Seasonal work is often typified by high employee turnover and low engagement levels.  Indeed, the transient nature of the environment almost encourages a fast and loose approach to employee engagement that sees minimal investment put into workers that probably won’t be around for very long anyway.

New research from the University of Waterloo reminds us that it doesn’t have to be this way, and that enriching the work of seasonal staff can go a long way towards retaining them.

“Managers can use job enrichment to make work more engaging and to develop a bond between staff and the organization,” the researchers say. “Job enrichment aims to design work conditions in ways that maximize meaning, responsibility and knowledge.”

Seasonal success

The researchers surveyed 124 workers who had all just completed a four-month summer job.  The survey set out to explore whether they planned to return to the job the following year, and what were the reasons behind their decision.

The results revealed that, predictably, when we feel positive about the work we’re more likely to come back.  What was perhaps more interesting was that a psychological attachment to the organization was also influential in our decision.  Both engagement and commitment levels were higher when the workers thought that their jobs were enriched.

“Commitment was particularly important, which means that simply making work ‘fun’ is not enough to retain staff,” the researchers say. “Staff need to find their work meaningful, and must feel a deep connection to the organization.

The authors believe that retaining contingent staff makes good business sense, as constant turnover can be hugely expensive.  It’s well known that enrichment activities benefit full-time staff, but the researchers believe their study is the first to show a similar benefit for seasonal staff.

“These results show that managers need to set clear expectations, remind frontline staff of the positive impact they have on their clients, give staff the tools they need and then trust them to use them appropriately,” the researchers conclude. “These are the building blocks of job enrichment.”