Seasonal businesses are facing a season that arrived quicker than the labour to serve it. Pay is part of the answer and the least distinctive part, since competitors can match it within a week.
Contract for the season properly
Fixed-term and seasonal arrangements have requirements: a written contract before work starts, a stated term or defined task, and correct registration from the first day. Under time pressure these get postponed, and inspections tend to arrive precisely in the busy months.
The cost of getting this wrong is not only the penalty. An undocumented worker who is injured, or who leaves and disputes their pay, is a far more expensive problem.
Returning staff are worth more than new staff
A worker who did the job last season needs no training, knows the systems, and makes fewer errors. Yet most seasonal employers treat each year as a fresh recruitment exercise.
Keep contact through the off-season. Offer returners a small premium, earlier confirmation of dates, or preferred shifts. Confirming next season before this one ends costs nothing and removes most of the recruitment problem.
The first week decides retention
Seasonal turnover is concentrated at the start. Staff who leave in week two usually leave because nobody explained the job, the hours were not what they expected, or there was no one to ask.
A half day of structured induction and a named person to go to changes the retention rate more than an increase in the hourly rate.
Plan the peak before it arrives
Know which weeks are the constraint and what coverage they need. Agree overtime rules and rest periods in advance and in writing, rather than improvising them in August when the rules are easiest to breach.
Businesses that plan the season in March have a workable one. Those that start hiring in June spend the summer short-staffed and paying premiums for it.