Parks and recreation assets provide the community with valuable resources to make the best of their free time. Providing clean, safe, and engaging spaces allows the public to gather together and fully embrace the areas.
Parks maintenance workers are on the frontlines of ensuring our parks, playgrounds, green spaces, and facilities remain beneficial community resources. The work can be hard, and they are exposed to various weather conditions, but the job can also be very rewarding--especially when staff feel heard and appreciated.
Staffing issues are not a new problem for parks and recreation agencies. The agencies that have more success filling roles and keeping them filled often examine and refine their approaches to employee culture and morale.
In this article, we discuss the challenges parks and recreation agencies face with staffing and some ways to boost morale to keep teams happy and engaged with their vital work.
Challenges of Parks Maintenance Teams
With unlimited time, money, and resources, retaining park maintenance staff would be easy. Unfortunately, parks and recreation agencies have finite resources to fund everything they do.
Here are some of the most common challenges parks maintenance teams face.
Budgets
Parks and recreation agencies often have stretched budgets, and many are funded by city governments with limited resources. Even with available grants and other funding sources, paying staff—especially entry-level staff—competitive wages can be difficult.
In response, some agencies get creative with recruiting by offering more benefits, perks, or flexible schedules. For example, seasonal workers may get memberships to the agency’s gym or discounts on available recreation programming while employed.
Turnover
Challenging work, relatively lower wages, and more job availability in the private sector can lead to a revolving door of parks maintenance staff. High turnover, especially during busy seasons, creates more pressure to complete the necessary work.
Losing an employee costs time and money. The time spent on the hiring process takes away from the time managers spend developing their current team, which can reduce productivity.
Difficulty Filling Seasonal Positions
Filling some of the seasonal roles can prove to be a challenge. Fewer teenagers and young adults are looking for summer work. Summer breaks are shorter. Some students take summer courses or volunteer in the community during their breaks.
When seasonal positions are left open, it puts added strain on full-time and permanent help. More needs to be done with fewer people, which can lead to burnout, stressful work environments, and low morale.
Boosting Morale
Here are some ways to improve the work environment for your parks maintenance team and agency in general.
Attracting the Right Staff
Improving staff morale starts with the hiring process and even the job description.
Instead of listing a set of duties the individual will do daily, make it about the experience they will gain and the impact they’re making on the community. Allow potential employees to see the job as more than performing routine maintenance tasks.
To attract younger seasonal staff, highlight the skills they will develop while working for your agencies. Show how working at the agency will provide experiences that will look good on a resume. For example, instead of being responsible for mowing a park property, they help manage the landscaping of thousands of square feet of outdoor space.
When you find the right new employee, make sure the onboarding process is smooth and informative. Set the new employee up for success with thorough training, peer mentoring, and clear expectations about the work they will perform.
Offer Training and Development Opportunities
Investing in your maintenance team’s professional development helps them build new skills and shows that your agency is committed to each employee’s growth.
You can develop staff with a better skill set by providing training programs and access to workshops, webinars, and continuing education. It increases their motivation to use those new skills.
Also, a clear path for career advancement makes staff feel like they are working towards something instead of just working.
Empower Staff
Feeling heard leads to better job satisfaction and staff loyalty.
An open and transparent communication culture allows staff to provide input in the day-to-day operations. Encourage your parks maintenance staff to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns. Use team meetings, individual check-ins, and suggestion boxes to allow staff to voice their opinions.
Address staff input in proactive ways. Foster open discussions that consider their suggestions to improve productivity. Maintenance staff will feel more confident voicing their suggestions, which may lead to better ways of doing things. Acting on new collaborative ideas gives staff skin in the game and motivates them to follow through.
Recognize Staff’s Achievements
The work of parks and recreation maintenance staff often goes unnoticed. If they are doing their jobs correctly, things are business as usual. It’s not until an issue arises that attention is paid to what they do. This approach negatively affects morale.
Staff work harder when their efforts are acknowledged and appreciated. Fostering a culture of gratitude is an easy way to help boost morale. A few kind words from a manager goes a long way.
Find ways to acknowledge when a project gets completed or when staff pull together during a hectic week.
Celebrate Milestones
With everything that goes into managing a parks maintenance team's daily operations, it’s easy to overlook employees' milestones.
How would it feel when an employee’s five-year work anniversary goes virtually unknown because everyone is in the midst of a major playground repair project?
Show pride in your team’s milestones. Make them feel good about it. This can include:
- Completing Onboarding
- Work Anniversaries
- Training Accomplishments
- Promotions
- Contributions to Agency Achievements
- Retirement
- Personal Milestones like Birthdays, Marriage, or Becoming a Parent
Maintain a Positive Work Environment
Things get busy, they change, and staff change. As your agency evolves it’s easy to lose sight of your work environment with everything happening.
The things mentioned in this article can contribute to a positive work environment. As you probably know, there are more ways you can help ensure people want to show up for work every day.
Some ideas include:
- Schedule one-on-one check-ins with staff.
- Pay attention to how everyone is communicating with each other.
- Keep feedback growth-oriented.
- Provide fair, regular employee performance reviews.
- Provide access to mental health resources.
- Promote a healthy work/life balance with your employees.
- Find ways for camaraderie and fun.
The Takeaway
Being proactive with your agency’s culture and team’s communication can go a long way in helping to retain your maintenance staff. By examining the processes of recruitment, hiring, and acknowledging current employees, you may find some tweaks that will help boost your maintenance team's morale.