Since this past March, we've been waiting on the approval from the federal government on our H2B visa workers, six Hispanic men who have worked at Highlands CC for 2-3 years. They are well trained and understand the expectations of the membership in addition to helping our members in their time away from their jobs on the golf course. Last week I received a call that they finally had an appointment at the Mexican Cosulate, where they are usually approved and given permission to enter the country legally. Keep in mind, we've been waiting months for these guys and we've been getting by with the core group working a lot of overtime. At times, we were able to supplement our work with local, very expensive and unreliable, contract labor from a temp service. Regardless, this past Thursday afternoon, I learned the workers we've been holding out for, were denied their visas and will NOT be returning to Highlands this year. Naturally for me, this was and is very frustrating.
What is the H2B visa program?
In short, it's been around forever. It isn't any part of the President's amnesty program or way for undocumented workers to skirt the US system. Basically, as a business leader in the field of agriculture or commercial fishing, you can apply for foreign workers if you prove there isn't local, American workers in a particular area capable of doing the job. If approved, these folks are able to come work for 10 months at a time, legally. No families, spouses etc. come with them, just workers themselves. They MUST return to Mexico after the 10 months. This has be a great way for Club's to balance the needs of seasonal and full time staff. However, the last several years, our politicians in Washington really made a political issue out of this in and effort to "put Americans back to work!" First, I agree 100% with that theory. I love the idea. But, Macon County has a tremendous "unemployable" problem- people who don't want to work or can't work for a number of reasons. Furthermore, the good quality folks want to work full time, year round, with benefits. If that werepossible, the issue would resolve itself. But again, we need to balance the staff with full time and
seasonal workers. Having a 25 person staff January would be hard to justify.
Where do we go from here?
Is this a big deal? Not particularly; it's just frustrating and disappointing but also out of my control and I've learned those things aren't worth worrying about. I wish I could have known this earlier because training staff in April is always easier than June. We deferred the start of maintenance activities with the understanding trained staff would be arriving at any time. For example, double cutting greens and walk mowing approaches are 2 maintenance practices that have yet to start. Please know this- I am acting swiftly with a plan in place to hire an additional 6 people (3 start Monday). Training will start this week and by the end of the week it will be (from your perspective) like nothing happened. I personally will do whatever it takes to bring these guys up to speed in the shortest time possible.
What about the future?
Does this mean we will never rely on H2B staff again? Not really. There are many companies out there that supply labor like this. Our particular company, who I released from their duties, had some of their own issues in addition to the government hold on H2B visas. It is possible to fill out your own paperwork to request staff but using a labor company is more convenient because they also supply local housing, a vehicle and pay such things as workers comp and payroll taxes etc. Supplying a vehicle for example, would create another maintenance issue and liability issue. It's easier to let a professional service deal with all of that.
Conclusion:
Thank you for your patience with this. Again, from a budget aspect, our options are limited. I've hired additional students this year as well to get us through the busier part of the year. With more staff starting each week, I really look to turn the corner. The golf course is in great shape and green speed is continuing to increase. Double cutting will begin this week and greens rolling will become more consistent to 3-4x per week. At the same time, kudos to my staff for hanging in there, These guys worked a tremendous amount of hours to get the golf course where it is today. They are the finest, most loyal group of men I've had the privilege to work with.
In othe news, On Tuesday morning, David Parker (practice tee manager) and I are taking a field trip to Old Edwards Club, Wade Hampton (and hopefully Mountaintop) because I want Dave to see what members are exposed to at other clubs, and see how others organize the tee setup. I've always thought these particular clubs have done a very nice job with it and while we don't want to copy any one program, maybe we can get an idea or two. That's the beauty of this business, Superintendents and other Club leaders are always happy to help each other. I will definitely write more on this come Tuesday. In the meantime, Have a wonderful Memorial Day weekend!