Upsides and downsides of hiring a summer helper?

We’ve actually had pretty good experiences hiring seasonal/holiday help in our cleaning business, especially during busier periods.

Attitude matters WAY more than experience. You can teach someone systems, cleaning methods, workflow, etc.
You usually can’t teach:

• reliability
• work ethic
• coachability
• professionalism
• positive attitude

Some younger hires have honestly outperformed older “experienced” people simply because they showed up eager to learn and willing to work.

The upsides can definitely be:

• extra energy/stamina
• lower labor cost while learning
• additional production capacity
• flexibility during peak season
• potential long-term hires

We’ve actually had some seasonal hires turn into full-time team members later on once they proved themselves.

The downsides:

• more supervision/training initially
• inconsistent availability
• professionalism can vary a lot
• you usually can’t leave them alone right away
• one bad attitude can drag down an entire crew

I think the biggest mistake is hiring purely because someone is “cheap summer help.” The better approach is "Could this potentially become a great long-term employee if things go well?”