Workforce Retention Reset
- Eric Ruehlmann
- Dec 28, 2025
- 5 min read
What Private Club Leaders Should Know About Staff Retention & Engagement Heading Into the New Year
As private clubs head into 2026, or any new year for that matter, leaders often take a thoughtful pause to reflect on what worked and what did not.
The pause is necessary:
Not to overhaul everything.
Not to chase the latest workforce trend.
But to better understand what actually shaped service consistency, culture, and team stability over the past year.
One pattern continues to surface across clubland:
The private clubs that feel effortless to members are often the same clubs where employees choose to stay.
That sense of ease doesn’t happen by chance. It is usually the result of stable teams, predictable work, supported supervisors, and leadership that designs the employee experience with the same care as the member experience.
This article offers a practical, data-informed look at what workforce indicators are showing, and what club leaders may want to keep in view as they plan for the year ahead.
The Workforce Context Clubs Are Operating In
Across the U.S. economy, leisure and hospitality continues to experience higher voluntary turnover than most sectors.
Based on the most recent full-year data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS):
The average annual quits rate for leisure and hospitality was 4.1% in 2024
Accommodation and food services averaged 4.3%
The all-industry average sat closer to 2.2%
While annual data is inherently backward-looking, more recent monthly indicators reinforce the trend.
As of October 2025, the leisure and hospitality quits rate remained elevated at approximately 3.0%, well above the national average.
Private clubs are not immune to these dynamics, but they are distinct.
Clubs operate in relationship-driven, membership-based environments where continuity, trust, and culture matter deeply. That distinction becomes clearer when looking at club-specific workforce data.
What Private Club Workforce Data Is Revealing
Recent private club employee sentiment studies paint a more nuanced picture than national hospitality headlines might suggest.
On the positive side:
Overall employee satisfaction averages 7.9 out of 10
81% of club employees report being satisfied
46% rate themselves as “delighted” (9–10 out of 10)
Employees with 20+ years of tenure report the highest satisfaction scores (8.7)
These figures suggest that most club employees value their work environment and the sense of belonging clubs can provide.
However, the same data highlights areas of growing pressure:
Only 63% of employees report satisfaction with compensation
Approximately 25% report feeling regular stress at work
Gen Z employees report lower overall satisfaction (7.5) compared to more tenured peers
This is not a disengaged workforce. It is a workforce navigating friction.
Where Retention Pressure Often Shows Up in Clubs
Supervisor Stress and Sustainability
Supervisors and managers often carry the heaviest operational load; staffing gaps, schedule changes, member expectations, and performance standards.
When leadership roles become unsustainable, consistency begins to slip. Over time, stress spreads, morale erodes, and retention suffers quietly rather than dramatically.
Member-Facing Friction
Employees in member-facing roles, particularly in Food & Beverage, report higher exposure to incivility:
25% of women report experiencing harassment, compared to 16% of men
In Food & Beverage departments, 50% report witnessing or experiencing harassment
How clubs reinforce expectations, and how supported employees feel when boundaries are tested, plays a meaningful role in long-term retention.
Housing and Commute Reality
Workforce challenges increasingly extend beyond the clubhouse.
In a national survey of private club leaders:
61% identified staff housing as their top workforce challenge
78% described housing as moderately to very challenging
61% of clubs surveyed now offer staff housing, housing an average of 20 employees per club
For many clubs, housing and commute realities are no longer peripheral, they are central to workforce strategy.
Retention Is a Design Outcome
Retention in private clubs is rarely solved by a single program or policy. More often, it reflects how work is designed and experienced.
A helpful framework many leaders find useful:
Retention = (Predictable Work + Fair Pay) × (Belonging + Growth) ÷ (Friction + Burnout)
Compensation matters... but it has increasingly become a threshold rather than a differentiator. Belonging, recognition, and growth still drive loyalty, but only when stress and inconsistency are actively managed.
Workforce Patterns Emerging for 2026 and Beyond
1. Schedule Predictability
Frequent last-minute changes and uneven workloads quietly undermine stability. Clubs that intentionally design schedules by daypart and season often reduce stress without increasing payroll.
2. Supervisor Support
Supervisors are the cultural translators. When their roles are clear and sustainable, teams tend to feel calmer and more consistent.
3. Housing and Access
Where housing or commute challenges exist, acknowledging and planning for them has become part of a realistic retention strategy.
4. Recognition Consistency
Recognition remains one of the most effective engagement drivers when it is timely, specific, and credible. Inconsistent recognition can feel more discouraging than none at all.
5. Operationalized Respect
Culture is most visible when expectations are tested. Clear standards, visible leadership backing, and consistent response matter.
A Practical Workforce Retention Reset for the New Year
Before you chase new programs, or implement sweeping changes, take a moment to pause and assess a few emerging patterns with regard to retention and engagement.
Workforce data and day-to-day operations consistently suggest:
Stability often matters more than novelty
Predictability reduces stress faster than perks
Supported supervisors create calmer teams
Sustainable work quietly produces better service
Your club, as many others, are already doing parts of this well. Others are finding that relatively small operational adjustments... especially around scheduling, workload balance, and recognition, can meaningfully change how work feels day to day.
Instead of asking, “How do we get people to stay?”
A more useful question may be, “What makes work here easier, steadier, and more sustainable?”
When the work feels sustainable, teams tend to stay longer.
And when teams stay longer, service has a way of feeling effortless.
Free Resource: Workforce Retention Reset Toolkit
To support leaders as they plan for the year ahead, we’ve created a practical resource designed for real-world club operations:
The Workforce Retention Reset Toolkit
Includes:
Retention Reset Checklist – Identify immediate risk areas
Leadership Reflection Worksheet – Align supervisors and department heads
KPI Dashboard Template – Track retention, schedule stability, and engagement
Checklist + Worksheet + Dashboard
Get your FREE toolkit:
This toolkit is designed to help clubs move from reaction to intention as they enter the New Year. Get your Workforce Retention Reset Toolkit today!
#ClubLeadership #MemberExperience #ClubInnovation #ClubManagement #WorkforceRetention #BuildABetterClub
Sources & References
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey (JOLTS)
• Federal Reserve Economic Data (FRED), St. Louis Fed
• Private Club Workforce & Employee Sentiment Study (GGA Partners)
• DENEHY Club Thinking Partners – National Private Club Workforce & Housing Survey
• Club Management Association of America (CMAA), Club Benchmarking & NCA
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About the Author: Eric Ruehlmann is a versatile business executive with over 25 years of service in the club management industry. Eric's knowledge and experience is broad having held advisory positions and worked on projects in a variety of fields such as; consumer research, loyalty & rewards, travel & leisure, and lifestyle products & services. Eric is currently focused on sharing his knowledge with club leaders and club boards about club innovation, enhancing the member experience, and loyalty & rewards. Eric Ruehlmann is the founder of Build A Better Club and a managing partner of Privat-VIP- Travel & Rewards.
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