Before the start of the outdoor pool season, the shortage of staff has worsened considerably, according to the Federal Association of German Swimming Champion. “The situation will be even more dramatic this year,” said association president Peter Harzheim of the German Press Agency. “Meanwhile it’s like this: We no longer even have a shortage of skilled workers, we’ll soon have the worst case.” Nationwide, at least 3,000 specialists were missing in the pools.
Harzheim referred to the family-unfriendly working hours of lifeguards and a “non-appreciative payment” as a reason. In addition, the baby boomers were now retiring. “Many colleagues left in the pandemic years because they were afraid of losing their jobs and looked elsewhere in the industry,” said the President.
He therefore called for more effort in training. If each of the approximately 6,000 baths nationwide would hire a trainee, the problem could be solved. “Then we wouldn’t have such a disaster in three years after the end of the training. Then we still wouldn’t be off the hook, but the problem would be solved to some extent.”
High test failure rate
In North Rhine-Westphalia, which next to Lower Saxony has the most indoor pools in Germany, there are 150 candidates this summer – after 160 last summer. “Although the overall trend is increasing, it will not solve the problem now,” suspected Harzheim. In addition, the failure rate for exams is high.
According to the association based in Wesseling near Cologne, one consequence of a lack of lifeguards is shorter opening times for outdoor pools, and sometimes bathing establishments do not open at all. People are desperately needed to prevent this from happening in outdoor pools in summer.
“This year we started looking for lifeguards for the outdoor pool operation in winter,” said Ralf Becker, head of the pool operations in Essen. For example, sports students and high school graduates were approached, and ambitious swimmers were courted in the clubs. 50 lifeguards are needed in Essen. “Through our efforts, we have filled about half of the positions so far,” says Becker.
According to data from the German Society for Bathing, there are more than 6,000 indoor and outdoor pools nationwide. Of these, 2,794 are purely indoor pools and 2,422 are purely outdoor pools. In many regions, outdoor pools start the season in May or depending on the weather. Some wanted to open at Easter.
