Working during outings.... Cancel The title field is required!

1. Douglas Eggert

   

   1 posts
   
   6/23/2013 6:06 PM

   What do you do when you have outings at your course? Is the staff asked to not work while the event is going on? Or is it assumed no work will happen during an event?
   
   The tread lately regardless of age or type of outings is the assumption that that grounds crews will not be working or interrupting the event.....
   
   What happens at your facilities ?
   
   Thanks

   
   
   
   
2. Gordon Seliga

   

   4 posts
   
   6/23/2013 8:06 PM

   If the outing is a full shotgun (18 holes), we vacate the golf course and use that time to work around the clubhouse, short game, driving range tee, or other maintenance areas off of the golf course. If the event is less than 18 holes, we may work in the gap if we are behind in mowing or if other maintenance is needed. We have outings every Monday and Thursday, so we plan accordingly.
   
   Gordon Seliga
   Erie, Pa

   
   
   
   
3. Rosenthal Gregg

   
   6/23/2013 8:06 PM

   Douglas,
   
   We do the same, try our best to work around the outings. Often they do not begin until late morning or early afternoon shotgun, so it gives us time to get things done early. We do our best to work around them, then get out of the way. We will still do things like trim, tree work, spot spray, things that do not interfere with play. As a private club we don't have too many outside events, so we plan ahead and work around it. Sometimes we may even start early or stay late if spraying is required. Or as we say, one must do as one must do to get things done! We are also lucky a few guys live on site during the season and can do a few things late in the Day on Sundays like Mow Fairways or the Driving Range area mowing and set up.
   
   GreggR

   
   
   
   
4. Andy Jorgensen

   

   1 posts
   
   6/24/2013 7:06 AM

   Full course typically limits us to the amount of work we can do and the crew tends to sit around watching golf more than working. We will instead clean up around the shop, driving range, nursery, etc...always plenty to do in those areas that often get neglected during the course of a normal day.
   
   For smaller events, we will work in the gap around play.
   
   Since the majority of our crews leave at 1:00, and shotguns are at 9:00, we typically don't lose that much time anyways.

   
   
   
   
5. Sean Hoolehan

   

   0 posts
   
   6/24/2013 9:06 AM

   Doug,
   
   It depends on the tournament. Generally if it is a 8 AM weekday shotgun I will work the crew 5-10 AM, They will clean the shop, detail equipment, fill divots on the range, for the last 2 hours. Several of the guys will go home before 10 because they hate this type of work. Afternoon and weekend shotgun events rarely have any effect on our maintenance.
   
   About half (all new) of my seasonal crew works under 30 hours a week anyway. Next year we have to work all our seasonal employees under 30 hours to avoid healthcare insurance cost. For the past couple of years I have shifted the new people to a more part-time schedule in anticipation of the PPACA (Obamacare).

   
   
   
   
6. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   6/24/2013 3:06 PM

   Ours depends on the size of the outing or if it is a tournament such as a high school or jr. tournament.
   
   Outings that take up a majority of the course we will pull off and clean up equipment and around the shop.
   
   Tournaments we will completely pull off and just work around the shop.
   
   Sean, I ask you because you seemed to have had a good handle on this issue before,
   and maybe this is for another thread, not to hi-jack Douglas's post
   
   Wouldn't the seasonal staff still count or their hours still count against your total numbers under the ACA? I always wondered how seasonal staff and even part time workers, would be accounted for, I thought I read if they were working longer then 5 months, they would have to be offered health insurance? Do they then get the opportunity for Cobra at the end of the season? Isn't there something in the ACA that counted part-time workers combined hours have to stay under the same amount of hours as the hours of 50 full time workers so people couldn't circumvent the ACA?
   
   This group of employees I thought could have been the most affected by the ACA, since they didn't work full time and receive health care benefits, unless their spouses do and they could be on their insurance. But I wonder if it is this group that helps drive up the over all cost of health care since they tend to wait for themselves to be so sick and head for the emergency rooms because they don't have insurance? I guess you could employee those under 26 who stay on their parents plans?
   
