@@CO is giving public pools up to $25k to hire people

[pixy0stix]

@@ because of mentions in thread

Several public pools across the state have had to close/reduce hours because they simply can't find people to perform lifeguard duties. So the state decided to throw money at the problem to increase wages, etc.

cdola.colorado.gov/funding-programs/pools-special-initiative-2022

Frankly, I think this is a bandaid solution that might open a few more pools, but it doesn't go deep enough to help long term.

[Deleted]

I admit that I don’t know exactly what goes into hiring lifeguards and pool staff, but I fear that this initiative is about 4-6 weeks too late to make much difference for this summer.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 21, 2022 15:33:06 GMT -5 @villainv said:

I admit that I don’t know exactly what goes into hiring lifeguards and pool staff, but I fear that this initiative is about 4-6 weeks too late to make much difference for this summer.

They're offering people a $1k incentive to complete a one week program - cdle.colorado.gov/news-article/pools-special-initiative-2022-frequently-asked-questions-on-lifeguard-training

So... maybe? If people jump on this ASAP? At least through July/August?

[wanderingback]

Yes in my city several of the typical free pool activities have been cancelled due to not being able to hire lifeguards

Typically they have adult lap swim in the mornings and evenings (was actually thinking about doing it this year) and also free lessons throughout the summer (and I think 1 more program I’m not remembering) that have been cancelled.

[karinothing]

Does CO require lifeguards at apartment pools? We do in VA AND I was surprised. This is NOT the case in AZ but as a result you need so many lifeguards. A lot of pools struggled to open the past two years. However, now they are back to recruiting foreign life guards so it seems okay this yr.

[gretchenindisguise]

@@@

My kid isn’t quite old enough yet, but when I was a teen - lifeguarding was a coveted first job. Is that not true anymore? I lifeguarded from 15 1/2 until I started grad school at 21.

[sillygoosegirl]

How many people do they think they can hire for $25K?

[af1212]

At least where I live it seems like the largest barrier to this issue is that in the past a large chunk of the lifeguard population came from abroad. And due to a visa issue they cannot come.

The visa issue compounded with many pools not opening at all or opening in limited ways in the last two years means the domestic lifeguard pool (heehee) has moved onto other jobs and the new lifeguards that would have been hired never took the training in the last two years.

[af1212]

Jun 21, 2022 16:22:02 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

How many people do they think they can hire for $25K?

Well it’s like 1500+ hours per pool assuming $15/hour wage. That seems like a lot.

[Bad Dingo]

Jun 21, 2022 16:08:59 GMT -5 gretchenindisguise said:

@@@

My kid isn’t quite old enough yet, but when I was a teen - lifeguarding was a coveted first job. Is that not true anymore? I lifeguarded from 15 1/2 until I started grad school at 21.

Starting salary for state park lifeguards in CT is $19/hour. That along with all of the rules for breaks makes it seem like a pretty prime summer job to me. DH lifeguarded through high school and college and loved it.
portal.ct.gov/DEEP/News-Releases/News-Releases---2022/DEEP-Announces-Lifeguard-Starting-Pay-Increased-to-19-an-Hour

[Deleted]

I’m a lurker, but I’m in CO with a teenager who applied multiple times to be a lifeguard at two local rec centers who have had to reduce hours because they don’t have enough lifeguards. Neither rec center ever contacted her. So I think there is more to it than they can’t find lifeguards. They can’t seem to actually contact applicants which would guarantee you can’t hire anyone.

Also they were advertising over $16 or $17/hour. I don’t think many places are paying below that for lifeguards around here.

[sillygoosegirl]

Jun 21, 2022 16:35:07 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Jun 21, 2022 16:22:02 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

How many people do they think they can hire for $25K?

Well it’s like 1500+ hours per pool assuming $15/hour wage. That seems like a lot.

Really? Where I live a lot of our public pools are open 4000+ hours annually (12 hours per day, 7 days per week, year round). Or at least they were when they could get enough lifeguards and swim instructors. And there are multiple lifeguards on duty at once at many of the pools. One additional part time employee seems like very little to me. Even assuming you can find someone qualified willing to work for $15/hour.

[gretchenindisguise]

Jun 21, 2022 17:34:45 GMT -5 sillygoosegirl said:

Jun 21, 2022 16:35:07 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Well it’s like 1500+ hours per pool assuming $15/hour wage. That seems like a lot.

Really? Where I live a lot of our public pools are open 4000+ hours annually (12 hours per day, 7 days per week, year round). Or at least they were when they could get enough lifeguards and swim instructors. And there are multiple lifeguards on duty at once at many of the pools. One additional part time employee seems like very little to me. Even assuming you can find someone qualified willing to work for $15/hour.

I worked at a lot of neighborhood pools. It was roughly 10a-8pm or 11a-9pm. Many were only 1 guard, sometimes with a swing shift in the middle of the day.

