If your business is booming over the summer holidays, having a few more hands on deck is a huge help – but only if they know what they’re doing. Here’s a guide for getting seasonal employees up to speed and autonomous as quickly as possible.
Train them to use your POS
Clearing customers through the checkout is often how businesses put seasonal employees to work. So it’s crucial to have a system that’s as intuitive and user-friendly as possible. Square’s reader for contactless and chip and free point-of-sale system are as simple as it gets, even for newbies. But before seasonal employees take the reins, make sure they know how to accept all forms of payment.
How to accept chip cards on Square contactless and chip reader
- Turn on Square Reader for contactless and chip by pressing the power button on its side.
- Open the Square app, add items to your current sale, and then tap Charge. (You can tap Charge either before or after customers insert their card.)
- Have customers insert their chip card into the wide port on the top of the reader. The chip side should go in first with the front of the card facing up.
- Leave the card in the reader for the whole transaction.
How to accept contactless and mobile payments (Apple Pay, Android Pay etc.) on Square contactless and chip reader
- When your reader is turned on, add the items to the sale in the Square app, and then tap Charge.
- When you see one green light on the reader, it’s ready to take payment. (If you don’t see a green light, tap “Re-enable Apple Pay and Contactless” from the app.)
- Ask the customer to hold their card or mobile device over the reader to prompt the sale.
- When you see four green lights, hear a beep, and see a confirmation in the Square app, the payment is complete.
Organise your item library
If your item library is a mess, it’s time to clean it up. To avoid slow lines, your seasonal hires need to be able to find items as fast as possible. With the Square app, you can quickly add, edit, or delete items straight from your mobile device.
Run a group training session
Once you have all your seasonal hires set, schedule a time for everyone to get together to go through the ropes. All new employees should be trained on your POS, their day-to-day tasks, promotions, and any nuances or business policies (for example, the appropriate situations for refunds). This is also a time to brief them on your company’s brand and culture, which will inform how they interact with customers. It may be helpful to have a long-time employee manage this training.
Make cheat sheets
It’s inevitable that things will be forgotten. So keep cheat sheets around your business — things employees can reference if they get stuck. This is especially important at the register or with any equipment. Include the contact details for the support centers of any products you use as well. You can contact the Square’s Australian Support Centre here.
Seasonal employees can be a huge help, but only when they get up and running quickly. A little bit of up-front work is worth it in spades when you get busy this season.
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