Backpackers and seasonal workers sure like to talk about their experiences on social media, be they good or bad.
They can be your best recruiters or your worst nightmare. When seasonal workers have a great experience in your town, or at your company, they encourage their friends to join them. Great employers looking for staff can easily ask their existing staff if they have any friends wanting work.
Once the snowball starts rolling, it picks up more and more friends, making recruiting much easier
There’s also consequences when employees have a really bad experience. This is one hell of a hand-grenade thrown by a disgruntled employee on the town’s community Facebook group
We’ve mentioned it many times before on podcasts, reputations (both good and bad) are very sticky. Having exit strategies for seasonal workers, and parting ways on good terms, is in the employer’s long term interests. That of course doesn’t mean employers need to accept poor quality staff in perpetuity.
If a seasonal worker does need to be fired, it should not come as a shock to them.
Obviously in the above case, things have been handled very badly and reputations have been very publicly trashed.
I wonder if this post would never have been made if the employee had received verbal and written warnings, and then given an exit interview explaining the reasons for their termination.
In a best case scenario for employers, seasonal workers leave on good terms and remain valuable recruiters and advocates for years to come.