It’ll obviously vary by pool size/attendance but during the 98 days of “pool season” (memorial day to labor day), I think they’d be able to stretch the $25k decently far. Especially since I assume that’s in addition to their usual budget, not instead of.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 21, 2022 17:31:53 GMT -5 @mrsgreeko said:

I’m a lurker, but I’m in CO with a teenager who applied multiple times to be a lifeguard at two local rec centers who have had to reduce hours because they don’t have enough lifeguards. Neither rec center ever contacted her. So I think there is more to it than they can’t find lifeguards. They can’t seem to actually contact applicants which would guarantee you can’t hire anyone.

Also they were advertising over $16 or $17/hour. I don’t think many places are paying below that for lifeguards around here.

Agreed. It's the hiring/training portion that seems to be the sticking point. It'll be interesting to see where this goes. Local municipalities are hurting top to bottom in all areas.

[AdaraMarie]

I am in CO. I don't believe apartment pools require lifeguards. I think my sister's complex pool is often empty so it would be a big expense for no benefit. My neighborhood pool seems to have 3 lifeguards everytime I've been there and they rotate duties about every 15 minutes. But, they seem to be having the aame problems as other service jobs-we got an email from the hoa telling everyone there have been incidents of people acting like jerks to the lifeguards and to knock it off.
The City pools are running reduced hours. My kid is interested in doing it when she is older but I've noticed over the last couple of years their have been fewer peole around to teach lessons so the pipeline of lifeguards might be getting smaller and smaller. Last summer there was a jr lifeguard class offered that my kid was too young for and this year it doesn't exist.
Also the $25k doesn't necessarily have to cover the full salary, just the premium required to lure people feom other jobs so it might go far.
But also, I read this morning their are more open jobs in CO than people looking for jobs. www.denverpost.com/2022/06/21/tabor-colorado-taxpayers-refund-checks-750-inflation-recession/

[pixy0stix]

Sigh... I @@ the thread since we're having trouble remembering to do it individually.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 21, 2022 18:27:16 GMT -5 AdaraMarie said:

But also, I read this morning their are more open jobs in CO than people looking for jobs. www.denverpost.com/2022/06/21/tabor-colorado-taxpayers-refund-checks-750-inflation-recession/

For May, Larimer county was at 2.6% unemployment, which is unheard of.

[Susie]

I lifeguarded in all kinds of different settings from when I was 16 until I started law school.  Summer swim clubs, competition pools, campground lakes, college campus pools, and 4 summers on the ocean in a resort town.  The only places that were hurting for guards back then seemed to be the campground lake (which was truly a crappy job) and the college campus pools, because the plum work study gigs were the ones you could study during (like checking fitness equipment in/out, or working in the library), and paid the same as lifeguarding.  Every other time, it felt like a scramble to put together enough hours because there were more of us than there were jobs.  I was always working like 3+ places at a time part time, until I got the beach patrol job during my college summers (48 hrs/week).

I grew up in a region with a pretty strong swimming culture though.  There were lots of competitive swim programs, the beach was right there, etc.  Where I live now, swimming is a much more minor sport.  I can imagine that in an area that is not saturated with high school swimmers, guards are a lot harder to find.  I hope the people they find and train are ready for the responsibility.  It's all fun and games right up until it's not.

[Dznyprnces]

Jun 21, 2022 16:08:53 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Does CO require lifeguards at apartment pools? We do in VA AND I was surprised. This is NOT the case in AZ but as a result you need so many lifeguards. A lot of pools struggled to open the past two years. However, now they are back to recruiting foreign life guards so it seems okay this yr.

No. I live in an apartment with 2 pools and there are no lifeguards. My sister used to live in an apartment in CA, also no lifeguards.

[melmaria]

Jun 21, 2022 16:33:46 GMT -5 af1212 said:

At least where I live it seems like the largest barrier to this issue is that in the past a large chunk of the lifeguard population came from abroad. And due to a visa issue they cannot come.

The visa issue compounded with many pools not opening at all or opening in limited ways in the last two years means the domestic lifeguard pool (heehee) has moved onto other jobs and the new lifeguards that would have been hired never took the training in the last two years.

Yes, this is all true. These articles sum up the problems well: www.npr.org/2022/06/05/1102951892/nationwide-lifeguard-shortage-affects-third-of-pools

abcnews.go.com/amp/US/us-lifeguard-shortage-summer-pool-closings/story?id=85240100

[karinothing]

Jun 21, 2022 19:47:57 GMT -5 Dznyprnces said:

Jun 21, 2022 16:08:53 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Does CO require lifeguards at apartment pools? We do in VA AND I was surprised. This is NOT the case in AZ but as a result you need so many lifeguards. A lot of pools struggled to open the past two years. However, now they are back to recruiting foreign life guards so it seems okay this yr.

No. I live in an apartment with 2 pools and there are no lifeguards. My sister used to live in an apartment in CA, also no lifeguards.

