Summer doesn't arrive on a single day, but it feels like it does. One week your venue runs at 60% capacity; the next, there's a queue at the door. If you haven't staffed for the second week before it arrives, you're already late.
Start hiring 6 weeks before peak
This is the one number worth fixing in your calendar. Whatever your peak date is - Midsummer weekend, a local festival, the school holiday rush - count back 6 weeks and start the hiring process there.
Why 6 weeks? Hiring takes 2-3 weeks: posting, interviewing, offers, background checks. Onboarding paperwork takes 3-5 days. Getting new staff to a functional level takes 1-2 weeks of actual work. If you start hiring 2 weeks before peak, you place undertrained staff on your busiest nights. That's not a cost saving - it's a service failure with a delayed invoice.
Hiring temps vs. extending regular hours
Two options: bring in seasonal workers, or offer existing staff more hours. Both have real costs.
Seasonal workers need more training time. They don't know your systems, your regulars, or how you run things. A temp who quits after three weeks costs you two weeks of training with zero return.
Extending regular staff hours gets you speed and familiarity. But staff who jump from 24 to 40 hours per week in summer burn out by August. If they're on fixed contracts, adding hours may also require formal contract amendments.
A practical split: extend your core staff by 5-10 hours per week, then hire 2-3 temps to cover the remaining gap. This protects your core team's energy while keeping your training load small.
The overlap period
New staff and experienced staff need to work together before peak, not during it. Schedule a 10-14 day overlap period where new hires work alongside your veterans. The cost is a slight overstaff for two weeks. The return is staff who can function on a busy night without constant supervision.
Don't skip this. Managers who cut overlap training to save on labor costs during setup week pay for it in service failures during the first peak weekend. One bad Saturday review can cost more than two weeks of extra labor.
Building the summer schedule
Create a summer template that differs from your standard week. Document what roles are minimum-required on weekdays, what gets added on weekends, and what triggers an "event staffing" configuration.
Publish summer schedules 2 weeks in advance rather than 1. Staff with seasonal second jobs or childcare arrangements need lead time to plan their lives. Last-minute schedules produce last-minute problems.
Scaling back at the end of season
Seasonal contracts should have explicit end dates set before the season starts. An open-ended seasonal contract leads to an uncomfortable September conversation that most managers delay and most staff dread.
For regular staff who took extra hours, return them to contracted hours through a 2-week taper. Cutting from 40 to 24 hours in one week hits income hard. A planned reduction is easier to absorb and less likely to trigger an immediate job search.
Communicate the scale-back schedule in writing before the end of summer - not in the first week of September.
Rezano's shift templates and multi-location support make seasonal adjustments faster across your whole team. Setup takes under 10 minutes. Try it at rezano.lv.