From the publisher’s pen: Let’s talk about hours

How many hours did you work in 2025?

The question lacks relevance for managers and leaders. People responsible for guiding others work whatever it takes to produce the product or result stakeholders seek.

More important: How many hours did your employees work in 2025?

There’s a financial element to employee hours. Labor, according to our recent Numbers to Know survey (see the upcoming January 2026 issue for full results), accounts for 56 percent of the average non-capital golf course maintenance budget.

Surpassing the labor allocation likely means you underestimated the volume of work required to yield intended results — or got walloped by the weather. Failing to reach the labor allocation likely means you lost some key employees and couldn’t replace them midseason or, perhaps, you’re not paying loyalists what they’re worth.   

Spreadsheets, data management platforms and even AI can help a manager compute the finances of labor.

Understanding the human element requires art, intuition and empathy.

Something many managers — including this one — struggle comprehending is that very few humans place work in the same bucket as their primary passions. While the job might be your hobby, it’s a clock-in-clock-out life necessity for most people, even in an industry assembled on passion like golf course maintenance.

Candid conversations about workload should help you better understand how employees value their time. If a key employee suggests the workload cuts into what they’re seeking to achieve away from the course, consider readjusting their 2026 schedule. Employees worth keeping will reward you by maximizing effort and efficiency on the job.  

Dialogue about hours might also reveal which employees feel underworked. Consider this a sign your current team might not need to add pieces. Instead, labor gaps can be filled by heaping more responsibility on the willing and able. Delegating more responsibility to those employees will also bump their pay, bolstering the case to retain them in 2026 and beyond.

A physical side to golf industry labor also exists.

Employees work at different paces. Effective teams boast a combination of employees who work in cheetah-like bursts and steady camel-like gaits. The cheetahs will carry you through the morning hustle; the camels will boost your crew’s overall productivity. Their hours must be balanced to get you through days, weeks, months and years.        

Not every employee will physically or logistically be able to handle the hours they worked in 2025. Modern managers must be flexible. Receiving four “beast mode” hours from somebody is better than receiving nothing from that same reliable employee. Bending a bit on scheduling can help you retain linchpins for at least a few high-value, get-ahead-of-play shifts each week.

A long time ago there was a sportswriter seeking a part-time hobby job on the crew at a 36-hole central Pennsylvania facility. The demands of his full-time career limited him to three five-hour shifts per week. The superintendent took a chance on him. He showed up on time, displayed pride in his work, supported coworkers, and helped the crew stay ahead of play on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays. Sadly, rigid managers — many of whom complain about the industry’s labor conundrum — never consider adding flex employees.    

As a manager and leader, the job might sometimes feel like it’s your life. That’s the responsibility you assume via climbing the hierarchy in any industry. More money. More responsibility. More hours on the job.

Nobody cares how it all adds up. It’s on you to determine how to meet and exceed stakeholder expectations. You’ll need others to reach targets.

Make the job about your team’s hours first. You’ll eventually find it easier to manage your own hours.   

Guy Cipriano is Golf Course Industry’s publisher + editor-in-chief.