Yeah I think it is weird. I mean I guess it is good since I know kids die in apartment pools. But it always felt weird as an adult to be the one person swimming and the lifeguard is just watching me lol. 

[expectantsteelerfan]

Jun 22, 2022 5:25:58 GMT -5 karinothing said:

Jun 21, 2022 19:47:57 GMT -5 Dznyprnces said:

No. I live in an apartment with 2 pools and there are no lifeguards. My sister used to live in an apartment in CA, also no lifeguards.

Yeah I think it is weird. I mean I guess it is good since I know kids die in apartment pools. But it always felt weird as an adult to be the one person swimming and the lifeguard is just watching me lol. 

When I lived in an apartment/townhouse complex with a pool in PA, I had a job as a 'pool monitor' where they paid me to unlock the gates, check members' key fobs and sell guest passes, and lock the gate at the end of the day.  I didn't even have to check the chemical levels of the pool...they had someone else stop in to do that, and it required no training whatsoever.  It was clearly posted that there was no lifeguard on duty.  Oh, I guess I also did also unlock the bathrooms and make sure they had soap/tp/paper towels and yell if kids got too rowdy, but mostly it was older adults who used the pool during the day so it was really the easiest job ever.  I had it during the summer when I was teaching full time and I did so much reading and lesson planning while laying in the sun.

[somersault72]

They are doing this in Ohio, too.

[af1212]

Jun 21, 2022 20:26:26 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Jun 21, 2022 16:33:46 GMT -5 af1212 said:

At least where I live it seems like the largest barrier to this issue is that in the past a large chunk of the lifeguard population came from abroad. And due to a visa issue they cannot come.

The visa issue compounded with many pools not opening at all or opening in limited ways in the last two years means the domestic lifeguard pool (heehee) has moved onto other jobs and the new lifeguards that would have been hired never took the training in the last two years.

Yes, this is all true. These articles sum up the problems well: www.npr.org/2022/06/05/1102951892/nationwide-lifeguard-shortage-affects-third-of-pools

abcnews.go.com/amp/US/us-lifeguard-shortage-summer-pool-closings/story?id=85240100

This part is interesting

“In order to be a swim instructor, you have to be a lifeguard,” said Fisher, who said that the few swim instructors may be pulled to sit as a lifeguard rather than teach classes this summer due to the shortage. “The first thing you want to do is teach a child how to swim to prevent drowning… Some of these kids have not been in the water for two years, or ever.”

As that is not my experience. I worked at the YMCA and the swim instructors definitely did not have to be and were not lifeguards.

Wonder if that is a state regulation?

[Aloe Vera]

I think this issue has been going on for a while. I moved out of the area 10 years ago but I used to live by a community pool. The time it was open was so short because they couldn't find lifeguards. It closed middle of August because lifeguards went back to school. Kids were still on vacation.

[Jalapeñomel]

They've closed all swim programs in NYC due to the shortage. It's bad.


Our condo pool struggled to get a lifeguard, so they had the county allow them to open with a monitor as long as all the residents sign a waiver.

[quesyrah]

Jun 22, 2022 8:37:06 GMT -5 af1212 said:

Jun 21, 2022 20:26:26 GMT -5 melmaria said:

Yes, this is all true. These articles sum up the problems well: www.npr.org/2022/06/05/1102951892/nationwide-lifeguard-shortage-affects-third-of-pools

abcnews.go.com/amp/US/us-lifeguard-shortage-summer-pool-closings/story?id=85240100

This part is interesting

“In order to be a swim instructor, you have to be a lifeguard,” said Fisher, who said that the few swim instructors may be pulled to sit as a lifeguard rather than teach classes this summer due to the shortage. “The first thing you want to do is teach a child how to swim to prevent drowning… Some of these kids have not been in the water for two years, or ever.”

As that is not my experience. I worked at the YMCA and the swim instructors definitely did not have to be and were not lifeguards.

Wonder if that is a state regulation?

My only experience with this is that at our local YMCA (I live in CA) all of the swim instructors are also lifeguards.

It was the same for our HOA swim
club growing up.

[Jalapeñomel]

I had no idea that students traveled here to be lifeguards!

[icedcoffee]

@@@@

I'm not surprised and honestly kids need to be watched like a hawk in the pool this summer. Many of the kids who should have been getting lessons the past couple years haven't.

My county swim lesson still aren't back to pre-pandemic offerings and those are the only affordable ones. We do $$$ ones, but we are so privleged to be able to do that.

Add not having enough lifeguards and it's kind of scary.

[pixy0stix]

Jun 22, 2022 12:19:30 GMT -5 icedcoffee said:

@@@@

I'm not surprised and honestly kids need to be watched like a hawk in the pool this summer. Many of the kids who should have been getting lessons the past couple years haven't.

I had a HELL of a time trying to find lessons for my kid. Even the money private ones were waitlisted. I finally managed to snag a spot that starts next week, and it's $$$.