Retention Over Recruitment - Why recognising and investing in your team wins every time

Right now, employers in the sport and physical activity sector are feeling the pressure when it comes to finding the right people for the job. With fewer candidates out there, rising expectations around pay and flexibility, and ongoing skills shortages, recruitment continues to be a real challenge. Whether it’s recruiting coaches, fitness instructors or programme leads, many organisations in the sector are struggling to fill roles and keep up with demand. When we add in to that the need to adapt to employee expectations around hybrid working, their changing lifestyles and the cost-of-living crisis, it’s clear the labour market isn’t what it used to be.

The smartest move an employer can make to counter this challenge is investing in the professional development and recognition of their existing staff. While it may seem easier to seek new talent when gaps arise, the reality is that recruitment comes with a high cost, not just financially, but culturally and operationally.

Recruiting new staff is rarely quick, easy, or cheap. Obviously advertising vacancies, conducting interviews and onboarding all take time and money, but the costs to the organisation go well beyond that.

Let’s break it down and think about it in a bit more detail.

A member of staff hands in their notice.

The first impact is that their manager, and potentially others, are diverted from their work to react to this unplanned event. ‘What will we do now?’, ‘How do I start looking for a replacement?’ will immediately overshadow and distract from the work that they were planning to do that day, that week and beyond. The result? Productivity is impacted negatively.

Then the news breaks to the rest of the team. ‘I wonder why they’re leaving’, ‘Maybe I should start looking elsewhere too’, ‘Great, that means more work on the rest of us until someone new is found’. Distraction, gossip, unsettlement. Plus, moral takes a hit. The result? Productivity is impacted negatively, and other staff consider their options too which could compound the issues created by one leaver.

Preparing an advert, determining the scoring criteria for applications, potentially reviewing the job description and person spec if they are not up to date, scheduling the recruitment process, all take time and impact both the immediate line manager, wider team and central functions such as HR (unless you’re a small business owner and then it’s usually all on you).

Then there is the cost of advertising. Yes, there are free platforms but if you want your advert to be seen on crowded jobs boards and to reach quality candidates you inevitably have to pay for premium services. Online service providers can charge between £150 to upwards of £1000 to list a single role. For specialist role or sector specific jobs boards, the cost can be much higher. Other platforms such as LinkedIn charge by the day or by the number of views of the advert.

Now the applications are in and the work really begins for the manager and recruiting team (or, if you’re an SME, again, it all lands on your plate).

Sifting applications and shortlisting takes huge resource. Even if you use technology to help by screening and assessing applicants suitability, there is still a significant time overhead.

Does what people put in their applications add up? Do they have the right qualifications and experience? How do you compare qualifications and know what’s equivalent to what? How do you know if someone really has the competencies that you need? Spoiler alert - there’s something coming soon to our sector to help with that*.

Once you’ve got your shortlist, it’s time to arrange interviews. Alongside scheduling interviews, you might also want candidates to complete a task to allow you to assess them in action. All of this takes time and there is no guarantee that you’ll interview someone suitable. If no-one offers what you’re looking for either at application or interview stage than the process starts all over again and the costs increase significantly.

Let’s not also forget that if during this time if the employee that has handed in their notice has left, productivity will be down, other team members will be picking up additional essential tasks and if the role is customer facing, your service and reputation may be taking a hit too.

Once we successfully recruit a new team member, onboarding them takes time and takes focus away from other work. They’ll require training to get them up to speed on company policies and practices even if they are experienced and skilled. There’ll also inevitably be a continued impact on productivity and performance as the new recruit gets up to speed.

So what does all this cost?

Research by Oxford Economics and the Chartered Institute for Professional Development (CIPD) from 2022, shows that the average cost of replacing an employee in the UK is £30,000. This includes:

• £5,000–£10,000 in direct recruitment and onboarding costs
• £25,000 in lost productivity over the 6 months it typically takes for a new employee to reach full effectiveness

Speaking to leaders across the sector, I know that they are finding that the cost is growing each time they go out to recruit.

The cost is even higher for senior level or specialist roles where the skillset required is in demand.

Compare that to the cost of training and developing an existing employee which is on average £1,500 according to an employer skills survey from UKCES. The cost obviously depends on the level and type of training but even high-level professional qualifications rarely exceed £5,000–£7,000.

In our sector specifically, upskilling your workforce can be very, very cost-effective. For example, supporting a member of your team to gain the knowledge and skills to deliver training for pre- and post-natal clients costs around £300. Or, providing the training to enable them to work with clients with long-term health conditions, which would enable you to align with GP referral schemes, typically costs less than £1,000.

