Reduce Headaches by Increasing Camp Staff Retention

May 23, 2024

Seasonal employment cycles are one of the most difficult aspects of camp management. Most camps do not maintain many year-round employees. This results in an annual hiring frenzy to fill gaps in winter and spring. The race to onboard the best candidates can get competitive and stressful. 

Hiring from previous seasons’ staff rosters can be a real time-saver. The more returning staff a camp can muster, the fewer resources the annual hiring process will consume. Plus, experienced camp employees who know that they’re welcome back next summer, will be able to plan well ahead... taking last-minute stress off their shoulders as well!

How can camps effectively boost staff retention from season to season and reduce turnover? First, we have to know what is causing staff to leave.

What Causes Staff to Not Return to Camp?

Six common factors that may cause staff not to return to your camp include:

Missing the “Big Picture”  
You may see turnover because you’re failing to give your hires clear insight into the value of the skills they’re developing while working at camp, and how to add it to their resumes or relate it to their career path.  

Wages & Benefits  

Traditional benefits like insurance, PTO, and retirement plans are not on the table for most seasonal employment. The pay may not be as lucrative as other full-time positions, considering camp staff may be required to stay nearby, even during downtime. Actively seeking and incorporating feedback about what kinds of “extras” are most appealing to the seasonal staff is critical in encouraging returners.

Gaps in Training 
Staff can be easily disheartened by failure to clearly communicate everyday expectations like how and when to use camp resources. Unclear instructions for handling common camp scenarios (such as lost or injured campers, disputes, and weather or environmental emergencies) can create stressful or traumatic situations.

Cultural Differences  
Camps are crafted around shared experiences or interests – such as faith, athleticism, hobbies, or even medical conditions; but the people who come to camp are diverse. To help staff navigate sensitive situations, inclusivity should be emphasized for all levels of staff during training.

Workload & Stress Management  
All camps want to offer an engaging and worthwhile experience for campers in a safe environment. It sounds simple, but that goal requires a lot of moving pieces. Staff members who juggle too many of those tasks over an extended period will experience stress and burnout.

Personal Reasons 
Failure to return to camp can also be related to major life changes – such as relocation, a shift to steadier employment, changes in family circumstances, schedule conflicts, or even disagreements with recurring or full-time staff.

What Can You Do About It?

The simplest solution is to retain your staff from season to season. Turnover is something every organization will face. But that doesn’t mean your camp should just let it go unchecked! If you’re not asking why your camp staffers aren’t returning, you cannot improve retention.

Here are five tips to start improving your seasonal staff turnover rate:

1 | Encourage Feedback

Consider exit interviews at the end of season, weekly meetings to bring up ongoing issues, take surveys, and review any staff ideas or concerns with an open mind. Some will feel comfortable talking in person, but others will prefer writing anonymously. Either way, showing that you are open to feedback and improvements will boost retention.  

In surveys and discussions, ask a variety of questions, such as:

• Rate your overall experience working at camp. 
• Would you recommend working at our camp to a friend? 
• If you could leave a piece of advice for next summer's camp staff, what would it be?
• Did you face any struggles while working at camp and were they addressed?
• Would you consider working at our camp again in the future?
• Are you interested in being placed on our priority staffing list for next season?
• If you could change one thing about camp, what would it be?
  

2 | Explore Staff Journeys
There are a lot of careers and areas of study out there that can relate to the camp profession! The best way to encourage younger staff members to take an active interest in a camp-related career is to simply talk about it. Explore the journeys that led your full-time leadership to their positions today. Encourage mentorship and friendship between newer and more experienced team members, even after camp ends.

3 | Accessible Resources

Making sure that your staff knows where to access resources should be a no-brainer. Both showing and telling staff where items are located will help avoid confusion. Additionally, staff should always have access to official camp policies and procedures, to give them the confidence to handle any situation. Appointing specific leaders to give advice or recommendations is also extremely helpful.

4 | Consider Referrals

Sometimes the best way to get people to repeat the experience of working at camp is to make it easy to bring someone along. Consider starting a referral system that allows staff to recommend a friend or family member! It will increase the likelihood that they will return. Plus, odds are that if they’re a good fit for your camp, they’ll also know what to look for in new team members.

5 | Stay Competitive
Regularly review wages and benefits offered at similar camps in your area. Seasonal camp staff have several months to consider their options. While every camp has unique limitations, you may drastically increase retention by ensuring that your rules and compensation packages measure up to other camps in the area or specialty you offer.

Time to Act!

For fewer headaches, take a more holistic view of your camp operations and how they impact seasonal staff. Begin with considering the items mentioned in this post. At the end of the day, your camp will experience turnover. However, increasing seasonal camp staff retention is a sure-fire way to reduce stress and minimize the overhead associated with hiring new staff. Focus on getting feedback and commitments from staff as far in advance of your hiring season as possible. And lastly, maintain regular communications with your returning staff to keep their confidence and avoid those last-minute hiring frenzies.

Helpful Tip! 

Another terrific way to meet your hiring goals is to develop efficient processes, specialized applications, and effective hiring tools! In 2024, with the help of iCampPro's staff module and hiring workflows, one camp reported reaching their 95% seasonal hiring goal AT RECORD SPEED with around 2,500 seasonal staff hired from over 6,750 applicants!