There's a reason most HR software feels like it's fighting you.
It was built for companies where people stay.
Annual reviews assume annual employment. Onboarding assumes you'll only do it once. The whole architecture presumes stability as the default state.
Hotels don't work that way. Neither do ski resorts, event venues, or anywhere else the calendar dictates headcount.
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, leisure and hospitality turnover runs between 70-80% annually. That's not an outlier. That's the industry. For comparison, most sectors average 20-25%.
A 200-room resort might run 80 people in the slow months and 180 during peak season. That's not dysfunction. That's the business model.
We've spent years watching organizations try to force seasonal reality into systems designed for something else.
It never works.
The ones doing it well stopped fighting. They found systems that expect turnover instead of treating every departure like a five-alarm fire.
Here's where it gets absurd.
60-70% of seasonal staff are returning workers. They know the job. They have direct deposit set up. They completed safety training two years ago.
They're not strangers.
But most platforms treat them exactly like strangers. New profile. New data entry. New banking forms. As if the system has collective amnesia every time the season ends.
We built Workzoom differently.
When the season ends, employees move to inactive status. They're not deleted. Their complete record stays intact. Every pay stub, every T4, their full compensation history, banking details, emergency contacts, certifications, performance notes. Everything.
When they come back? Reactivate them. Create a new employment record with new effective dates. The system picks up exactly where you left off.
Here's the thing: it's easier to criticize than create.
A returning employee reviewing their existing info and flagging what's changed takes five minutes. Rebuilding their entire profile from scratch takes thirty. They know their own data better than HR does. Let them correct it instead of recreating it.
You have 150 people to onboard before the season starts. You don't have time to collect the same banking information from someone whose direct deposit details are already sitting in a database.
One clocking method doesn't fit everyone. This should be obvious, but most systems pretend otherwise.
Your front desk staff work fixed shifts in a climate-controlled lobby. Your groundskeepers move between locations all day. Your housekeeping team shares a break room with one computer.
Facial recognition terminals work for front desk and food service. Staff clock in with a glance. No touching shared surfaces. Works with masks. Eliminates buddy punching entirely.
Mobile GPS clocking serves grounds crews and field workers. They clock in from their phones when they arrive on-site. No walking back to a terminal. Location verification confirms they're actually there.
Kiosk mode turns any tablet into a shared clocking station. PIN-protected. Perfect for housekeeping teams starting shifts from a central location.
The point isn't which method you choose. The point is having all of them in one system, with time data flowing directly into scheduling and payroll.
No manual re-entry. No reconciliation headaches. No "the timesheet doesn't match the schedule" conversations.
Here's where most systems quietly fail their clients.
They track what's happening now. They don't keep real history.
Ask your current HRIS to show you exactly what your org structure looked like eight months ago. Who was in what role. What they were earning. How the reporting hierarchy was set up.
Most can't do it. They'll give you current data. Maybe some fragments. Never the complete picture.
Every record in Workzoom is date-effective.
Job postings have internal posting dates, external posting dates, close dates. Employee work history has start dates, end dates, statuses for each position. Compensation records track every change with full date history.
Think of it like the Wayback Machine for your workforce.
You can point at any moment in time and see exactly what your organization looked like. Not a reconstruction. Not a best guess. The actual record, date-stamped and reportable.
That's how retro pay calculations work without spreadsheets. Union contract settles in April with rates effective January 1st? The system calculates three months of adjustments automatically.
That's how auditors get answers in minutes instead of weeks.
That's how you prove what happened six months ago when someone disputes a pay rate.
This isn't a feature you bolt on later. Date-effective records are either built into the core architecture or they're not.
Most HRIS platforms weren't built this way. Their clients feel it every audit season.
Recent industry data shows travel and hospitality leads all sectors in turnover at 2.8% monthly, nearly double the cross-industry average.
Each departure costs between $2,000-$5,000 in recruiting, training, and lost productivity. For a 200-person seasonal operation turning over 70% of staff annually, that's $280,000-$700,000 walking out the door every year.
But here's what most people miss: the cost isn't just in departures. It's in treating returning employees like new hires. It's in manual data reconciliation every season. It's in audit prep that takes weeks instead of hours.
The organizations getting this right aren't spending less on people. They're spending less on friction.
We wrote about what ski resorts actually need from an HRIS after working with Castle Mountain Resort and Devil's Glen.
The 400% headcount swing between off-season and peak breaks systems designed for gradual growth. Same problems. Same solutions.
Caribbean resorts deal with tourist season staffing that mirrors ski country, just with opposite calendars. Grand Isle Resort and The Cove Eleuthera signed with Workzoom in 2025 because they'd stopped trying to fight seasonal reality.
