Camp Happy Valley in London, ontario

1. Introduce the company

General Facts

• Camp Happy Valley in London, Ontario
• It is a camp for about 1,500 campers and employed 500 staff. 
• This camp provides well as indoor activities for the children. 
• No waterfront activities due to location
• November, 2000, Sue Johnston has promoted Adam Cameron to become the new programmer
• to help boost up the morale and fun to the campers and staff. 
• He is finding it hard to manage his time to organize the camp and his studies. 
• Approximately 800,000 children attended camp in Ontario each summer
• Approximately 125,000 staff were employed by camps in Ontario each summer
• Ontario gross revenues of camps were $460,000,000
• Happy Valley is a non-for profit organization, paying junior staff $533/summer and senior $1980/summer
• Happy Valley paid junior swim staff $1500/summer and senior swim staff $2500/summer plus an additional cost of $60/each swim staff for extra training
• Happy valley charged $700/camper for 2 weeks, $1,100/4 weeks, $1,600/6 weeks or $2,000/8 weeks

Employment Standards Act

• Camp staff is able to be exempt from minimum wage, overtime pay, and public holidays
• Removal of the exemptions would lead to decreased quality of camp, decrease financial assistance to campers, raised camp fees and camp closures

Super Staff team

• Happy Valley has a super staff team that does the majority of the work

• This team includes the program director, 10 section heads, the swim director, 3 head swim staff, the programmer, and 5 administrative sweat
• The team is chosen at the end of each summer (no later than December) by Sue Johnson, the camp director
• The team is required to conduct new staff interviews

Staff Selection

• Staff receive a mid summer evaluation and a final evaluation. This decided whether or not they will be hired the following year.

• Staff interviews are not regulated, nor is there a schedule
• Staff interviewed approx 1000 new staff member each year for 470 positions
• Staff are evaluated on spirit, responsibility, maturity level, and related experience
• Staff candidates must supply 3 references, and Happy Valley must hear back from at least 2 of them
• This results in time taken up, and candidates often have another job by the time the references get back to them
• Happy Valley looks for new staff at the YMCA, employment services, high schools, and local swim pools

Staff morale

• Staff must work as a team
• Cameron has never planned a training week before
• Pre-camp training is based around a 75 page manual
• Team building activities were not until the end of the day
• Campers have recently had a poor attitude at camp
• The camp infirmary has shown an increase in camper attendance

1. Existing Organizational Chart

1. Add

1. Identifying Problems

1. Recruitment and staff retention

1. Low staff retention (1 in 4 return)

1. Competitive recruiting environment
2. Limited resources

1. Interview process – recruitment and selection is not well established and lacks organization

1. No strict hiring process / structure
2. Too long to check references
3. Not enough time
4. No advertising – rely on references

1. Training

1. Inefficient Training Structure
2. Boring – staff were not motivated
3. Team building was ineffective
4. Resulted in poorly trained unmotivated staff
5. Negatively affected overall camp morale
6. Performance Appraisal

1. Compensation

1. Low wages
2. Limited resources mean not able to offer competitive pay structure
3. Effects employee  retention and ability to recruit quality staff

1. Department

1. Split in wrong way with no coordination
2. Proposal for better organizational Chart
3. Administrative tasks are overwhelming for “super staff”

Solutions:

1. Increase recruitment advertising to target higher education students

1. Target Market:         

1. Higher education students
2. Interest in child care or social services who want to with kids
3. Possible Co-op program in future (?)

1. Sources

1. Colleges - Universities
2. Career Centers
3. Online
4. Job fairs

Benefits:

1. Increased exposure for the camp
2. Attract a larger pool of qualified candidates
3. Properly qualified staff will:         

1. Have higher job satisfaction
2. Better job performance
3. Be more enthusiastic and mature

1. Increased camp morale

1. Develop and implement a structured recruitment process

1. Formalize the recruitment process

1. To be written and implemented immediately
2. Group interviews (?)

1. Increase recruitment advertising

Benefits:

1. Hiring Process more efficient
2. Increased competitive edge to hire more qualified staff
3. Retention of qualified staff who will provide best experience for campers
4. Increased camp morale

1. Develop a new approach to full staff training week

1. Insert team building activities into training

Benefits:

1. Increased participation and enthusiasm
2. Increased job performance from staff
3. Increased satisfaction from campers
4. Increased camp morale

1. Hire additional staff to support super staff during pre-camp

1. Benefits

1. Added support for super staff
2. More time for super staff to plan and attend workshops
3. Increased organization – better training
4. Increased job performance
5. Increased camp morale

1. Increase compensation structure

1. Benefits

1. Recruitment incentive
2. Higher job satisfaction
3. Increased job performance
4. Increased camp morale

1. Control and feedback to measure the success of the recommendations:

1. Administer surveys to campers and staff (mid-season and end of season)
2. Financial trends to monitor changes in enrollement

1 Year Action Plan

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