Wahooz Family Fun Zone and Roaring Springs Waterpark are leveraging UKG technology — including the UKG Talk communications platform — to create a more productive workplace culture to help drive business success.
Motivating Gen Z
Both Wahooz and Roaring Springs employ predominantly Gen Z workers, with teenagers comprising 90% of the frontline staff. One of the biggest challenges for park management was finding a way to communicate instantly and effectively with employees who are spread out across the parks, especially during the busy summer season. The park’s operators say the UKG Talk platform has been instrumental in allowing them to easily connect with staff — and allowing staff to interact with each other — right from their phones.
“Teenagers appreciate the convenience of being connected to their devices, so UKG Talk was a perfect fit to help us meet them where they already are,” said Kristina Christensen, CFO at Wahooz Family Fun Zone and Roaring Springs Waterpark. “We can communicate important information such as park or slides closures or weather delays to all staff, and we can also create individual groups in UKG Talk specific to lifeguards, food and beverage employees, and gift shop staff so they can interact within their teams and build camaraderie.”
Another way Wahooz and Roaring Springs are meeting employees where they already are is in their desire for schedule flexibility. According to a global UKG study of nearly 13,000 frontline workers worldwide, 59% of respondents said it’s important that employers offer flexible work hours, while a third (33%) said a lack of flexibility is one of the top reasons they’d quit their job. One of the biggest benefits of UKG Talk is the way it empowers the parks’ workers to shift swap amongst each other to strike a better work-life balance.
“If any member of our staff can’t work a scheduled shift, they can go into UKG Talk and transfer shifts within their individual groups. They can also inquire about other shifts and pick those up in their free time,” said Christensen. “Our managers can additionally be part of the conversation, and the transparency and flexibility of this process is helping us achieve better attendance.”
Wahooz and Roaring Springs rely on having a full roster of employees to meet customer demand. However, depending on the time of day, weather conditions, or park attendance, both parks use UKG to make real-time staffing decisions, including moving staff from one area of the park to another to ensure operations run smoothly and efficiently.
“For example, we can move staff between our restaurants depending upon how busy each restaurant is,” said Christensen. “If one restaurant is closed due to weather or low attendance, we can shift staff around the park through job transfer sets, which not only automates the change in our UKG solution, but also tells the employee where he or she should go to clock in based on the location where they’ll be working.”
The UKG Talk platform has become critical in elevating the employee experience and boosting employee morale, allowing managers to send trainings to employees and educate them on a variety of topics, ranging from uniform rules to new safety protocols. Additionally, both parks also use UKG Talk to recognize employee anniversaries, birthdays, and spectacular work as well as coordinate special employee events.
The UKG Pro suite, with UKG Talk now included, is a cornerstone of Wahooz’s and Roaring Springs’ operations, simplifying complex processes, automating tasks, and empowering staff to focus on driving business success.
“The highest value that UKG delivers is how it eliminates tactical work, so we can focus on strategic initiatives,” said Christensen. “I previously oversaw the onboarding process, which took three weeks to complete. Now, with UKG, that’s done within 24 hours. It’s also so much easier to hire and rehire workers year-after-year and season-after-season, so we can focus on optimizing park operations and providing the stellar experience our guests have come to expect.”
“Our research from Great Place To Work has consistently shown that being a great workplace leads to greater business outcomes, and at the center of that is creating moments of connection that drive meaningful workplace experiences,” said Rachel Barger, president, go-to-market at UKG. “The UKG Pro suite, bolstered by UKG Talk, empowers organizations to automate repetitive tasks, offer greater flexibility to employees, and make real-time, data-driven decisions — a formula for success in today’s rapidly evolving world.”
