Every year it goes the same way. The orders for the Christmas run land. The production plan goes up by a third. Someone rings the labour hire provider on a Thursday asking for twelve extra people on Monday — packers, process workers, a couple of forklift operators — and then spends the next three weeks wondering why the line keeps stopping, why half of them did not come back after the first week, and why the leading hands are exhausted.
And every year a few businesses in the same industry, in the same suburbs, competing for the same people, get through it with barely a hiccup. The difference is not luck, and it is not the size of the business. It is timing. They built the labour supply before the week they needed it.
"There are plenty of people around this year"
That is the trap for 2026. The job market has softened. The ABS put the national unemployment rate at 4.6% in August, its third rise in as many months. S&P Global's flash manufacturing PMI for September came in at 49.3, below the 50 line for the first time since March, and reported the first round of private-sector job cuts since May.
It is easy to read that and assume peak season staffing will look after itself. It will not. More people looking for work does not mean more people who hold a current forklift licence, know how to work safely around a packaging line, have been inducted at your site and will still be there in week three. Jobs and Skills Australia still lists forklift drivers in shortage across regional Australia. The people who can walk in and be productive on day one are the same people every other manufacturer and warehouse in your area is ringing about in November.
Meanwhile the demand side does not soften on cue. The Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan forecast $72.4 billion in pre-Christmas retail spending across the six weeks from 13 November to Christmas Eve last year, up 4% on 2024. Whatever this year's number turns out to be, the food, packaging, beverage and consumer goods manufacturers feeding that spend need to be producing well before the shoppers turn up.
What the calm businesses do differently
They plan the peak by role, not by headcount. "Twelve extra people" is not a plan. "Six process workers on the day shift, two forklift operators with current licences, two packers on the twilight shift, and one extra admin person to cope with the dispatch paperwork" is a plan. It tells the provider exactly who to find and who to check.
They give the provider the forecast early. Not the final order book — a realistic range, as soon as they have it. A provider who knows in September that you will need somewhere between eight and fourteen extra people from early November can start screening, checking tickets and booking inductions. A provider who finds out on a Thursday can only ring around.
They induct before the rush. The right time to induct a peak-season worker is a quiet afternoon in October, not the first morning of a 40% production increase. Get the core group through your site induction, PPE and safety briefing early, ideally with a short paid trial shift, so day one of peak is a production day rather than a training day.
They bring back the same people. Workers who did last year's peak with you already know the line, the supervisors and the site rules. Ask your provider who from last season is available and get them booked first. A familiar crew of six is worth more than a fresh crew of ten.
They plan for drop-off. Some peak-season workers will not last. Plan for it: agree with your provider how many screened backups are on standby, how quickly they can be on site, and who tells whom when someone does not show. That conversation is easy in October and impossible at 6am in December.
They agree the wind-down too. Peak ends. Decide in advance how the extra crew steps down after Christmas and how much notice everyone gets, so the last fortnight of the run does not fall over because people have already started looking for their next job.
A rough timeline, starting now
If your peak starts in early November, here is roughly where you want to be. This week: send your provider the role-by-role plan and a realistic range of numbers. Next two weeks: provider screens and checks tickets; you book returning workers first. Late October: site inductions and short trial shifts for the core group; confirm the standby pool. First week of peak: daily check-in with the provider on attendance and fit; replace early rather than late. If you are reading this and your peak has already started, the same steps still apply — just compressed. Ring today, not next Thursday.
The plain version
Peak season does not go wrong because there are no workers. It goes wrong because the right workers were not lined up, checked and inducted before the orders hit. A softer job market makes it tempting to leave it late. The businesses that get through peak without chaos do the opposite: they plan by role, share the forecast early, induct before the rush, and bring back the people who already know the job.
EIR Labour Hire
EIR Labour Hire has supplied workers across civil, construction, manufacturing and warehousing since 2003 — over 22 years. We place labourers, operators, tradies and admin support in Queensland, New South Wales and South Australia, and we are licensed in every state that requires it.
For peak season, that means sitting down with you before the orders land, screening every worker face to face and checking their tickets before they arrive, getting returning workers booked first, and keeping a standby pool ready for the days someone does not show. If your peak is coming up, talk to us about manufacturing labour hire in Brisbane and across Southeast Queensland — or ring us wherever your floor is.
Sources: Australian Bureau of Statistics, Labour Force, Australia, August 2026 (released 24 September 2026) — seasonally adjusted unemployment rate 4.6%; S&P Global, Flash Australia PMI, September 2026 (released 23 September 2026) — manufacturing PMI 49.3, first private-sector job cuts since May; Jobs and Skills Australia, 2025 Occupation Shortage List (October 2025) — forklift drivers in regional shortage; Australian Retailers Association and Roy Morgan, Christmas spending forecast (3 December 2025) — $72.4 billion pre-Christmas retail spending forecast, 13 November to 24 December 2025.