City of Kitchener looks to recruit adults amid lifeguarding shortage

The City of Kitchener is facing a staffing shortage, and while Ontario is proposing to lower the minimum age restriction for lifeguards to 15, staff are concerned the move won’t address the issues Kitchener is facing.

Most teenagers can’t fill daytime hours.

“Fifteen-year olds are in school,” said Kitchener Manager of Aquatics Patrick King. “So we’ve started to look elsewhere, post-pandemic, in the aquatic field.”

King said that while hiring teenagers provides a short-term solution to the staffing shortages, it’s only a matter of time before those staff members move on to their post-secondary education or another job.

He added the city has started looking at recruiting adults instead, as well as swimmers who come to the pools.

“There are swimmers there that are close to retirement, or are stay-at-home parents that are looking to get back into the field, or people who are looking for a change in career, who are looking for something that is flexible,” said King. “Aquatics has always been a flexible place to work.”

Currently, Kitchener is sitting at 200 aquatics staff. They’re still short 200 hours compared to where they were before the COVID-19 pandemic.

King noted the pandemic has been a big factor leading to the shortages, due to pool closures and restrictions.

“People have moved on to other things, to go off to school, to find other interests,” he said. “That’s kind of where that hole started. We were having to hire more because we lost more and we didn’t have that constant flow of people coming in.”

With the recruitment shifting to adults, King wants to focus on creating an aquatics environment where people want to stay and see it as a long-term employment opportunity.