Summer camps. Agricultural operations. Event venues. Holiday retail.
The pattern repeats everywhere.
The common thread isn't the industry. It's the assumption baked into most software that stability is normal and change is exceptional.
For seasonal businesses, that assumption is backwards.
If you're evaluating HR systems for a seasonal operation, skip the feature checklists. Ask these instead:
What happens to employee records at season end?
If departing means deleting, you'll rebuild from scratch every year.
Are records date-effective?
Can you pull a report showing your exact org structure from eight months ago? If not, you're guessing during audits.
Do you support multiple clocking methods?
Different teams have different needs. Forcing everyone into one approach creates friction and workarounds.
Does time data flow directly to payroll?
Manual re-entry means errors. Every time.
Is pricing based on active employees?
Paying for dormant profiles defeats the entire purpose of keeping them.
The answers will tell you whether the system was built for your reality or someone else's.
Castle Mountain Resort. Devil's Glen. Grand Isle. The Cove Eleuthera.
Different industries. Different geographies. Same pattern.
Systems that expect turnover. Keep real history. Don't panic every time someone leaves.
We built Workzoom to treat workforce volatility as a feature, not a bug.
Employee profiles pause and reactivate. Returning staff pick up where they left off with complete history intact. Multiple clocking methods serve different team needs. Every record is date-effective and reportable. Scheduling handles fluctuation. Time off tracks accruals across employment gaps. And you only pay for active employees.
If your HR software panics every time someone leaves, maybe the software is the problem.
Book a demo and we'll show you how it's supposed to work.
How do seasonal businesses manage high employee turnover?
Seasonal businesses manage high turnover by using HR systems built for workforce volatility rather than stability. The most effective approach includes employee profiles that pause rather than delete when staff leave, so returning workers pick up where they left off without re-onboarding. Training records persist through off-seasons. Different time clocking methods serve different teams. Date-effective records maintain complete history for audits, reporting, and retroactive pay calculations.
What is the best HR software for hotels with seasonal staff?
The best HR software for seasonal hotels treats workforce volatility as normal operations, not an exception. Key capabilities include dormant employee profiles that reactivate without re-onboarding, multiple clocking methods for different team types (facial recognition, mobile GPS, kiosk mode), date-effective records that track complete employment history across seasons, and pricing based on active employees rather than total profiles.
What time clocking methods work best for hospitality?
Hospitality operations benefit from multiple clocking methods serving different team needs. Facial recognition terminals work well for front desk and food service staff. Mobile GPS clocking serves grounds crews and field workers who move between locations. Kiosk mode on shared tablets suits housekeeping teams starting shifts from central locations. The most effective approach combines all methods in one system with direct payroll integration.
What are date-effective records in HR software?
Date-effective records track every change with timestamps, creating complete historical records. Job postings have internal posting dates, external posting dates, and close dates. Employee work history has start dates, end dates, and status changes for each position. Compensation records track every rate change with full date history. This allows organizations to report on their exact workforce structure at any point in time, calculate retroactive pay automatically, and answer audit questions with actual records rather than reconstructions.
How do ski resorts handle seasonal workforce management?
Ski resorts use HR systems designed for rapid headcount changes. Operations like Castle Mountain Resort and Devil's Glen manage 400% workforce swings between off-season and peak using Workzoom. Key features include employee profiles that pause and reactivate with complete history, biometric time clocking that works in winter conditions, date-effective records for retroactive pay calculations when union contracts settle, and Canadian payroll compliance including T4 generation.
Why do most HR systems fail seasonal businesses?
Most HR systems assume workforce stability as the default state. They treat departures as exceptions rather than expected operations. They delete rather than pause employee records, forcing organizations to rebuild profiles from scratch each season. They lack date-effective history, making audits and retroactive calculations difficult or impossible. And they charge for total headcount rather than active employees, penalizing businesses that maintain dormant seasonal profiles.
What's the average turnover rate in hospitality?
According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, leisure and hospitality turnover runs between 70-80% annually, the highest of any major employment sector. Monthly separation rates average 5-6%. For comparison, most industries average 20-25% annual turnover. Quick service restaurants can exceed 130% annual turnover due to low wages, high-paced environments, and entry-level roles.
How much does employee turnover cost in hospitality?
Replacing a single hospitality employee costs between $2,000-$5,000 in recruiting, hiring, training, and lost productivity. For a 200-person seasonal operation with 70% annual turnover, that translates to $280,000-$700,000 in annual turnover costs. Beyond direct costs, high turnover undermines service quality since experienced workers are constantly replaced by less experienced staff.