NEW YORK (WCBS 880) – Jersey Shore towns are starting to see the effects of the staffing shortages they expected this summer. Seaside Heights is looking to offer an incentive to keep its employees for the whole season.
More crowds are expected in Seaside Heights this summer with less staff on hand. Even with the staffing shortage, Mayor Anthony Vaz is optimistic.
“As long as we get the sun and we build upon our new businesses and our attractions, I think we’re going to have a banner year,” Vaz said.
He’s proposing an incentive to keep workers all summer long by giving them a bonus at the end of the season. He knows other Shore towns are having the same issue and that he needs to compete with their pay.
“We are okay, but we’re not in great shape. So what we’re doing is we’re speaking about it now and we’re going to probably propose, and it will probably pass, that if you stay with us until the end of the season, you will get a supplement, a bonus per se, at the end of the season,” Vaz said.
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For example, he said dishwashers who were making $15 per hour are now making up to $20 as way to encourage more workers to come through this year. Vaz also feels that unemployment pay is a big competitor with the summer jobs.
Staffing could also be better for the town employees, Vaz said, as code enforcement officers are now being trained to implement a new smoking ban on the boardwalk, which went into effect Thursday.
“We have them in place already, and each summer we hire more, because obviously our population grows, so you need more staff. So they’ve been trained and retrained and we’ll continue to retrain as the law changes,” Vaz said.
The ban was implemented after families complained about the smell of marijuana.
“It’s pro-family. We want this to be a family destination. We will enforce the rules,” Vaz said.
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