親愛的安妮：今年七月中旬，我被晉升為店鋪經理，負責一家區域零售連鎖的兩個賣場。所以，今年是我第一次在節日季招聘臨時員工，以此幫助公司在11月至明年1月期間正常營業。我的目標有兩個：首先，為了應對當地的競爭，兼職和臨時員工必須能提供出色的客戶服務。做到這一點并不容易，因為這不僅是一年當中最忙亂、最困難的時期，而且我們今年招聘的人數少于去年。

????其次，這里是一座大學城，所以，假期招聘的員工大多是學生，我希望能鼓勵這些最有前途的年輕人在畢業之后，成為我們的全職員工。（我們有很出色的管理培訓計劃。）我如何才能實現這兩個目標？您和您的讀者有什么建議嗎？——Sal

親愛的Sal：今年，臨時員工招聘少于去年的公司可遠不止你們一家。除了個別例外情況——比如亞馬遜（Amazon）節日季新增就業崗位70,000個，比2012年增加了20%——多家大型零售商的節日招聘與去年相比基本持平，甚至有所減少，比如沃爾瑪（Wal-Mart）、塔吉特（Target）和玩具反斗城（Toys R Us）。

????所以，有幸獲得聘用的人或許要加倍努力，而身為領導者，你的一部分職責就是盡可能讓節日季的臨時工作少些痛苦，甚至更理想的情況是讓它多些趣味?！敦敻弧冯s志年度“百家最適宜工作的公司”（100 Best Companies to Work For）排行榜的合作伙伴、舊金山最佳雇主研究所（ Great Places to Work Institute）副總裁邁克爾?伯切爾說：“激勵兼職與臨時員工提供出色的客戶服務絕對是可以做到的。關鍵在于培養這樣一種意識：‘我們齊心協力，志在必得’?！?/p>

????具體應該怎么做呢？伯切爾曾與同事珍妮佛?羅賓合作出版過一本引人入勝的新書，書名是《不找借口：最佳工作場所是如何煉成的》（No Excuses: How You Can Turn Any Workplace Into a Great One）。最新一期“最適宜工作的公司”榜單中，有十多家是零售商、酒店運營商、連鎖餐廳和其他高度依賴兼職員工和臨時員工的公司（尤其是在節日期間），因此伯切爾和羅賓建議你考慮下面五種做法：

????1. 慧眼識人。伯切爾說：“從一開始就要保證，你對自己尋找的員工品質有明確的想法。多專注于文化，而不是具體的技能?！奔寄芸梢酝ㄟ^學習獲得，但熱情與活力卻是與生俱來的東西。忙碌的節日季需要團隊合作，所以他建議：“面試中可以要求應聘者給出具體的例子，描述他們全身心投入，幫助團隊實現一個困難目標的經歷?！?/p>

????2. 借助全職員工的力量培訓兼職人員。伯切爾表示，《財富》最適宜工作的公司榜單中排在第31位的扎珀斯（Zappos）“在這方面做得很好。這家公司委派全職員工與每一位臨時人員坐下來，向他們傳授工作的細節，包括對每一通客戶來電的正確應對方式和錯誤方式。你也可以要求正式員工指導兼職同事，同時成為你在銷售區的耳目——尤其是‘發現表現優秀的兼職人員’，并對他們提出表揚?！?/p>

????3. 不要吝嗇說“謝謝”。詹尼佛?羅賓說：“感激和感謝非常重要，尤其是在當前這個階段。其實很簡單——只需要花兩秒鐘時間說：‘干得好！’然而，尤其是在忙碌的時候，員工往往很難聽到這樣的表揚?！绷_賓補充道，年輕人（比如你所說的大學生）“期望得到更多鼓勵，如果缺少鼓勵，他們真的會變得很渴望?！?

Dear Annie: I was promoted to store manager, in charge of two locations for a regional retail chain, in mid-July, so this is the first holiday season that I'll be in charge of hiring extra people to help out from November to January. I have two goals here: First, to beat the competition locally, I need to get outstanding customer service from the part-time and temporary employees we'll be bringing on board. This will be tough because, not only is this the most frantic and difficult time of the year, but we're hiring fewer people than last year.

????And second, this is a college town so, usually, many of our holiday hires are students, and I want to encourage the most promising ones to consider coming back to us full-time after they graduate. (We have a great management-training program.) Do you and your readers have any suggestions for me on accomplishing both of these goals? -- Sal in Santa Barbara

Dear Sal: Your company isn't the only one bringing on fewer temporary helpers than last year. With a few notable exceptions -- like Amazon (AMZN), which is adding 70,000 seasonal jobs, a 20% jump from 2012 -- holiday hiring at many major retailers, including Wal-Mart (WMT), Target (TGT), and Toys R Us, is flat or declining.

????So the people who do get hired will likely need to put in extra effort, and a big part of your job as a leader is to make that as painless as possible or, ideally, even fun. "You absolutely can inspire terrific customer service from part-time and temporary employees," says Michael Burchell, a vice president at the San-Francisco-based Great Places to Work Institute, Fortune's partner in its annual 100 Best Companies to Work For list. "The key is creating a sense that 'We're in it to win it.'"

????How, exactly? Burchell is co-author, with colleague Jennifer Robin, of a fascinating new book, No Excuses: How You Can Turn Any Workplace Into a Great One. Noting that more than a dozen of the employers on Fortune's current list are retailers, hotel operators, restaurant chains, and others who rely heavily on part-timers and temps to produce great results -- especially around the holidays -- Burchell and Robin suggest you consider these five practices:

????1. Hire smart. "Make sure at the outset that you have a clear idea of what qualities you're looking for," says Burchell. "Focus more on culture than on specific skills." Skills can be taught, but enthusiasm and energy, for example, can't. Since the holiday rush will require teamwork, "ask in interviews for specific times when the candidate had to pitch in and help to achieve a difficult goal," he suggests.

????2. Enlist your regular staffers to help train part-timers. Zappos, No. 31 on Fortune's Best Companies list, "does a great job at this," notes Burchell. "A full-time employee is assigned to sit with each temp and teach them the job, including going over details about what went well with each customer call, and what didn't. You can also ask your regular staff to mentor their part-time peers and be your eyes and ears on the sales floor -- especially in 'catching people doing something right' and praising them for it." Which brings us to the third point ...

????3. Say "thank you." A lot. "Appreciation and thanks are always important, but especially at this time of year," says Jennifer Robin. "It's so simple -- it only takes two seconds to say, 'Great job!' -- yet, especially when things get busy, it tends not to happen." Robin adds that very young people in particular (your college-student hires, for instance) "expect a lot of reinforcement, and they really miss it if it isn't there."?