Lifeguards Needed!!

[peter.cardinale]

Circle Woods Residents-

Our pool service contractor, Atlantic, is experiencing a severe shortage of lifeguards this summer (as are most other pool companies). If you know anyone who may be interested in working as a lifeguard this summer please have them reach out to Atlantic (atlanticpoolinc@aol.com) to apply.

Below are transcripts of two e-mails explaining the source and state of the current shortage.


Thanks!
Peter Cardinale
Pool coordinator

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

From: Atlantic Pool Service <atlanticpoolinc@aol.com>
Sent: Mon, Jun 21, 2021 1:55 pm
Subject: Lifeguard Shortage

Dear Clients,

As many of you are aware, there is a national lifeguard shortage. This shortage is definitely occurring in the Northern Virginia area. Many of you have contacted us to see if we can supply service/lifeguards for other properties that we do not have a pool management Agreement with, since your current pool management company can not supply any lifeguards. Our commitment is with our current clients, but this lifeguard shortage is real and has been caused by many factors that are beyond our control. Since COVID-19 has swept across the globe, most countries have restricted travel to limit the spread of the virus. Starting last year, the State Department froze the issuing of work visas for international students who would normally come to the US to work as lifeguards; and that freeze has extended into 2021. Even though we only hire about 20% of our workforce using these international students, the loss of these employees is still a significant portion of our needed workforce. We have been staffing all of our pools this year with local Americans, but that also brings additional challenges. The "pool" of available lifeguards is now much smaller, with all Metropolitan pool management companies competing for their services. The COVID-19 pandemic has also caused disruptions in the education system in our area, causing after school sports to go much farther into June than in a normal year. This has decreased the number of lifeguards available to us. In addition, many colleges and universities will be starting their Fall semesters earlier than normal, thus deceasing the available lifeguards to us late in the swim season. Furthermore, the local lifeguards have different motivating factors in their lives besides just wanting to earn money by working. The international students that come here want to work 50-60 hours per week, so that they can earn as much money as possible before having to go back home at the end of the summer; that is not the case for the kids in this area. They have outside lives, friends and family that they want to spend time with, which means that they want to work less hours on a weekly basis. We have been asking these kids to work more than they are used to and it is becoming apparent to us that many of them are having a difficult time handling the heavy work load. They are becoming mentally exhausted and many of these lifeguards will not work any extra hours. Please also know that the heavy work load is a financial burden on Atlantic Pool Service, Inc. We do not have budgeted all the overtime pay that we are having to pay the lifeguards that are willing to work extra hours.

Up to this point, this lifeguard shortage has not affected our ability to open all of our pools. But there may come a time when we will not be able to adequately staff some pools because we may not have enough qualified staff. There may need to be reductions in staff, reductions in operating hours and/or pool closures on a temporary basis. This may not affect all of our managed facilities, since some have enough neighborhood kids that will be willing to work throughout the entire swim season. As previously mentioned, there will come a time in August when our older lifeguards go back to college and we will only have high school age lifeguards to staff all of our pools. This will be the most difficult time for staffing.

Even though most of the COVID-19 restrictions have been lifted in our area and it feels like it is back to a normal summer, we are in a much different position with staffing than in normal years and may not be able to operate as in the past. We are asking for your understanding of our situation now and for the rest of the pool season. We are very proud that we have been able to have all of our managed facilities open and we are doing everything we can to properly staff these facilities each and every day for the rest of the pool season.

Please contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,


Steve Bogdanoff
President
Atlantic Pool Service, Inc.
703-941-1000


______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Atlantic Pool Service
10:51 AM (24 minutes ago)

Dear Clients,

We must take this opportunity to inform you of new developments in the lifeguard shortage situation that we are experiencing. Unfortunately, the shortage is becoming more serious. Atlantic Pool Service, Inc. had hoped that the most difficult time for staffing our managed pool facilities would only be in August, when many of our staff returned to college. The reality of the situation is that we are having far more difficulty staffing all of our facilities right now and for the foreseeable future. Many of our staff have decided to leave our employ for many different reasons. Some have decided to leave because the work load is just too heavy. Others have informed us that they have too many other things that they wish to do or accomplish this summer and no longer want to work at all. Several of our staff have just been offered internships that they thought would not be available. Finally, we are losing some of our staff to extended family vacations that don't make it worth them returning to work before they start school again.

We have a minimum of two to four full time employees working ten plus hours per day, strictly working to staff all of our managed facilities. Although we have been able to keep all of our managed facilities open, we have not had the staff continuity that we would like. This situation is a direct result of the pandemic. There are shortages in all areas of employment throughout the country. In addition, there is a major shortage of pool parts and supplies throughout the country, which could also affect the operation of our managed facilities.

Atlantic Pool Service, Inc. needs your full understanding of this situation. We need to work together in this situation. As mentioned before, the Covid pandemic and the U.S. Government response is the direct cause of this situation and we have no control over it. We need you to forward this information to all Board members, committee members and as many pool patrons as possible so that everyone knows that your pool facility will not be "business as usual". There are too many patrons expecting that everything should be operating just as it has before the pandemic occurred. These expectations are not realistic. These expectations, in some cases, cause extra pressure on our already over-worked staff. Please work with Atlantic Pool Service, Inc. and communicate with your entire community as to what the true reality is.

Below is our original email of June 21, 2021, outlining the lifeguard shortage. Please forward this email to each community member as well.

Thank you for your time and cooperation in this matter.

Please contact me with any questions.

Sincerely,


Steve Bogdanoff
President
Atlantic Pool Service, Inc.
703-941-1000