How to Prepare the Next Generation of Parks and Rec Leaders in the Digital Era
Parks and recreation departments have been facing a staffing paradigm shift for the past several years. With tenured baby boomers retiring and continued pressures to compete with the private sector for talent, municipal leaders have had to shift their hiring tactics to make their open positions appealing to a generation of workers who have extremely different employment priorities than their generational predecessors.
Here's how to make positions in your department appeal to younger generations:
Update Your Tech
A study by Microsoft and SurveyMonkey further found that 93 percent of Millennials list modern and up-to-date technology as one of the most important aspects of a workplace. Therefore, to retain the highest quality Millennial staff and give them the tools they want to excel in their positions, parks and rec departments should provide their personnel with the types of enterprise mobility solutions that will allow them to work collaboratively, efficiently, and impactfully.
Such technology access should include cloud-based software solutions that will allow field workers to monitor and track work they complete in the field, on-site administrators to check-in customers, manage event registrations, and track class participation from any facility or park in the community.
Show Them the Stats
Younger generations are data-minded and driven by statistics. Ensure your administration has tools in place to aggregate data that can be analyzed and used to inform decisions. Millennial and Gen-Z workers will want everything from post-event survey data to registration trends to seasonal revenue projections, all available digitally and on-demand.
Enable Accountability
Younger generations want recognition for their accomplishments. Ensure you have a system in place that provides transparency into your department goals and ensures all participants can actively monitor individual and aggregate progress toward those goals.
Enable Digital Self-Sufficiency
Parks and rec leaders should give younger generations the tools they need to self-service their job functions, act collaboratively, and obtain information immediately. Such systems should include online calendar scheduling tools and the ability for coaches and instructors to sign participants up for events and track signed waivers digitally.
Consider Remote Work
When asked if they want to return to their offices full time when we beat COVID-19, 83 percent of workers would like to continue working from home at least one day per week. While parks landscaping crews and camp counselors need to be out in the field, COVID-19 has proved that many functions can be facilitated remotely.
Conclusion
Younger generations are influencing the public sector, and they have the natural inclination and drive to succeed. By accommodating their desire to leverage data and technology to be efficient, you can give them the ability to lead your community to new heights.
As the product manager and subject matter expert for CivicRec, Brian Stapleton is primarily responsible for ensuring our parks and recreation clients leverage all the flexible features and modern functionality offered by our local government recreation management software.