SportsTurf provides current, practical and technical content on issues relevant to sports turf managers, including facilities managers. Most readers are athletic field managers from the professional level through parks and recreation, universities.
Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/442256
FACILITY & OPERATIONS 34 SportsTurf | January 2015 www.sportsturfonline.com CTE program has made us a preferred employer for their stu- dents, and we employ many interested and motivated students in our part-time staff. By working with coaches we have also created open communication when it comes to hiring student athletes as a way to show young athletes respect for the playing field. In many cases the training we provide to these students at the Sports Facilities is taken back to the fields on which they play. Hiring procedures Hiring procedures are time-consuming to the operations of our facilities, which is why we have combined those efforts as well. When we post part-time positions, they are for all three locations so that staffing demands are met in one large recruitment versus several small recruitments. This requires less staff sitting on inter- view panels, conducting reference checks and processing hiring packets thus having more time spent on the fields. Combined hiring also creates the best fit for employees to be successful by assigning them to the facility that suits them. The develop- ment and implementation of training programs for both new and existing employees at all locations has created consistency between them, where seasonal or event related peaks in staffing demands are met with staff normally assigned to other locations. In terms of full-time employees, we have created specialty positions that rotate between the facilities. So, just as specialty equipment is rotated based on need, also are the full and part time staffs. We employ an irrigation technician that flexes his schedule to provide coverage at three locations including emer- gency fixes. The equipment mechanic is setup on a rotational schedule at three locations to conduct equipment checks and pre- ventative maintenance as well as repairs. These floating specialty positions allow for coverage using one employee between our three complexes, which allows us to offer more competitive wages using the three labor budgets. At the same time the organization saves between $77,000 and $103,000 annually by not having an irrigation tech and mechanic at each facility, and those figures do not include the savings from benefit packages. This float- ing employee model has proved to be so successful that we are now evaluating our costs of contracted spray applications, both structural and landscape, with internal spraying demands and applicator's license fees. If the cost numbers work out right, then we will begin the process of creating a spray technician to meet the demands of the three facilities. In coordinating efforts between the complexes, it is important to have a consistent safety program, which includes compliance with OSHA and labor laws. All of our staff undergoes the same training, using the same learning materials, which provides nec- essary information to keep everyone on the same page when it comes to safety. Bulk purcHasing Another strategy to combine efforts is in the bulk purchasing of fertilizers and pesticides. When working for Brickman STS, our facilities were all single stadium fields in a relatively similar climate of the mid-Atlantic region. Because of this region's high disease pressure, fungicides are a critical element to an agro- nomic plan. Since I was purchasing for only one baseball field, I did not reach the thresholds required by vendors to qualify for early ordering programs. The early order program is more tailored to golf courses with hundreds of acres of turf to purchase their fertilizers and pesticides STMA information table at a Career and Technical Education Student Fair. Continued from page 30