Aug. 8, 2022

Mary Kline didn’t just work the summer headed into her junior year. She held two jobs.

Experience in figure skating led her to the first job: a coach for the Sioux Falls Figure Skating Club.

A flier on her car in the parking lot of Jefferson High School connected her with the second: an hourly position at Nautical Bowls, which opened in April at Empire Place in front of The Empire Mall.

“I love acai bowls, so I just decided that would be a fun place to work, and I applied,” she said. “I wanted more of a summery job because coaching skating, we don’t do a lot during the summer, and I have a lot of extra free time, so I decided I might as well.”

At Nautical Bowls, her co-workers largely are teenagers. The oldest employee is 21.

“I think our youngest was maybe 15 at the time of hiring; some of the girls have turned 16,” franchisee Lexus Paulson said. “When we first started, I didn’t have applications,  and when word of mouth went out, they started rolling in.”

She admittedly was a little nervous with a young workforce. In Minnesota, where the restaurant chain is based, workers have to be 16 because of different driver’s licensing rules.

Paulson wondered: “Did I bite off more than I can chew with younger girls?” she said. “And it worked out. They really just showed their maturity and took the responsibility upon themselves. The girls just amaze me — that high schoolers can run it and close down a store. It’s been super impressed.”

Customers often comment on the friendliness and efficiency of the team, she added.

“It’s going really well,” Kline agreed. “The bowls are delicious, of course, but I really like the people as well. It’s a fun job. We are really, really busy. And I love the fact that we serve bowls that are healthy. Seeing families come in and decide to get a healthy bowl instead of fast food and leaving feeling good – I really like that.”

While there isn’t current data for this summer, many organizations are reporting an increase in teen workers.

“Employers are being proactive in addressing the workforce shortage by offering incentives and flexible schedules to entice youth to join the job market,” said state Labor and Regulation Secretary Marcia Hultman.

The labor department also offered programs targeted at those age 14 to 24, including a Summer Passport Series. It’s focused on virtual and in-person workshops for career exploration, job readiness and work-based learning, including social media tips, financial literacy, post-secondary school preparation and job search and interviewing skills.

At McDonald’s, Sioux Falls franchisee Jordan Hartshorn has seen overall applicant flow tracking up 25 percent year over year, including “a really large uptick in 14- and 15-year-old applicants, which is awesome,” he said. “We love that because these are future leaders. And that’s been up 30, 40 percent in some areas from where it was last year, so that’s been exciting.”

Equally key: The youngest workers are working out for the business, he said.

“They’re some of the best,” Hartshorn said. “These 14- and 15-year-olds come in with pressed clothes. You know they stood in front of a mirror to go to work, and they’re excellent. A lot of our competitors have a different wage set for 14- and 15-year-olds, and because of their great work ethic, we’ve kept the wage the same. We’re one of few in our industry that pays the same.”

The city of Sioux Falls has seen a clear increase in its young seasonal staff – enough so that all the city pools could open this summer.

“In talking to the kids I interviewed, many of them felt more comfortable this summer coming back to work or their parents felt more comfortable sending kids back into the workforce,” recreation program coordinator Jean Pearson said of earlier worries because of the pandemic.

Lifeguards train at a Sioux Falls pool.

“I would say a good percentage of the kids decided to work full time this year instead of working part time, which was a huge win for us.”

Increased pay definitely paid off, she added. The city increased its minimum wage for lifeguards to $16 an hour this year.

But employee recognition also helped play a role in retention, Pearson said. The department started giving social media shout-outs to lifeguards as a way of celebrating them.

“It humanizes them, and that’s very important because they’re 15- to 18-year-old kids, and it’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “It’s because of them we got these pools open, and I want to sing their praises as much as I can. They come to work, and they do the job.”

And even though summer is winding down, many teens say they plan to keep working. In the parks department, that means helping staff community centers and recreation league events on nights and weekends.

“I think overall this summer, (the city) had a really successful hiring season, and I see that hopefully being the trend moving into fall,” Pearson said.

That’s also the case at Nautical Bowls, where Paulson thinks all her high schoolers are trying to figure out how to work some nights and weekends.

“It’s reassuring they enjoy their job, and it’s not just a summer job to make money but they have fun,” she said.

Despite a busy schedule when school starts, Kline agreed she’s trying to figure out how to keep working at the restaurant year-round.

Her friends, who work everywhere from grocery stores to coffee shops, are planning to do the same, she said.

“The majority of my friends do have jobs year-round,” Kline said. “I think it’s way more popular now. As for my friends, we love to shop, so having extra money to do fun activities is nice, and with the summer, we have a lot of free time, and it’s better to be doing something than just sitting at home.”