“[There’s a] greater sense of urgency to get[items] shipped quickly,without any sort of respite for a whole month. All while the postal service struggles to keep up with the increased global demand,” Whitney says.
Successfully fulfilling the volume of orders requires the small business to almost double the numbers of casual warehousing staff by adding two or three Christmas casuals to the roster in October and November.
“The people we find to fill these roles are typically uni students who are looking for lots of work as soon as the semester ends. Fortunately for us this coincides with our busiest time of year,” Whitney says.
Co-founder and CEO at Employment Hero,Ben Thompson,says hiring during the pre-Christmas season has traditionally been challenging for many businesses.
“It’s a time when many employees take leave,and the need for temporary or casual workers often spikes. The current tight labour market has only heightened these challenges,” he says.
According to Employment Hero’s recent State of Recruitment Report,75 per cent of hiring leaders suggest small businesses are disadvantaged when competing against multinational corporations for talent,particularly as they don’t always have the budget for paid advertising.
“Small businesses often find themselves disadvantaged in this scenario,competing against larger corporations with more extensive resources. They are grappling with the financial strain and the challenge of standing out in a tight labour market,” Thompson says.