The holiday season means more than cheer for consumers; it means busyness and higher demand for businesses, especially those with multiple locations. For retailers, restaurants, logistics companies, and service centers, demand increases in all sectors during this time and calls for hiring quickly, but hiring wisely. 

It can be difficult to recruit multiple locations at one time during a critical time when it is imperative to hire quickly, but do not lose focus on quality, a consistent customer experience, and cost considerations. Organizations are looking for the right approach when it is time to move away from traditional hiring to implement data, technology, and employee-centered hiring strategies. 

This blog discusses the way businesses with multiple locations can hire for the holiday season — to ensure operational readiness and availability of staff while also having an efficient workforce and happy employees.

1. Anticipate Staffing Needs Early

• Start workforce planning at least 6–8 weeks ahead of the holidays.
• Analyze prior sales and occupancy data to calculate staffing needs by outlet — which branches see the most spike.
• Separate the core workforce (chefs, supervisors, managers) from seasonal employees (servers, hosts, runners, drivers).
• Build in staffing flexibility to deliver a rapid response for unexpected demand surges or when staffing isn’t available on shift.

Forecasting early helps to ensure no outlet runs short when demand peaks.

2. Central Strategy, Local Execution

• Create a centralized HR structure to outline hiring practices, job descriptions, and training minimum standards.
• Then empower outlet managers to conduct recruiting locally — using local networks, community colleges, and job postings.
• The blend of a central customer experience and local adaptability allows for aligned brand standards but follows local practice for hiring.
• Weekly or bi-weekly HR team touch-bases help facilitate coordinating across outlets.

This structure provides central control with local freedom for consistency without inflexibility.

3. Utilize Data to Inform Recruitment Choices

• Review metrics such as trends in footfall, average order value, staffing ratios, and other data points for past years.
• Utilize this data to help determine the seasonal budget for the hiring spend per outlet, as well as how many people to hire.
• You will then want to try and assess which days in the season will be busy days (i.e., weekends, holidays, corporate party season) to know how many people to staff for each of those days of the week.
• Using data to drive your seasonal workforce decisions will also help avoid overspending with unnecessary hiring and will make managing your workforces easier.

Data doesn't lie — instead of guessing at how much seasonal workforce you will need, allow a data-informed approach to lead your workforce calculations.

4. Use Technology for Efficiency and Speed

• Select an Applicant Tracking System (ATS) to help with recruitment/candidate workflows for outlets.
• Automate earlier stages of the recruitment process using AI-based screening tools or chatbots.
• Utilize video interviews for front-of-house roles to assess grooming (physical appearance) and communication skills.
• Utilize central dashboards to track the real-time progress of hiring across cities.

Automation allows the hospitality group/chain to hire hundreds of applicants post-application without sacrificing quality of experience by being less time-consuming.

5. Develop a Available Seasonal Talent Pool

• Collect a database on past festive-season staff, interns, contacts, and employee referrals.
• Communicate with those individuals via WhatsApp updates or an email newsletter on what is happening within the business.
• Offer priority hiring to those candidates returning from previous seasons or bonuses/referral benefits for those who referred a successful candidate.
• For QSR & cafés, consider offering a “flexi-workforce” group of temporary employees that can be deployed on need basis across close geographic outlets to meet irregular busy days.

Having a pre-qualified talent pool can save both time and effort when the festive hiring process begins.

6. Improve Employer Branding

• In the hospitality business, culture sells to people - including employees. 
• Leverage your brand's values, employee incentives and fun work culture in your job advertisements.
• Share behind-the-scenes videos, staff stories, or employee appreciation celebrations on social media.
• Offer enjoyable employee perks (holidays, staff meals, flexible hours, early pay) may appeal to applicants even if those perks seem small but impactful. 

A strong branding can also help attract a strong pool of talent for both full-time and short-term positions. 

7. Streamline Onboarding 

• Utilize onboarding technology that allows new hires to complete onboarding forms such as ID validation, and training before joining the team. 
• Make onboarding as mobile as possible as most part-time or seasonal hires will appreciate a quick and paperless option. 
• Prepare a digital welcome packet that explains basic information about the company's culture, dress code, and outlet-specific standard operating procedures. 
• Plan staggered starts to welcome multiple new hires at the same time. 

A simple, digital onboarding process creates a positive first impression and allows for rapid deployment of employees. 

8. Provide Speedy, Standardized Training 

• Create brief role specific training modules for Servers, Hosts, Kitchen Assistants, and Delivery Executives. 
• Train employees within hours, not days, using video, infographics, or gamified apps. 
• Consider shadow shifts where the new hire is paired with an experienced employee and learns through their shifts. 
• Standardize customer service etiquette, hygiene practice, and health and safety procedures across outlets. 

Strategically trained teams will capture the same guest experience every time in every outlet.

9. Value Employee Engagement and Retention

• Working in a festive environment brings a high volume of labor and the common threat of burnout.
• Consider having rotational shifts for working staff, supplemented with short breaks when possible or in more durable periods to protect morale. 
• Recognize your top performers every week with a small prize, note of appreciation on the schedule board or a mention of achievement in the team group chat.
• Encourage proactive communication and constant feedback on issues relevant for staff attention — consider creating a WhatsApp group for staff WhatsApp group or email for queries and suggestions.
• By doing this, you can create a happy work environment that engages employees to remain during the festive period and in several cases, return next year.

Retention over the festive period is as important as hiring, pre-festive period. 

10. Work with Recruitment Partners

• Using a reputable hospitality staffing resource can give you flexibility in terms of short-term workforce support. 
• Select an agency that has a strong relationship to hospitality, they will understand levels of grooming, punctuality, and levels of service required. 
• Also, note down your Standard Level Arrangements to describe any measures of attendance, compliance or replacement.
• Combining your own in-house recruitment needs with an outsourced option is a viable option to maintain agility.

A mix of recruitment options will allow your business to maintain staffing capability during any peak period, in a hurry.

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