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Issue 71: Staff - Why are they so important? - By Peter Wilson, Wollongong City Council

A common question I hear in the aquatic industry on a regular basis is how do I get suitably qualified and experienced staff to work at my facility? Some facilities can’t answer this question while others know a friend of a friend who knows someone who can fill the vacancy in the short term. Or they will get a university/TAFE student who is on holidays to come in for the short term to fill the gap in the roster. Facilities will also advertise in the local media for casual staff. The answer is always in the short term so the staff problem never seems to go away which further exacerbates stress levels we currently experience on a daily basis.

The aquatic industry is always able to fill positions with this approach but if industry could understand the reasons why people want to work in the aquatics industry?; how the aquatic industry can keep staff?; and how to get the job done by existing employees. These are all questions mangers in the aquatic industry should be able to answer.

The above questions reflect a human resource management approach to managing staff in an organisation. By understanding this approach it could make our very busy lives much more straight forward. If organisations know how attract, retain and motivate staff they will be able to manage staffing issues more efficiently and effectively and able to plan for the long term. In short, organisations must know how to do the following:

Attract people
Retain people
Motivate people

If an organisation can answer all the above questions in the affirmative they are most likely not encountering any staffing problems at their facility. When people want to work at your facility, staff don’t want to leave and the employees are happy and do their job the facility is not experiencing staffing problems. This is an environment you want to foster and develop for future staffing stability. It must be remembered that staff are a very important component of your business and time must be invested in staff selection, staff retention and staff development. On average the same amount of time you invest in understanding customer behaviour or facility marketing or positioning should be spent on staff. Without ‘good’ staff, a facility will not make its income targets and no amount of centre marketing can make up for poor staff performance with your customers.

I would question in the aquatic industry that very few or no organisations can answer yes to the above questions. That’s not saying that the aquatic industry does not look after its staff but it is an area that could be focused on to improve the efficiencies and effectiveness of our facilities. Time spent focusing on this area will be repaid in the long term by contributing to the facilities goals being achieved.

So where do aquatic industry staff come from? This answer will vary from facility to facility, region to region, state to state although there will be some familiar themes why people wish to work in the industry. People may be looking for a career in the industry; they could be looking to earn some additional money while they are attending tertiary education; people may wish to change careers after working in another industry; they may like the lifestyle; they may have relatives in the industry; the pay and conditions may appeal to them.

So there are many reasons why an individual applies for a position within the aquatic industry but it is paramount that your organisation must be able to identify the reasons and use this information to ensure your new employees complement the facilities goals and business objectives.

A competitive advantage is gained when people want to work at your facility when recruiting staff. The more people applying for positions on average the better result is achieved thus resolving future staffing concerns at the facility. If a facility can ensure their selection parameters reflect the position requirements and with the large pool of potential employees, staffing your facility will become easier and minimising future stress levels regarding attracting suitably qualified and experienced staff.

So how can an organisation retain staff once they have attracted them to the facility? Unfortunately there is no single approach when answering the above question as individuals are individuals and there has been thousands of academic studies trying to answer this question. Therefore staff will remain or leave an organisation for various reasons and it is incumbent on the organisation to understand the issues relevant to the employee and work through them if at all possible.

Staff leaving an organisation is always going to occur for various reasons. People will always retire, move for personal/ family reasons, move on for career development or they decide that the aquatic industry is not the ideal place for them to work. People will also leave an organisation if they believe there are problems with the organisation and some areas employees tend to focus on are pay rates and employment conditions, work environment, job security, OH&S, industrial relations etc.

It is these organisational issues that a facility needs to focus on if they are to retain their employees as they cannot control an employee’s decision to leave for personal reasons. The following are organisational issues that can be taken into consideration when trying to retain staff:

Fair pay
Work environment
Job security
Employee relations (Industrial Relations)
Allocation of work
Ongoing training
Occupational Health & Safety
Superannuation contributions

Organisations will approach the retaining employees differently due the Award, Enterprise Agreements and the new Australian Workplace Agreements they are operating under. Remembering the costs involved in attracting new employees and inducting them into your organisation sometimes far outweigh the cost in retaining existing employees.

How to motivate staff? This is another area for which there is no straight forward answer; people will be motivated by different approaches i.e. financial rewards, promotions etc. Money has always been seen as a good method of motivating staff, and yes, it only motivates a small percentage of staff. Most organisations have formal systems in place to motivate staff which includes targeted training opportunities, career path planning, reward & recognition schemes, bonus payment/regrade systems, employee development & review systems. There are many other approaches to motivating staff and they can also achieve the same outcome.

An area that the aquatic industry could focus on to motivate staff are the less formal ones. They don’t cost great amounts of money; they just need time invested in them to be successful. An example is a manager’s simple recognition of a staff member’s performance; this may motivate an individual as they can see the manager is taking a personal interest in their performance. Staff tend to remember the ‘blast’ they receive from the manager for poor performance so when they receive a compliment from the manager I am sure they will remember that positive comment.

Another example may be the manager catching the employee for a quick chat about non work related issues such as their family, how they are going with their sporting endeavours. Staff like to be treated like an individual not just as a number, other examples are as follows but it is not an exhaustive list:

Regular morning afternoon tea
Organising social occasion
Have a BBQ after hours

If your organisation focuses on attracting, retaining and motivating people the staffing problems the aquatic industry face on a regular basis will be minimised. This will free up time to run your business to achieve the corporate targets we work towards as well as time to deal with any issue that arises in day to day operations.

Staff; we can’t live with them and we can live without them; they are our best resource so invest the time, effort and resources and will able you to improve your aquatic facility. This article is an overview of my approach to staffing aquatic facilities with a local government employment background and having completed a Masters of Business Administration majoring in Human Resource Management at the University of Wollongong.