   Has anyone thought about doing 4 months seasonal hirings? Hire for March - June, then another group for July - October? And a bunch of college kids for the summer months?
   
   That is one thing that we haven't heard about with our seasonal employees. Maybe what will happen is we will fill the full-time slots that are still open.
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO
   
   
7. Sean Hoolehan

   

   0 posts
   
   6/24/2013 6:06 PM

   Melvin Waldron, CGCS said:
   Sean, I ask you because you seemed to have had a good handle on this issue before,
   and maybe this is for another thread, not to hi-jack Douglas's post I still have a handle on the PPACA but to be honest there are so many variables from company size, state, and exchanges as well as coverage levels its just takes to much time to really dive in on this forum. Trust me employers are being bombarded with opinions on compliance.
   
   Wouldn't the seasonal staff still count or their hours still count against your total numbers under the ACA? I always wondered how seasonal staff and even part time workers, would be accounted for, I thought I read if they were working longer then 5 months, they would have to be offered health insurance? Do they then get the opportunity for Cobra at the end of the season? If they are covered by employer healthcare they have to be offered COBRA upon termination. Isn't there something in the ACA that counted part-time workers combined hours have to stay under the same amount of hours as the hours of 50 full time workers so people couldn't circumvent the ACA? My employer has over 1200 employees the vast majority full time with excellent benefits. The decision that seasonal employees would have to work less than 30 hours was made by executive management. For the past 4-5 years I have geared my new employees to work less than 30 hours a week anyway. It seems like a more efficient use of labor, more employees working in front of play. Our staff efficiency drops dramatically when they have to work during prime golf hours.
   
   This group of employees I thought could have been the most affected by the ACA, since they didn't work full time and receive health care benefits, unless their spouses do and they could be on their insurance. But I wonder if it is this group that helps drive up the over all cost of health care since they tend to wait for themselves to be so sick and head for the emergency rooms because they don't have insurance? Driving up cost is pretty simple its large claims like cancer, cardiovascular/heart, hypertension, obesity/diabetes many of these are the result of life style. There has been a shortage of doctors in rural America for a while. Now we hear that the shortage of primary care doctors is getting critical everywhere. So even if your plans have excellent coverage you might not see a doctor for several weeks. Many Doctors have been replaced with nurse practitioners, and physician assistants, who often order many more tests and radiology because that's what they are trained to do, and the hospital that their clinics are affiliated with make more money on many of these test and labs anyway. I guess you could employee those under 26 who stay on their parents plans? Seasonal employees are generally people under special circumstances, between jobs, retired, students, other responsibilities, and even people who work full time somewhere else. All I worry about is will you get to work on time, understand and take direction. The rest we train.
   
   Has anyone thought about doing 4 months seasonal hirings? Hire for March - June, then another group for July - October? And a bunch of college kids for the summer months? This does not sound efficient.
   
   That is one thing that we haven't heard about with our seasonal employees. Maybe what will happen is we will fill the full-time slots that are still open.
   
   We have had a crisis in healthcare costs in the USA because we also have had excellent advances. It's complicated and expensive to fix a system that truthfully has never really been organized. The thing that we would all really benefit from is a electronic medical file. They already exist just not in the format that would be most useful. Trust me your insurance company already has files that are accessible online and if we have learned one thing this past month nothing is that private on the internet. I do not want the government to make my healthcare decisions but truthfully they already do by the influence they exert through Medicare and Medicaid. I do think employers would benefit by being out of the healthcare providing business, but there will be some real pain points getting there no matter who you are.
   
   Mel

   
   
   
   
8. Melvin Waldron

   

   43 posts
   
   6/24/2013 7:06 PM

   Thanks Sean,
   
   Mel

   
   Melvin H. Waldron III, CGCS, Horton Smith Golf Course, City of Springfield/Greene County MO