Does your yacht club employ a paid manager?

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petery

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Our club committee is proposing to employ a full-time manager to 'run' the club. It will be a 9-5 job and it will be in addition to a bar manager, bar staff, cook and part-time secretary.

We have 80 yachts moored; 20 'active'. Any function has a max of 70 members attending. Bar has max of 8 drinkers during week, 30 at weekends.

Would be interested to hear whether your club manages with just volunteer committee members and any comments on the merits of employing a manager.

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Peter,

Our club employs a full time secretary, and then the committee runs the club... every weekend we have a 'on duty' flag officer, and that seems to work quite well...

The secretary handles the time consuming stuff like membership, berthing records, rotas etc etc, and then the council meets monthly to manage the 'business plan'. We also have two full time Coxswains, a part time barmanager and a weekends and wednesday evenings catering team...

For our club (circa 1300 members - social, sailing and families) we manage just fine that way... all the members 'muck in' and it seems to add to the social side of the club...

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Have they worked out how much extra the club fees will be per member to pay for his wages. Assuming 200 members and a reasonable wage, you are looking at an extra £100 per member! Don't think I would be very happy with that!

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It's not Arun Yacht Club by any chance? I was rear commodore there about 20 years ago and this was discussed then. Sounds like nothing's changed. It all depends on the number of members and the income generated from other things e.g. moorings. bar and food profits etc. In my time AYC was strapped for cash and the Bar Manager coped with most of the day to day stuff, and the part time secretary with the admin. My present club has a full time manager but with over a 1000 members and 3 thriving sections it can afford to, and justify it in terms of the work that he does.

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We don't but I wish we did - we will definitely have to think about it soon but I can't see how we will be able to afford it - but our Hon Sec does just about a five day week (admitedly not 8 hours), I do Rear Commodore (House) and cannot give it all the time it needs ie about the same as the Hon Sec. We are actually running a business that is open to its customers 365 days a year, 15 hrs a day in the summer with six full time employees and numerous part-time ones - 1000 members, two launch service, moorings and storage facilities, bar, restuarant - its a struggle on volunteers and frankly a bit silly to do it on volunteers. I hope someone will volunteer to do the House job next year. A general manager is just a step away but how do we pay for it?

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How do you pay? You dont - the members do, if they want a service. Even if a general manager costs 40k with NI etc, thats only 40 per member.

We have 170- members, 100 moorings, largesish clubhouse, compound, boat lifts etc, but no employees at all. With that membership in our area you cant afford them. But its not all bad - members have to do work hours and that brings some involvement. And no employees means almost no Health and Safety at Work Act nonsense. The problem is getting volunteer officers.

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.
 
There are forumites on here that belong to a large club with an excess of members (over 2,500), no clubhouse, owns a couple of dozen dinghies in the dinghy section - one full time secretary - but no other obvious overheads. hmmmm seems to be missing something here...

Donald

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I suppose Littlehampton gave it away! The club is now doing very well - having spent £30k on a dredge early this year!

I think the problem is that as the management committee changes year by year, some skills and experience are lacking in a particular year and the feeling is that a professional manager would give some kind of continuity

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not with you. Of course you will have other expenditure, but when you get to a 1000 members you will (should) have a fairly large income too.

all clubs have the same problem to some degree. we all have members who want a service but are not prepared to pay and are equally not prepared to do anything much themselves. they want something for nothing. and surprisingly often they get part way there. but in the end, the club runs out of mugs who are willing to take on the no pay, lots of moans jobs, and said members either have to cough up or pi** off.

and if there is just a hint of bile in this answer its because our club has got to that stage, and I'm the current Commodore / social secretary / bar manager etc (ie mug)

<hr width=100% size=1>this post is a personal opinion, and you should not base your actions on it.
 
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