to cover them…the list goes on. This all has a long-term impact on your customer experience, and those affected by a short-term gap in your workforce may then look to go elsewhere in the future.

From an employee retention perspective, using temp cover is a sensible idea too. If an employee feels that they are able to take their annual leave without having to find a way to get all of that week’s work done before they go and after they return, they feel valued and invested in by their employer, and are more likely to remain with the company that looks after them by providing cover for their annual leave. Annual leave should be time an employee can switch off and relax, able to return to the workplace refreshed and ready to go. Not somewhere they’re dreading returning to because they know there is a whole week’s worth of work to catch up on due to their absence! Hiring a temp mitigates all of this, and strengthens the employer-employee relationship.

If you’ve never thought about hiring a temp to cover holiday, but find the summer months with lots of annual leave do create a bit of a pinch point for you, contact one of the RE Recruitment team today to talk through your individual circumstances and let us advise you on the best plan of action. We want to work with you, so let us know your budget and your requirements and we’ll do the rest to ensure business operations remain cool and calm even when the weather is hotting up!