Why Candidates and Employers Need to Look Beyond the Hourly Rate
Industries differ in how and when they face this challenge, but the underlying workforce issue is the same: When demand soars, employers have less room for delays in hiring, absenteeism, and unexpected turnover. Seasonal hiring also affects the broader flow of talent.
“Who is paying more?” is not the only question.
The critical questions are: What does the opportunity offer beyond the hourly rate? What could a worker give up by leaving an existing assignment? And what does the workforce plan look like after the peak demand ends?
The broader labor market reinforces why competition matters. In June 2026, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) reported 7.4 million job openings, 5.3 million hires, and 5.4 million total separations. The numbers demonstrate that hiring and workforce movement remain significant.
Seasonal Hiring Changes the Talent Market
The holiday season remains one of the most significant seasonal hiring cycles, particularly across retail, warehousing, shipping, receiving, fulfillment, and distribution.
Seasonal hiring is moving closer to demand. Many employers are now ramping up in October; however, some do not reach their peak until late October or early November. This makes late September and October a critical window to connect with, engage, and retain talent before competition intensifies.
Retail continues to lead seasonal hiring, but Q4 demand goes far beyond the sales floor. As supply chains scale for the holiday rush, employers also need dependable workers across warehousing, distribution, shipping, receiving, fulfillment, and logistics.
Employers seeking seasonal staff in 2026 face a U.S. commercial staffing market growing 3% year over year. According to the National Retail Federation (NRF), retail seasonal hiring, declined from 442,000 workers in 2024 to 265,000–365,000 in 2025, with some hiring shifting earlier to support October shopping events. This suggests stronger overall staffing demand and earlier seasonal hiring.
Employers should take note of this trend. Seasonal hiring is not just about bringing in as many people as possible. It is about understanding what capacity employers need when demand rises and where workforce gaps are most likely to emerge.
Amazon provides another example of the scale involved. For the 2025 holiday season, Amazon announced plans to hire 250,000 people across its U.S. fulfillment and transportation network, including full-time, part-time, and seasonal positions. Amazon reported that seasonal employees earned more than $19 per hour on average while regular full- and part-time employees in these operations earned an average of $23 per hour with benefits. Because these figures reflect different employee groups, employers should not treat them as a direct comparison between seasonal and permanent wages.
Seasonal hiring pressure extends beyond retail. For workforce providers like Volt, the opportunity is often behind the scenes in the roles that keep peak-season operations moving. These positions call for a different talent strategy and are critical to helping employers scale with speed and confidence.
Peak Demand
Higher Seasonal Hiring
More Worker Options
Retention Pressure
Workforce Planning Need
Seasonal Hiring Signals
| Market Signal | What It Means for Employers |
| Amazon planned to hire 250,000 workers for U.S. holiday-season positions across its fulfillment and transportation network. | Large-scale seasonal hiring can significantly increase competition for frontline talent. |
| 265,000 to 365,000 seasonal retail hires in 2025, down from 442,000 in 2024. | Seasonal demand may vary significantly from year to year, making workforce planning more important than simply replicating the previous year’s hiring strategy. |
| Seasonal ramp-up is increasingly occurring closer to October, with some employers not reaching peak hiring until late October or November. | Late September and October are critical windows for employee engagement, retention conversations, and workforce planning before seasonal competition peaks. |
Figure 1: Seasonal Hiring Signals and Employer Implications
For candidates, these opportunities offer immediate financial benefits.
For employers, seasonal hiring gives another reason to examine retention before peak hiring begins.
The Trade-Off Is More Than the Wage Premium
Higher hourly pay can be appealing, especially during periods of increased demand. But compensation is only one aspect of the employment decision.
The decision may seem straightforward when a seasonal assignment offers several dollars more per hour than a permanent position. In some cases, seasonal roles may offer $4–$5 more per hour, making the financial difference particularly noticeable to workers. The longer-term trade-offs, however, can be easier to overlook.
Short-term wage gains can come with trade-offs such as:
- Established tenure toward future raises and career advancement
- A predictable schedule
- Established relationships with managers and coworkers
- Ongoing training and skill development
- Benefits and employment protections tied to a permanent role
- Progress toward temp-to-hire conversion, full-time employment, or longer-term stability
Seasonal jobs can come with evenings and weekend hours, mandatory overtime, or rotating shifts, making them different from a regular full-time position. This is why worker education matters.
What Happens After the Peak Season?
The end of a seasonal assignment creates a second workforce challenge: what happens to those hired during peak demand?
Some temporary workers move on. Others may be strong candidates for permanent positions. Some may be available for redeployment into other assignments.
For employers, the end of peak season does not mean the end of the relationship. It is a chance to recognize strong performers, retain dependable employees, move talent into areas where demand exists, and spot workforce gaps before the next hiring cycle begins.
1. Before Peak
2. During Peak
3. After Peak
4. Before Next Cycle
Seasonal Hiring Is an Employee Retention Challenge
Employers have traditionally viewed seasonal hiring primarily as a recruiting challenge. However, the more significant workforce question may be what happens to the existing employees.
