Monday, March 14, 2016

Seasonal Labor

Each year we bring back a very experienced staff of workers from Mexico through H2B visas. Some staff members have been here for 15 years. Their knowledge of the course and how we operate along with an amazing work effort gives Fieldstone a major advantage. Without this staff we would need to hire additional workers to make up for the shortfall of not having the knowledge already in place that our associates have.

Last week I hosted an informal lunch of local superintendents with the major discussion centering on labor. Some courses can go through as many as 100 job applicants to find 20 that work. Only to have to retrain new staff each year due to the seasonal nature of the work. This is time consuming and costly.

Through no fault of Fieldstone's the government has delayed the start date of our returning workers. This is the case for the entire H2B program. Their exact start date is not known but we are hoping by the end of April. In the meantime we will hire an outside contractor to help with course clean-up and bunker repairs. The mowing will be done by myself, our mechanic Tim and Assistant Superintendent Matt. Potentially a new staff member will come in to also help with the mowing.

A replacement for former Assistant Superintendent Carey Bailey will come at the end of May via the University of Delaware's Plant Science Program.

As of now our weather forecast is the following:



It looks like the recent streak of warm weather may be it for awhile.

Please do not hesitate to contact me directly regarding any questions or comments about our current labor situation.






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