Golf Course Worker Turnover

Help Wanted

Let’s take a little multiple-choice quiz. According to an informal survey, what do you think is the biggest problem golf course superintendent’s face on a daily basis? A) maintaining a high-quality, healthy playing surface, B) performing the necessary maintenance practices around the golfers, C) finding and keeping good workers, or D) keeping up on the increasing amount of paperwork.

If this were an open book test, I hope everyone guessed C. Hopefully, the title of this article is a dead giveaway for the answer. Of course, all of the answers listed are very important aspects of the superintendent’s duties each day. However, the workforce landscape is rapidly changing and the forecast is not very bright.

The most common plea I hear when conversing with superintendents is how difficult it is to keep trained personnel. Time after time, I hear the same story. A superintendent hires a new employee. Over the next few months the superintendent and staff take time to train and groom the new employee into a productive crewmember. A short time later the newly trained employee tells the superintendent that he/she has an offer for a better paying job and he/she is leaving in two weeks. Hence the plea for Help Wanted.

In many areas in Northern California the contrast in wages to cost of living is becoming almost comical. I’ve talked with many superintendents who tell me it is not uncommon for some of their employees to drive one-hour each way for work. The employees live in an area they can afford, which unfortunately can be long commute away.

Recently, the City of Santa Cruz passed a “Living Wage” ordinance for city employees. This ordinance raises the minimum wage for most of the city employees to $11 an hour with benefits or $12 without benefits. This measured was passed to help city employees stay above the poverty line and reduce worker turnover. There have been several other public entities throughout the state that have adopted similar ordinances, yet the Santa Cruz ordinance has the highest hourly wage in California.

Are these ordinances the wave of the future? Let’s hope not, because the prestige of working on a golf course for a little over minimum wage is not that inviting for John or Jane Q. Public. The reality of the situation has made retaining good employees one of the highest priorities for superintendents.

Generally, employee retention leans to higher wages. However, additional benefits (i.e. health, dental, 401K, etc.) and perks such as attendance bonuses and other performance-based incentives are not only being reserved for the start-ups in Silicon Valley. Golf courses have never been immune to workforce deficits, but with the strong economy and growth opportunities everywhere, hiring quality employees has been a little more challenging than usual.

Superintendents who have golf courses in areas in which labor supplies are scarce have tried some interesting approaches to fulfill their manpower shortages. Obtaining workers from non-traditional labor pools such as temporary agencies has worked on a limited basis. Recruiting workers from agricultural labor companies is also an avenue that is being explored by some superintendents with varying degrees of success. Creatively finding ways to plug the gaps in the work schedule has become a necessity, but not by the superintendents choice. Unfortunately, it is happening at an alarming rate.

There are selected superintendents who have had relatively no turnover on their crews. Do these individuals have a secret or special formula for retaining key members of the maintenance staff? In most cases the answer is no. Most superintendents who fall into this category candidly report they have just been lucky.

Regardless of the turnover issue, most superintendents have seen a change for the worse in the hiring environment. When the superintendent is running short on labor, just don’t be too surprised when the Help Wanted signs turn up on the bulletin board at your course on a regular basis.