City taking more steps to improve lifeguard recruitment

THUNDER BAY – Thunder Bay's city council has heard new details on the city's efforts to confront a significant shortage of qualified lifeguards for its aquatic facilities.

A report detailing information on completed and planned strategies was presented to council on Monday. 

The city has recently struggled to recruit enough lifeguards to keep pools open and offer its usual programming.

It responded by raising the starting wage for lifeguards from $15.71/hr to $19.35/hr this year. A number of other municipalities took similar steps amid a nation-wide shortage, staff said.

The report suggested implementing other strategies to improve recruitment and retention, including covering the cost of certification courses for newly hired candidates and expanding the practice of covering the cost of re-certification for existing employees.

The steps are estimated to cost around $16,000 a year, but that cost can be accommodated within existing budget lines, staff reported.

Based on information from nine other communities, input from staff from the Lifesaving Society, and ongoing conversations with current staff, the report found Thunder Bay is well in line with the industry, which is facing a staffing shortage nationally. 

Another new strategy proposed in the report involved supervisors working with head staff to create as many “fun” activities, meetings, and initiatives for staff as possible. 

At-large Coun. Rebecca Johnson questioned why the city has to “literally jump through hoops to get people to work."

“I mean somebody, supervisors, have got to spend time doing this,” she said. “So, is this something that we're going to have to continue to work on and have the time that is required to make this occur in the future?” 

Kim Begin, supervisor of aquatics, said the move will cost time but is necessary to retain staff. 

“Anything that we can do to balance the serious work environment, but also making it enjoyable, is what our focus has had to turn to,” she said. 

At-large Coun. Aldo Ruberto also answered the question of what it will cost in time with a question of what it will cost the city if it didn't do these initiatives, such as closing other pools in the summer in order to fully staff the Canada Games Complex. 

“You can't go in the water between 2 and 3, or whatever the time, so it's shut down to get more lifeguards there,” he said. “So, our [multi-million dollar] facilities are not being operated the way they should be. So we need these types of initiatives not just in this area, but in all areas.” 

Ruberto followed up with a kudos to staff for coming up with the initiatives and a suggestion that other departments begin “thinking outside the box” in order to retain staff.