How to Think Differently When Hiring Hourly Workers

Someone looking for an hourly paid role follows a distinctly different job search and decision-making process than a full-time salaried employee. The traditional techniques and tactics employed by recruitment departments are usually skewed towards the latter. Still, if hourly workers dominate your workforce, you need to deliver a hiring process that appeals.

Shift-based hourly paid work has a reputation for high turnover and low retention rates. Organizations owe their candidates a better experience, and changing the way you think about the hiring process can be key to this. Let's look more closely at how you can change your approach to hiring hourly workers and attracting better talent.

Reconsider your job postings

Most companies post their full-time salaried roles in the expected places – on professional networking sites like LinkedIn and aggregation job sites. Hourly workers may utilize aggregated sites, but you aren't necessarily finding them on LinkedIn or similar industry-specific networks. Instead, target your recruitment in relevant areas. Many candidates seeking hourly work utilize social media to find their next job role. Classified boards such as Gumtree and Craigslist can be useful too.

Reconsider the necessary qualifications

Many companies use a standardized format for job postings, and it often includes lists of qualifications. While these qualifications may be useful, they’re probably not necessary in many hourly work roles. Your hourly applicant pool doesn’t always have significant amounts of experience or qualifications. Training in this kind of position can usually get a new employee up to speed quite quickly. Therefore, advertising for hourly workers without requiring extensive experience or qualifications may attract a wider pool of passionate and enthusiastic candidates.

Simplify and digitize the process

Hourly workers want to find a job quickly and get started. They’re unlikely to want to be involved in a long interview process with several stages. Furthermore, these candidates benefit from a more digitized approach. Many more organizations have leveraged the power of video interviews since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, and this is a process you could keep in place, especially for hourly workers. A quick ten-minute video call could be enough to get a good feel for a potential employee. 

Also, be sure to check your application form is mobile friendly so hourly workers can quickly apply on the go. Simplifying the application process expands the pool of potential candidates you have to choose from.

Offer practical incentives

The incentives and perks which attract hourly workers differ greatly from a salaried one. Hourly workers don’t tend to benefit from perks such as health insurance or retirement plans. However, you can offer practical benefits to stand out amongst your competitors. 

We've regularly discussed how hourly workers are one of the main demographics where financial poverty and instability are real problems. As a result, many workers struggle to get by from paycheck to paycheck thanks to unexpected bills, the general cost of living and a lack of built-up emergency funds. Earned Wage Access (EWA) is invaluable to these employees as it provides a financial safety net needed during trickier periods. EWA allows users to transfer their earned wages into their bank account or load it up onto their debit or payroll card, and makes it easy for hourly workers to quickly benefit from their earned wages, with round-the-clock access to the money as they've earned it. This protects employees from cyclical debt problems and gives them the tools to reach financial stability.

For employers, EWA is easy to integrate, and Payactiv works seamlessly with your existing payroll and HR management system. It ensures employees' earnings are automatically available via their mobile app. It also ensures employers can make all the necessary payroll deductions, so there’s no risk of making the wrong payment or employers needing to claim money back from their employees. 

For hourly workers, they have a chance to instantly benefit from their shifts as they work them. If you're looking to offer something that impresses potential candidates, then this incentive will help you stand out. Every day pay is becoming more common in the gig economy, too, so you can tap into this talent pool as well.

Other practical incentives to attract hourly workers could include help with transportation, such as ride-sharing policies for those on the same shifts. Your existing workforce could also be a great sounding board for ideas; ask them what kinds of incentives would have attracted them to your business and what would keep them from moving on. Use this feedback to plan your next hiring campaign and improve the candidate journey.

Tailor your strategies to suit hourly workers

Your recruitment strategies must suit the candidates you’re looking for. The challenge when hiring hourly workers is creating a candidate experience to suit their needs. When you adopt technology-led and candidate-focused strategies for hiring hourly workers, you’ll see the quality of your candidates improve too. In addition, workers will be more likely to stick around. This is even more likely if you invest in their employee experience, tailoring incentives to their workplace needs rather than more generalized strategies.

Hourly workers account for over 58% of the US workforce, yet hiring strategies often see them overlooked. High employee turnover is common amongst these workers, often due to the demanding nature of hourly employees' roles. Improving recruitment and retention is possible with an "always-on" mentality. A commitment to proactively hiring hourly employees in a way that attracts a high volume of candidates helps ensure you never experience a lack of interest in vacancies or long-term staffing problems. Positioning yourself as an attractive employer for hourly employees does involve rethinking your traditional recruitment processes, but the results are worth it.