When experienced employees leave during a high-demand period, the impact goes beyond a vacancy.
Employers may encounter:
- Additional recruiting and onboarding expenses
- Productivity gaps during new employee onboarding
- More overtime for remaining employees
- Greater pressure on supervisors and managers
- Longer backfill cycles when qualified workers are scarce
- Increased operational risk from unfilled critical roles
Pay matters, but employers cannot always compete with higher offers in the market. A stronger, more sustainable retention strategy considers employees’ everyday experience—flexible scheduling, recognition, opportunities to grow, relationships with managers, manageable workloads, and a clear path for what comes next. That strategy should begin before seasonal hiring reaches its peak.
Engagement is a retention lever. When employees feel heard, supported, recognized, and connected, they are more likely to stay through seasonal periods—even when higher-paying opportunities appear.
Employer Retention Checklist
- Identify critical positions most susceptible to seasonal turnover
- Communicate compensation, schedules, and career pathways before peak hiring begins
- Strengthen employee engagement in late September and October, before seasonal competition intensifies
- Invite employee feedback and address concerns early
- Recognize employee contributions during high-demand periods
- Provide scheduling flexibility within operational limits
- Emphasize temp-to-hire pathways, benefits, stability, and future opportunities where applicable
Employers can support retention more effectively when they plan before employees start weighing their options. The timing matters. Waiting until seasonal hiring is already underway may mean the strongest retention opportunity has passed.
Decision Checklist: Employers and Candidates
| Employers Should Consider | Candidates Should Ask |
| Which roles are most exposed to seasonal turnover? | How long will the assignment last? |
| Where can flexibility, recognition, or growth opportunities reduce turnover risk? | What happens when peak demand ends? |
| How will employers redeploy or convert seasonal talent after peak demand? | How do pay, schedule, benefits, and stability compare with my current role? |
| How will we engage employees before seasonal competitors begin raising pay? | If I leave my current assignment, what progress toward temp-to-hire conversion, full-time employment, benefits, or long-term stability could I give up? |
| How are we communicating the value of existing assignments beyond the hourly rate? |
Figure 3: Decision Checklist for Employers and Candidates
Volt’s Role: Turning Peak-Season Pressure into Workforce Advantage
We do more than connect people with jobs or help companies fill open positions. We help organizations find, hire, train, develop, and retain the people who keep their businesses moving forward.
For candidates, a seasonal pay increase can be appealing, but the right opportunity should offer more than competitive pay. It should match their skills, experience, expectations, and long-term career goals. We, at Volt, connect people with opportunities that fit—from contingent and temp-to-hire roles to direct-hire positions. For employers, preparing for seasonal hiring starts before the competition increases. It means identifying potential workforce gaps early, building stronger recruiting and retention strategies, managing shifts efficiently, and thinking about how to retain proven employees once the peak demand slows down.
We bring together technology and people to make that process easier. Our talent solutions include AI-enhanced recruiting, talent pools, automated credentialing and vetting, shift management, and flexible recruiting support—both on-site and off-site—that scales with your needs.
Ultimately, Volt focuses on putting the right people in the right roles and helping both workers and businesses succeed, not just for the season, but for the long term.
Turning Peak-Season Pressure into Workforce Advantage
| AI-Enhanced Recruiting | Talent Pools | Credentialing and Vetting |
| Faster access to qualified candidates | Ready communities for recurring demand | Reduced friction before placement |
| Shift Management | Scalable Recruiting Support | Redeployment Planning |
Figure 4: Volt Workforce Advantage
Volt also uses AI-augmented talent management technology to improve fill rates, reduce absenteeism, and address shift gaps—areas that become particularly important when demand fluctuates rapidly.
Responding effectively to demand spikes requires more than rapid hiring. It also requires strong processes, established talent relationships, and workforce visibility before pressure arises.
The Takeaway
Seasonal hiring is a real test of how effectively an organization can adapt its workforce strategy to changing business needs, competition, and employee expectations.
As seasonal hiring timelines move later, employers should not wait until October or November to begin thinking about retention. Employers that look at seasonal hiring through both a recruitment lens and a retention lens can do more than fill immediate positions. They can retain valuable skills, reduce unnecessary turnover, control workforce costs, and keep operations running smoothly.
Retail remains an important example of seasonal hiring, but the same workforce pressures extend across warehouses, distribution centers, shipping, receiving, fulfillment, and logistics-adjacent operations—particularly as Q4 demand puts additional pressure on supply chains.
The same is true for candidates. The highest hourly rate does not always mean the best opportunity. Taking the time to understand the role, schedule, benefits, job stability, and potential for future opportunities can help candidates make a decision that works for them beyond the busy season.
Ultimately, seasonal retention starts before the peak season. Employers that engage their workforce early, educate employees about the full value of their opportunities, and create a culture where people feel heard and supported are better positioned to retain experienced talent when competitors start offering more money.
Volt Insight
Better workforce outcomes begin with better conversations—and better engagement—before, during, and after the peak season.
Key Contributor: Geetanjali Negi – Senior Manager, Content/ Research & Sales Enablement