Working for a purpose
Like many employees, Thomas Rockwood, the pool manager for Honey, views his job as an extension of himself and wants to create an impact that extends beyond his personal role at work or daily duties. Even at 14, Rockwood was looking to make a mark. At first, he was simply a teenager looking for someone that would hire him at a young age.
“Lucky for me, my local pool was hiring an assistant swim instructor for their preschool swim lessons program. At the time, I saw it as glorified babysitting in the water,” says Rockwood. “At 14, I could not wait to be 16 so I could sit in the lifeguard chair, watch other 14-year-olds teach toddlers how to blow bubbles in the pool…and do a job that mattered, make an impact, and serve my community.”
At 16, he was old enough to get a job anywhere, but was still looking to fulfil this sense of purpose. Rockwood invested $200 of his summer savings to achieve his goal of becoming a lifeguard. Once he turned 18 and moved away for college, he was still insistent about having an impactful job with more responsibility.
“I still worked in the aquatic industry in a lifeguarding role, but I noticed I could not only have an impact on the patrons at my pool, but also on my co-workers,” he says. “That is when I began to take steps to transition out of lifeguarding and into more managerial roles.”
Since making the transition into aquatics management almost four years ago, Rockwood has had the opportunity to wear many hats within an aquatic facility, whereby overcoming challenges, and developing himself, as well as others. Throughout his progression, he has been tempted to take jobs in other fields simply because their entry-level positions paid more than his management role, not to mention the reduction in stress that would accompany the increase in pay. However, he made the decision to stay.
“I did not take up the other, more lucrative, less stressful opportunities because I enjoyed the people I worked with and found happiness in developing my employees.”
Promoting strengths
The seasonality of the pool industry adds another layer of complexity to workforce retention. Staff gear up to work hard for a few months of the year and then scale back during other times. At Proper pH Pools, owned by Bob and Shira Barzilay, some of its core staff has been with the company for 18 years because they feel valued and enjoy the work. In fact, two of the company’s top employees started as a receptionist and pool cleaner, respectively, and worked their way up.
According to these employees, growth was not always easy, but they embraced the training offered to them over the years as they took on new responsibilities each year. There were times when they needed to be pushed a little harder, such as when they lost confidence, but they always trusted the Barzilays’ intentions and chose growth. As for the company’s other staff members, with these two employees serving as leaders of the organization, the rest of the team sees the possibility and opportunity available to each of them.
Knowing the new workplace culture is strengths-based, the Barzilays capitalize on their team’s ability to take initiative, follow directions, communicate, maintain flexibility, and support teamwork.
“The culture of our company is to focus on each individual’s strengths rather than weaknesses,” says Bob Barzilay. “We know today’s workforce measures success by setting and achieving goals, and that every employee is unique and different. When an employee shows an interest or strength in a specific area, we help cultivate this in any way we can. We help our employees set goals based on what they want and where they want to go.”
When it comes to training, the Barzilays do not worry about staff taking advantage of the educational opportunities to become their competition.
“We believe education delivers mutually beneficial growth for the industry,” says Bob Barzilay. “Even if they choose to work elsewhere, or for themselves, at least they will be doing things correctly and representing the industry as a professional.”
