They don’t know the rules
Employers often balance the time constraints of supervisors and managers with how much training on the workplace rules summer employees need. Often this balance tips in favor of conserving time. After, all summer employees only are working for a few months. In reality, that’s plenty of time to make trouble. Often new to the workplace, and often working in a more flexible environment (think lifeguards, outside maintenance workers), summer employees just might not know appropriate behaviors in dress, being on time and having a few beers at lunch (we have had plenty of calls about this particular issue with summer workers). Most importantly, summer employees need to know the safety rules of their jobs. It is always worth the time to review pertinent policies and work rules with summer employees and obtain their signature that they understand said rules.
They use the workplace as a dating opportunity
Many seasonal employees are high school or college students who are working to make money for school, to keep busy or because their parents made them work. As such, they don’t have a real investment in their jobs like full time workers do. Along those same lines, they often try to maximize fun on the job, including, and especially looking for dating opportunities. It is very important that summer workers know the organization’s dating and harassment policies and understand the consequences of even unintentional violation of them.
They apply for unemployment
This doesn’t happen very often with student summer workers, but it does happen enough with other seasonal employees and the occasional student who doesn’t return to full time studies. Although it might not seem fair, seasonal employees qualify for unemployment after working about a month for an employee, even though they were hired with the express understanding that their job would end in a few months. As for summer employees who are students, employers avoid the risk of unemployment benefits when the worker returns to full time studies. They are unavailable for work and therefore ineligible. Despite the small number of summer or seasonal workers who apply for unemployment, it is best to make it a practice in your workplace to have seasonal employees resign at the end of the season. This not only assists if they apply for unemployment, but ensures that there is no expectation of automatic re-hire the following year. It also keeps the roster of actual employees more accurate if seasonal employees are officially taken off the list of workers. Naturally, an employer cannot force any employee to resign, but it remains a highly effective practice when employees are asked to officially resign on their last day of seasonal employment.
