Seaside towns, ski chalets, festivals and Christmas all run on seasonal staff. For workers it can be a brilliant adventure, with live-in accommodation, tips and a crew that bonds fast. For employers it means hiring, training and losing a whole team every year. Seasonal staff have the same employment rights as anyone else: the minimum wage, holiday pay accrued even on short contracts, rest breaks and a written statement of terms.
Where accommodation is provided, there's a legal limit on how much can be offset against minimum wage pay, so charging high rent for a staff room can push pay below the legal floor. The UK's Seasonal Worker visa covers horticulture and poultry rather than hospitality, so overseas recruitment needs another route. Venues that bring back the same people each year, pay a retention bonus and treat staff housing as a decent home rather than a dormitory find the season far easier.
What we ask on the show
- What makes a seasonal job worth coming back to?
- Is staff accommodation a perk or a problem?
- How do coastal towns cope when the season ends?
- Should hospitality have its own seasonal visa?