Aquatics Guide - 2023 - 4

Addressing Aquatics
Staffing Shortages
By Dylan Evans
Aquatics professionals and data shed light on the issues to be addressed for
solving staffing shortages
F
atal child drownings and nonfatal drowning injuries in children
under the age of 15 remain high, and nonfatal drownings spiked
by 17 percent in 2021, according to the Consumer Product Safety
Commission's annual drowning report (tinyurl.com/8b2n6ekt).
There also has been an increase in the number of emergency room visits due
to chemical accidents at swimming pools (tinyurl.com/5n7b7r2d). Simultaneously,
as many park and recreation professionals are acutely aware, there is
a national lifeguard and aquatics instructor shortage.
Part of the solution to these problems
is having good, qualified people
in aquatics management jobs.
But during this time when park and
recreation departments need their
aquatics
professionals
the
most,
those same professionals are walking
out the door. Many are starting
their own companies, stepping out
of management roles, or even leaving
the field entirely.
" My own children needed me
around more, " says J. Heller, who
worked as an aquatics director for
a decade. " I was getting a lot of,
'Mom, do you have to work today?'
and, 'Mom, when are you going
to be home?' The oddball hours
of aquatics were getting tough on
4 Parks & Recreation | A QU AT IC S GUIDE 2 0 2 3
them. My own husband needed me
around home more. "
This story is not unique - many
of the former aquatics professionals
interviewed for this article spoke
about the time requirements for their
jobs, including odd hours, working
on weekends, and/or being required
to work more than 40 hours most
weeks. Others talked about little
support from upper management or
their peers in other departments, the
pay not being commensurate with
the workload that was required of
them, or simply burnout. Another
concern was lack of upward mobility
within the aquatics industry, as very
few organizations throughout the
United States promote aquatics pro|
PARK S ANDRECRE AT ION . OR G
fessionals
into upper-management
positions. Additionally, the lifeguard
shortage and the increase in pressure
from upper management to
stay
open were also key topics brought
up by many of the interviewees.
The Data
According to FlexJobs.com, in 2021,
the top five reasons people quit their
jobs were: toxic company culture (62
percent), low salary (59 percent),
poor management (56 percent) and a
lack of healthy work-life balance (49
percent). Other reasons included: no
remote work options (43 percent);
burnout (42 percent); not allowing
flexible schedules (41 percent); limited
advancement opportunities or
career progression (37 percent); lack
of or poor benefits (e.g., not offering
health insurance or 401(k) benefits)
(31 percent); limited paid time off or
sick time (27 percent); poor mental
health support (22 percent); lack of
long-term job stability (21 percent);
amount of travel required (19 percent);
not having diversity, equity
http://www.tinyurl.com/8b2n6ekt http://www.tinyurl.com/5n7b7r2d http://www.FlexJobs.com
Aquatics Guide - 2023

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