Recruiting lifeguards: A never-ending task

Santa Fe is hardly alone in facing a lifeguard shortage. It’s a nationwide problem — one that’s grown so bad about half the nation’s 309,000 public pools will be forced to close their doors or reduce hours, according to the American Lifeguard Association.

Santa Fe has struggled with a shortage of lifeguards for several years. The lack of staff has meant fewer hours and shutting down some sites. The city cannot keep up with demand, despite an active recruitment effort, including the Recreation Department’s rapid-hire event in February.

The city has 41 positions budgeted for lifeguards and 15 vacancies as of Friday, according to Matt Cottle, who manages the natatorium at the Genoveva Chavez Community Center. There are another five lifeguards being trained.

That will get the shortage of lifeguards down to 10, still a significant number.

It’s not easy. The city is competing with private pools and clubs for the workers and has four public pools to staff — Bicentennial Pool, Fort Marcy Recreation Complex, the Salvador Perez Recreation Center and the Chavez site. One lifeguard per 25 or 30 swimmers is necessary. Currently, two pools are closed temporarily because of shortages.

The city can’t stop intense recruitment efforts.

And one of the sweetest carrots to attract employees is pay. Currently, many lifeguards earn an hourly wage of $15. That’s one of the lowest wages the city pays. In a time of shortages — and there’s been a lifeguard shortage for years — one of the quickest moves to attract interest is by increasing pay. All city lifeguards should be paid more than guards working at any private pool or company. Add a bonus. Work out the details with the city’s union, but be creative — and generous — to attract the employees to staff the pools. Look at what is happening in other cities.

New York City is offering a $1,000 bonus for workers who stay on the job through mid-August; that’s in addition to a $26-an-hour wage. Houston is paying a $500 bonus. Half is upon hiring and half upon completion of the summer, with hourly pay at $16. Phoenix must be truly desperate — the bonus is $3,000, with $500 up front and the rest at the end of the season. Philadelphia is partnering with Temple University to offer college credits to college students working as summer lifeguards.

Obviously, employers are desperate. The shortage won’t be solved quickly or easily.

As we have written before, recruitment has to start early. Can the city and schools partner so that swimming becomes a physical education course, with Red Cross training available when the swimmer is old enough to become a lifeguard? Keep recruiting among swim clubs and swim teams. Same with youth groups, whether Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts or children who attend the Boys & Girls Clubs. Making swimming lessons widely available, with scholarships so all children can learn to swim. Have frequent training courses throughout the year.

Don’t rely just on job postings on the internet. Advertise on buses. Put up posters in public places. Use social media — surely there’s someone in the city who can make a fun TikTok video that will attract potential lifeguards? Be where young people are.

Make sure regular lap swimmers know it’s possible to become a lifeguard — retired U.S. District Judge Bruce Black is spending a portion of his golden years as a Santa Fe lifeguard. He wants to make sure swimming is available and so does his part.

Advertise internally, too, among city workers. Who knows? Maybe an office assistant is a strong swimmer who might like either a change of jobs or working a shift a week as a lifeguard, once trained. A parks employee might want to be outdoors in the summer and working as a lifeguard in cooler months — lifeguard certification could turn part-time work into a full-time job with benefits.

The worker shortage is so prevalent — and it’s not just for lifeguards — that human resources offices everywhere need to develop new expertise. They need recruitment wizards, people who think outside the box to find and grow the workers who can deliver services residents expect. It’s a different world, one where employees are harder to attract and retain. Lifeguards are an immediate challenge. Next up: recruiting all the police officers the city needs.