Volume 3, No. 9. May 9, 2003
Labor
pool
Like most waterparks, The Beach in Mason, Ohio, likes to visit local high schools
to recruit its seasonal employees. But Beach recruiters spend as much time in
the teacher lounges and bus garages talking to prospective employees as they
do among students.
“Years ago they would say, ‘That’s a place for kids,’ they
couldn’t envision what they might do here,” Pamela Strickfaden, the
waterpark’s vice president and general manager, said of the adult seasonal
staff. “Now as you change that and more older people start to work with
us, they say, ‘Yeah, I can work there.’”
That they would want to work at The Beach became crucial for the park three
years ago when Strickfaden decided she would no longer hire anybody under the
age of 16. “Honestly, we did that because the rules and regulations governing
the (employment) of 14-year-olds and 15 year-olds are so restrictive, and you
are absolutely fighting the kids” who wanted to work longer hours, she
said. “We were auditing and going through the paperwork and we’d go,
‘Uh oh, this person clocked out 15 minutes late,’ and finally I said,
‘This is it. We’re not doing it anymore.’”
The decision especially threatened the park’s retail division, where the
bulk of younger employees gravitated, and a few weeks out from that season several
jobs had yet to be filled. But they were filled in time, and the problem never
occurred again, Strickfaden said. This year, the waterpark already has received
about 800 applications to fill its seasonal staff of 500; in recent years the
park would get about 480 applications prior to the season opener.
Many of the adults end up working in positions requiring strong communications
skills, like guest relations, season pass processing and receptionists. Retail,
too, is getting older workers. All that has allowed the fields traditionally
filled by older workers—such as security, first aid and landscaping—to
blend more easily with the rest of the park’s workforce.
“I think a number of years ago, when you came in to work as an older person
and you’re kind of a fish out of water, we tended to handle you with kid
gloves,” Strickfaden said. No more. “They are working as part of this
company. They have to be able to assimilate.”
A job at The Beach could appeal to older adults for the same reason it appeals
to teens: it is a fun place to work and they get several perks, including season
passes. The Beach, in turn, gets employees who arrive with many established,
valuable skills.
One of the advantages of hiring sub-16 teens—they tend to be the most eager
workers—has not been lost by hiring adults, either, said Tara Nahrup, The
Beach’s manager of media and public relations. “To come in and work
at The Beach part time when you’re a teacher, you’re going to be earning
a lot less than you do normally. They really have to build their hours in order
to make the kind of money that they’re looking for, so they want more hours
just as much as the young ones.”
Unlike the young ones, though, they legally can get more hours.
THE LOOP is written and produced by Eric Minton, Minton Enterprises, LLC. To see more examples of Eric Minton's work and Minton Enterprises services, visit www.ericminton.com.
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