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.
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From the Sidelines Eric Schroder Editor eschroder@m2media360.com 717-805-4197 T Hiring seasonal employees managed properly. The employment of seasonal labor can save considerable funds while fill- ing many labor shortage problems. It also provides the opportunity for employees to gain experience and be evaluated for future promotion to full time status. "The City of Bowie Parks Department had hired seasonal labor for many years but has only recently used this important employment tool to maximize its benefits. "When this program was begun many years ago, it was mainly to provide summer em- HIS MONTH I turn this space over to Ed Hall, the superintendent of parks and grounds for the City of Bowie, MD. At my request Ed addressed the issue of hir- ing seasonal workers and here's what he had to say: "The hiring of seasonal or temporary labor can be a tremendous benefit if SportsTurfTu 1030 W. Higgins Road Suite 230 Park Ridge, IL 60068 Phone 847-720-5600 Fax 847-720-5601 The Official Publication Of The Sports Turf Managers Association President: James Michael Goatley, Jr., Ph.D. Immediate Past President: Troy Smith, CSFM President-Elect: Martin K. Kaufman, CSFM Secretary/Treasurer: David Pinsonneault, CSFM, CPRP Vice-President Commercial: Rene Asprion Professional Facilities: Allen Johnson, CSFM Academic: Jeffrey Fowler Parks & Recreation: Debra Kneeshaw Higher Education: Jeffrey Salmond, CSFM K-12: Michael Tarantino, CSFM Commercial: James Graff At Large: Jay Warnick, CSFM At Large: Ron Hostick, CSFM ployment for the City's youth. And since it employed unskilled labor the pay scale was min- imum wage. This approach was changed about 12 years ago because of a decline in interested applicants and the need to have employees later in the season. We created a two- tiered pay system, one for summer help and one for temporary labor. We currently employ eight to ten seasonal workers. "The summer help employees work from June through August and are typically high school kids. The best of these are then recruited to return, and many work through college. They get an increase in pay every year they return. The temporary workers start in April and work through mid December and are paid at the same rate as an entry level Parks employee but without benefits. Since we have changed our hiring procedures, we have had many more qualified applicants than positions. The program has worked so well that the current full time staff of 32 has had half of the employees make the transition from seasonal or tempo- rary labor to full time. And when a vacancy does occur, it is almost always filled by a tempo- rary staff member negating the need to go through the outside hiring process. "The work that is performed by summer help workers consists of working with various crews doing line trimming, refuse pick up, painting, planting flowers, and miscellaneous labor. Most of this work is performed by those that have never worked before and are learn- ing what manual labor is all about. The work performed by temporary laborers would also consist of working with an assigned crew operating mowers, line trimming, working in and around storm water management ponds and channels, ball field maintenance, and the bulk leaf program. These individuals typically are more mature and have worked for our depart- ment for more then one season or have an employment history in grounds maintenance. "We have had excellent success hiring retired individuals who are looking for employ- ment in the milder weather months. They tend to have excellent work habits and can bring a wealth of knowledge and skills from their respective former careers that can have a very positive influence on younger staff members. It has never been more important than the current time to maximize the efficient use of labor of any type and the use of seasonal em- ployee's can give a grounds maintenance operation the required labor force to complete the many numerous and labor intense projects." CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER Kim Heck STMA Office 805 New Hampshire Suite E Lawrence, Ks 66044 Phone 800-323-3875 Fax 800-366-0391 Email STMAinfo@STMA.org www.STMA.org Editorial EXECUTIVE VICE PRESIDENT Charles Forman EDITOR Eric Schroder TECHNICAL EDITOR Dr. James Brosnan ART DIRECTOR Brian Snook PRODUCTION MANAGER Karen Kalinyak EDITORIAL DIRECTOR Richard Brandes STMA Editorial Communications Committee Jim Cornelius, CSFM, Jason Henderson, PhD, Paul Hollis, Clayton Hubbs, Joshua McPherson, CSFM, Brad Park, David Schlotthauer, & Grant Spear SportsTurf (ISSN 1061-687X) (USPS 000-292) (Reg. U.S. Pat. & T.M. Off.) is published monthly by m2media360, a Bev-Al Communications company at 1030 W. Higgins Road, Suite 230, Park Ridge, IL 60068. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to Sportsturf, PO Box 4290, Port Jervis, NY 12771. For subscription information and re- quests, call Subscription Services at (845) 856-2229. 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