INDIANAPOLIS — Swimming pools across the country reopen for the summer season this weekend, but most are in need of help like never before.
As Jennifer Stoneking with Indy Parks said, "Everyone in the industry is have a huge problem, and Indy Parks is feeling the pain, too."
Indy Parks is still short about 40 lifeguards — and that's with plans already in place to keep half its pools closed this summer.
"We're still about 20 percent lower in staffing than any other year this time," Stoneking said.
Finding lifeguards, usually teens and college students, is always a struggle, but this year, it's even harder.
"Fifteen-to-24-year-olds have stopped seeking jobs at the rate they used (to) and then add in COVID and an unstructured summer that snuck up on them quick," Stoneking said.
It's why Indy Parks just boosted pay from $12 to $13 an hour. The JCC Indianapolis is also in desperate need of lifeguards.
"We've always had trouble right before summer staffing, but we've always had a larger number at this point than we have this year," said JCC aquatics manager Nicole Hagemeyer.
The JCC needs to staff its outdoor pool and water park and its two indoor pools. It's upped pay to $12 an hour and added a $200 bonus for new lifeguards.
If that doesn't work, she said, they'll have to "limit the number of people that come to our facility or maybe limit days it's available or open and close certain pools through the day, depending on the number of staff," Hagemeyer said. "We'll still have [the pools] available but maybe not in their full glory like we usually do."
Indianapolis-area YMCAs, including the Jordan YMCA on the city's north side, is looking at higher pay and touting incentives to recruit lifeguards.
Gaby Slayton, associate aquatic director at the Jordan YMCA said, "We offer free membership for our staff and discounts on programs." She said staff are also eligible for free childcare.
Slayton said if they're unable to hire as many lifeguards as needed, they do have contingency plans. One is reducing pool capacity.
"Right now, have [a limit of] 216 on our deck. If we don't have enough lifeguards, we'd have to cut that," she said, adding that summer camps may not be able to use the pool as often.
Kennedi Hardin, who just graduated from Cathedral High School, will be starting her third summer as an Indy Parks lifeguard.
Monday afternoon, she was at the Douglass Park Pool, explaining to a couple of possible recruits why she enjoys the summer job.
"I love being outside and being around the pool and the community. There's a good bond," she said, adding she especially likes "being with the little kids."
And this year, she also likes being paid $13 an hour this year, which she noted is considerably more than minimum wage, which is $7.25 an hour in Indiana.
Plainfield is having the same problem at Splash Island. That facility is raising the pay for lifeguards from $9.25/hour to $10.25/hour and offering a bonus of $250 at the end of the season.