Strategies to help fi ll the Staffi ng Gap

Images above and below courtesy of AUSTSWIM

James Heffi eld suggests ways aquatic and recreation centres can overcome the current staffi ng crisis

With the world slowly waking from its forced COVID-19 hibernation, with people venturing out and seeking a degree of normalcy - albeit with some precautions - aquatic and recreation centres are the ideal hub for satisfying both our craving for human contact and our need for physical exercise, yet these same hubs suffered greatly under the pandemic’s heights, with many forced to let team members go during extended periods of government restrictions and lockdowns.

Many staffers were forced to seek employment elsewhere, and now facilities and their affiliated services are finding themselves short-staffed.

So how can aquatic and recreation facilities find employees to replace those who were forced to leave during the lengthy government-mandated closures? What subsets of job seekers might be targeted? And what other strategies might be employed to help retain current employees?

Reach out to new groups When considering who to approach to fill the staffing gap, it’s a good idea to focus on groups that aren’t always targeted by other industries but who may be ideal for the less traditional hours and broken-up days often found in the leisure industry. Students are an obvious target, and can fill the more physical positions, such as lifeguard or swim teacher. These are positions that currently are in huge demand, with many pools and schools forced to close or restrict operating hours due to the labour shortage.

Consider the impact in swim lessons alone. The Australian Swimming Coaches and Teachers Association (ASCTA) has estimated a need for 2,000 swimming teachers, with Chief Executive Brendan Ward saying “we are now seeing average waiting lists for swim lessons 20% higher than they were preCOVID, and many swim schools cannot even cater for their existing customer base.”

In Victoria, in the Canadian province of British Columbia, the Esquimalt Recreation Centre has teamed up with the local high school to introduce a programme for secondary students, offering an elective course during school where the students can gain various water rescue certifications. These certifications are important stepping stones on the way to becoming a certified lifeguard, and have proven popular with the students. A similar approach could be used in Australia and New Zealand.

Another underutilised group is older adults who may have once worked in the recreation industry but have since stepped away, for whatever reason. Those who have retired or left for part-time roles recently may be interested in coming back to help out, if only in an interim basis until new staffers can be found.

Stay-at-home parents are a third group that could be tapped into to help boost numbers. They often have their children at childcare or school during the day, and are sometimes free and looking to earn a little extra in their down time. And if they don’t have childcare for younger children, it might be time to consider having staff childcare at your facility, as a number of businesses have invested in since returning to the office.

In Australia, all of these groups may benefit from the recent Australian Government announcement that it will be partnering with AUSTSWIM - under the Sport Australia Participation grant program - to entice 900 former swim teachers back into the industry. Swim teachers will be eligible to have the cost of attaining or upgrading their certifications covered.

Invest in those you already have But it’s not all about attracting fresh bodies to staff your facilities. Equally important is how you retain and support your current employees. The need for listening to employees and finding out what they themselves want has never been more important.

Maybe a swim instructor wants to train up as an administrator. Maybe some employees require greater flexibility. Or maybe some employees - especially those who are new or who have been out of the industry for a while - could benefit from a mentor system to help them learn the ropes from someone with the relevant experience.

Hybrid is a popular buzzword in the labour world these days, and generally refers to a flexible mix of in-office and at-home work arrangements. There’s no reason why this could not apply to recreational facilities, or at least those that can. Many gyms/ fitness clubs have already adopted such a system, offering ondemand content and online classes to counteract the in-person visitor shortfalls that the industry is only now starting to make up.

Smart systems can reduce the load Of course, one way to make work more enjoyable and to reduce the number of staff hours required is simply to make it easier, and that’s where technology such as Jonas Leisure’s Envibe’s leisure management platform comes in.

Many Australian and New Zealand councils use it as a unified system to manage all of the leisure centres under their control, making transferring staffers between facilities easier as staff do not have to learn a new system at each facility. This has the added benefit of providing greater flexibility and potential for upskilling as employees are exposed to different work environments and skillsets.

Envibe can also help improve time efficiency, as automation and finely honed processes can reduce the hours required for many tasks. Envibe’s automated trigger messaging system cuts down on administrative front desk work, with editable boilerplate messages all set up and ready to go to announce changing rules, important details for new customers, or class time changes - all sent out with minimal effort.

Dushayant Dhar, Jonas Leisure Head of Sales and Customer Success, says having an efficient leisure management system like Envibe in place is more important than ever given current staffing crisis.

Dhar explains “when it comes to a software-based solution to the issue, it’s about creating smarter systems that allow for things like online learn to swim enrolments, online gym and aquatic memberships, and online venue and facility hire bookings. These are just some of the ways a smart system can help ease the pressure, freeing staff to focus their time on providing quality service to customers.”

With the pandemic set to linger for some time yet, it will be the businesses - not just in the recreation industry but all over - that can proactively adapt, be flexible, and adopt more efficient technologies and operating models that will thrive. The world has changed, perhaps irreversibly, but that needn’t be a bad thing. After all, change is never painful; only the resistance to change is. James Heffield is Director of New Zealand-based media agency Last Word.

Image courtesy of AUSTSWIM