In most cases, an employer could train five or more staff members for the cost of recruiting one new staff member.

Busting the myth - “Train them and they’ll leave”

It’s a concern I commonly hear. What if we invest in someone’s development and they leave for a better-paid job elsewhere?

Here’s the reality, if you don’t invest in them, they’ll leave anyway, and sooner. In fact, lack of development opportunities is one of the most frequently cited reasons people leave their jobs according to research from CIPD amongst others.

By supporting your staff to grow professionally, you build trust, loyalty and engagement. Yes, some may eventually move on, but many more will stay, precisely because you showed a commitment to their future. Plus, remember those who do leave often become ambassadors and advocates for your organisation elsewhere within the sector or beyond, or may return later with even more experience.

Richard Branson got it spot on when he said:

“Train people well enough so they can leave, treat them well enough so they don’t want to.”

The key is to build professional development into your retention strategy by offering well-structured career paths, reward packages which align with skills development, creating both upward and lateral internal progression opportunities and encouraging cross-skilling which helps to make roles more fulfilling even where there aren’t promotion opportunities.

Employees are much more likely to stay where they feel challenged, supported and recognised, and where they feel they can achieve their career ambitions.

Retention through recognition and growth

Supporting your staff in gaining and advancing their professional status sends a powerful message not just to your current staff but to future employees and your customers as well.

It shows that you value skills, knowledge and expertise. It shows that you prioritise quality. It shows that you’re serious about differentiating what you do and offer.

Professional status will soon be available to the sport and physical activity workforce. Based on their skills, competencies, qualifications and experience, sector professionals will be able to be issued with a professional status that demonstrates and verifies their expertise to employers, customers, colleagues and the public more widely.

By supporting your employees to advance their professional status through training to work in specialist provision delivery, with specific populations and/or to deliver in certain environments, as an employer you’re showing your employee that they are valued and have a future within your organisation. It also shows future employees that you are an employer that values higher level skills and offers progression. It also shows your customers that the services on offer are delivered by higher skilled professionals, enable consumers to differentiate between your provision and that of others, and places a higher value on provision that is delivered by highly-skilled professional recognised staff. This doesn’t just apply to practitioners, but to managers, leaders and people developers too.

With 94% of employees, according to a LinkedIn Learning report, stating that they would stay longer at a company that invests in their career development, supporting your team to develop their skills and status has the potential to save tens of thousands in recruitment and lost productivity costs, AND give you a competitive advantage by illustrating your commitment to employing experts.

Training is not a cost – it’s an investment with measurable returns.

• It is key to bridging the skills gap. Instead of competing for scarce talent, it makes sense to grow it internally. Tailored development builds exactly the capabilities your business needs and helps teams keep pace with evolving customer and local needs. For example, it’s tough to find specialists who can support the delivery on local health referral projects, supporting people with long-term health conditions. Invest in your existing team to develop those skills and you’ll be better placed to deliver those contracts and your team will be grateful for the opportunity to develop.
  
  
• It is essential for building a positive culture and brand. Organisations known for investing in their people are more attractive to jobseekers and more respected by their existing employees. This creates a positive, loyal and performance-driven culture, all of which reduce staff turnover and improve customer experiences and outcomes.
  
  
• It is a strategic imperative, not a perk. Training and development shouldn’t be a luxury or an afterthought. It’s a vital business strategy that reduces recruitment costs, enhances productivity, and strengthens your operations and employer brand.
  
  

Just look at it practically through a cost versus benefit analysis lens.

The cost of training current staff is far less than losing them and recruiting replacements. That’s a fact that you cannot ignore. Recruitment is an expensive business with both visible and hidden costs and potential long-term implications for the business.

It makes absolute business sense to invest and support your team to grow their skills. In turn it means that your organisations expertise, reputation and ultimately your ability to deliver services will grow too.

When you invest in your people, most won’t run, they’ll rise, and your business rises along with them.

So, ask yourself, can we grow our talent from within, and how much stronger would our business be if we did?

*That spoiler… Professional status will be a gamechanger for how the sector recruits. Rather than advertising for people with certain qualifications and levels of course, checking what is equivalent to what, employers will simply be able to ask for the professional status of an applicant. The status that they have will verify that they are knowledgeable and competent to be employed into a role, for example, an individual issued with a Advanced Practitioner professional status will have different expertise to an individual issued with a Practitioner professional status. You can read more here.