Part-Time Pool Personnel

Crystal Clear Pool Company builds and maintains swimming pools in a large mid-western city. Crystal Clear handles pool maintenance through a contractual arrangement with the owners of the pools. Although individualized maintenance plans are available at a premium, the basic contract calls for Crystal Clear to vacuum the pools and adjust their chemical balance once a week. For 80 percent of the maintenance customers, the standard contract covers the months of May through September. The remaining 20 percent, who have either indoor or covered pools, require service year-round. Because of the seasonal nature of the work, Crystal Clear hires many students during the summer.

The maintenance staff is divided into three-person crews, each assigned to service six pools per day. In the summer, one permanent employee and two student employees comprise a team, with the permanent employee responsible for training the students. All maintenance crews are paid on a straight hourly basis. The present system has been in force for several years, but it has resulted in at least two problems that seem to be getting more serious each year. The first is that the students hired for the summer demand to be paid the same wage rates that apply to the permanent employees.

The reason is that the college students can get other summer jobs at these rates and are simply not willing to work for less. Naturally, the permanent employees resent the idea of being paid the same wages as the students. The second major problem involves the assignment of the pools, which vary in size and geographic location. The employees claim this is unfair because of the travel time required and differences in pool size. Some pools take three to four times as long to clean as others. Thus, some teams must work harder than others to service the six assigned pools.

QUESTIONS

1. What suggestions do you have for Crystal Clear to help remedy their compensation problems?

2. Can you think of any way to implement an incentive program at Crystal Clear? (Do not ignore the scheduling problems that might be created by such a program.)

3. In general, how do you think the problem of having to pay student employees the same rate as permanent employees could be resolved?