Seasonal business plan: staffing for peak season

What to take away

What peak week actually demands

Annual revenue hides the problem a seasonal business plan must solve. The busiest week sets the constraint, so start there and write down what that week has to deliver.

Convert each task into hours. Registers get transactions per hour, receiving gets cases per hour, the kitchen gets covers per hour. Add the task totals and you have peak week labor demand.

Last year's schedules are a useful check, not the answer. Weather, a new competitor or a changed opening date can move the peak by two weeks.

Example: staffing a 14-week garden center season

Peak week falls in the second week of May. Demand hours add up like this: The practical detail is set out in Business plan authoring how the sections.

One person gives you about 38 productive hours a week after breaks, opening and close-down. Divide 516 by 38 and you get 13.6, which rounds to 14 people on the schedule.

That is the target the seasonal staffing plan has to fill. It is not 14 hires, because returning staff already cover part of it.

Turn the target into a schedule, training calendar and funded trough; the hiring and capacity plan should connect each hire to the peak date.

Training lead time in a hiring plan for peak season

A new seasonal hire contributes very little in week one. Use a three-week ramp: in week one, orient the hire and have them shadow experienced staff; in week two, assign core tasks under supervision; in week three, check performance on routine work and schedule independent shifts only when the person is ready.

Offers therefore go out four weeks before peak week, leaving one week for interviews and paperwork. Miss that date and you pay twice: overtime plus a weaker opening.

Overtime versus hiring at the margin

Overtime costs 1.5 times the regular rate past 40 hours in a workweek for non-exempt staff, under the Fair Labor Standards Act. A few states, California among them, also require daily overtime after eight hours.

Compare the cost of one added hour. An overtime hour costs 1.5W, where W is the base wage. An hour from a new hire costs W for that person, plus a fixed cost F per hire.

Fixed cost F covers posting, screening, a uniform and paid training hours before the person works alone. Hire when 1.5W times overtime hours is greater than W times the new hire's hours, plus F.

Schedules that assume overtime every week are hiding a shortfall in headcount. Fixing the count is cheaper than carrying the premium all season.

Capacity limits that cap the peak week

Headcount is only one constraint. Capacity planning for a seasonal business means testing each limit on its own:

Treat each limit as a separate capacity test: express peak demand and the operating limit in the same units, then identify the smallest limit. Confirm occupancy against the permit and verify equipment and delivery limits with the relevant operating records; fire and life-safety requirements depend on the site and occupancy.

Seasonal cash flow planning and the off season

The cash trough arrives after peak week. Payroll taxes, inventory payables and card processing fees land before the season's receivables clear, so mark the lowest cash week on a calendar.

Working capital lines under the SBA 7(a) program cover that gap, and lenders want the monthly projection that shows the trough.

Then the retention decision. Keeping three returning people through four off months costs their wages plus payroll taxes. Replacing them each spring costs recruiting, training hours and weaker early sales. Run both numbers before cutting the crew.

Common questions