Summer Reading Guide: Stop the Shift Show

Soaring above clouds sparked the creative inspiration Scott Greenberg needed to finalize a central element of a major project.

On a flight from Los Angeles, where he lives, to Nashville, which he frequently visits, Greenberg developed a catchy title for a book designed to help business owners, operators and managers leading teams comprised of hourly workers. “I started describing what these work environments are actually like, and shitshow came up pretty quick in my brainstorming,” he says. After softening the language, “Stop the Shift Show” emerged as the final title.

Hourly workers are essential parts of the golf industry — imagine your course without a reliable nucleus — and connecting with them sometimes requires outside help. Enter “Stop the Shift Show.” A former Edible Arrangements franchisee-turned-business coach, Greenberg blends macro-level insights and research with micro-level case studies to generate practical ideas for businesses seeking to construct and retain effective teams.

We read the book (Golf Course Industry recommendation: it deserves a spot next to your turf textbooks) and followed up with Greenberg on his ideas for golf maintenance-related labor challenges.

What do you think when you hear a manager in 2024 say things such as “nobody wants to work anymore” or “I can’t find people?”

People have a lot more options now because there’s remote work and gig work. There’s the same amount of fish in the pond, but there are a lot more anglers. There’s a lot more people who are fishing, so employees, especially good ones, have a lot more choice. My son worked through the pandemic. His first job was at In-N-Out Burger, and he loved it. But when it was over, he was 18 and he realized he could make more money delivering fast food through DoorDash than by cooking the food. The issue wasn’t that he didn’t want to work. He had options and he wanted to exercise them. The businesses that are going to be able to find and retain people are going to be the ones that work to become an employer of choice.

What are the competitive disadvantages for industries like golf where you can’t do remote or gig work and what can be done to overcome those competitive disadvantages?

There are a few hourly jobs that are remote, but for the most part workers in the hourly sector are still going somewhere to work. What gives people an advantage is creating a better employee experience. What most employers have done and continue to do to find workers is pay them more with higher starting salaries and signing bonuses. That was the big thing at the tail end of the pandemic when everybody was desperate. What good is getting them if you can’t keep them? I distinguish between what I call hard needs and soft needs. Most employers try to appeal to workers with hard needs. The primary one is more money. They also have soft needs like psychological and emotional needs. It’s not necessarily about what they get, it’s about how they feel. Just like customers want a customer experience that feels good, employees want a work experience that feels good, especially younger generations.

A golf course superintendent leads hourly workers who must wake up early, work weekends and be willing to handle all weather conditions. What would you do to attract, retain and engage an hourly workforce in that situation?

You have a smaller pool of people to choose from. In order to compete for that smaller population, you need to offer something that the competition is not. It’s not going to be money. Anybody can pay them an extra dollar per hour. Fewer people are going to pay closer attention to culture and the specific values of the workers they want and then work to meet those values and honor those values. That’s how you can have a competitive advantage. It’s no different than what you do for customers in any industry. You can’t judge them for what they want, you figure out what matters most and then you try to meet those needs.

One thing golf maintenance can offer that other industries can’t is free golf and golf privileges. How does that perk help recruit hourly workers?

I don’t think that’s what gives you an advantage. That probably allows you to keep up with the competition. That’s an example of hard needs. That’s not how you earn loyalty and that’s not how you build culture. It’s a lot more about how people are treated and how the experience feels.

Many golf course superintendents must cope with substandard indoor facilities for their employees. How important are modern and spacious workspaces to hourly employees?

The advantages are that they communicate something. Spend the money to put a better microwave in there, and, yes, it’s a place to heat a sandwich or a bowl of soup, but it’s saying you matter and your experience matters. But you could also have beautiful facilities and treat people terribly. I don’t care how good the microwave is, I don’t care how great the golf course is, if you treat people terribly, they aren’t going to stay. They are more likely to stay in a place that has bad facilities, but a great work environment and great work culture. How you make them feel matters the most.

What’s the difference between a coach and manager? And should somebody who leads a team in a field like golf course maintenance be thinking more like a coach when it comes to their hourly workforce?

Sometimes it’s semantics. I think great managers act like great coaches. And great coaches manage their teams very well. I think the perception is that a coach is somebody on my side who’s not only invested in my success but shares in it and we’re both after the same thing. But a manager might be somebody who I perceive is just the authority, the boss who is telling me what to do, who’s trying to get me to meet their goals and their needs but isn’t necessarily invested in my needs. With a coach, there’s more of a perception of a shared purpose and they are more invested in my success, whereas with the manager the perception is the only success that matters is what the manager wants and they are trying to use me to help them achieve their goals.

How will technology such as AI help managers lead hourly employees?

In good and bad ways. There are efficiencies that AI will help with, such as scheduling and organizing training. I think organizations that rely on AI or any technology to manage the human element of the business are going to be in trouble, because ultimately the data shows that what drives human happiness more than anything is a connection to other people. Even shy people and introverts have a need for connection. The more we robotize the workplace, the more we rely on technology, if we replace human connection in the process, people are going to disengage.

How important is schedule flexibility to workers in 2024?

Essential. These days there’s such a huge priority placed on life balance and quality of life. The employee is not going to skip their sister’s wedding because you want to have a shift covered. There’s more demand for their time from other sources. Hourly workers are statistically more likely to be going to another job, going to classes and going to activities, and their schedules are constantly changing. They are constantly having to juggle. The more flexibility you can provide them allows them to fulfill the other needs in their lives. The more you enable them to have that life-balance, the more they are going to appreciate you. The idea of full-time, part-time, the eight-hour shift, are all constructs, some of them created by Henry Ford. They aren’t written in stone. The idea that I’m only going to hire employees who want to work 40 hours a week is something we need to let go of and schedule for 2024. We have to build in schedule flexibility so employees can have that life balance whether we like it or not.

Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry’s publisher and editor-in-chief.