I currently work as a county lifeguard in the Atlanta area.
The base pay was 12 an hour. If you were certified to teach swim lessons, the base pay was 13 an hour and instructor pay was 20 an hour.
It used to be 9 an hour from the years 2016 to 2020 and 15 an hour as an instructor. Not bad when your only responsibility is to watch water, and teaching kids how to swim for 20 an hour was already incredible.
But, no one was applying (even at 13 base and 20 an hour instructor pay) because the job is painfully boring. A lot of people were even resigning. There’s rarely any excitement, and there’s not many ways to keep your mind occupied.
Staffing got bad. Our bosses had to communicate with other supervisors at different pools to decide who was going to pick up shifts to fill in missing spots, so the supervisors were also lifeguarding/ teaching swim lessons.
Then the commissioners decided to REALLY bump up the pay.
Now? The base pay is 16.50 an hour, 18 an hour if you’re certified to teach swim lessons, and a whole 30 an hour when actively teaching swim lessons.
Training for all certifications is now FREE.
The first thing we were told at the meeting the raise was announced at was “We’re giving you this raise because we want all of you guys to stay with us, this raise shows how important your line of work is.”
Every SINGLE person who resigned due to COVID has returned because of the raise.
A lot of college students who work here can now pay for their tuition without resorting to loans.
A lot of high school students have extra money to pursue hobbies.
The reason why the county is trying to keep staff for its parks and recreation is because these attractions generate a lot of money in the housing market. Many real estate agents stop by to take pictures of the facilities and post them online to sell houses. If the facilities shut down, it’s less incentive to move to the area… And we’ve had a LOT of people trying to move to Atlanta.
The staff is very happy to be here now. Remember that your actions will provide better results than your words!