Staffing Models and Supports at Retreat Centers
On our January 24th Community Call, we identified innovative staffing models that retreat centers have put to use amid a flurry of transitions, shortages, and uncertainty in hiring. We exchanged best practices and discussed related topics: staff needs, how to handle HR, developing equity in the hiring process, and ways to establish mental health supports for staff.
View the full meeting video by clicking above.
Or scroll down for takeaways from the conversation.
Covering the Gaps
As spaces offering sacred hospitality, retreat centers face a unique set of challenges when it comes to staffing:
Similar to hotels, many centers are open 24/7. Unlike hotels, many retreat centers don’t have the resources to support a day shift and a night shift.
Volunteers can help support the everyday workings of a retreat center, but:
Many states and provinces have limits on the number of hours a volunteer can work per week.
A retreat center can’t be left solely in the hands of volunteers. Paid staff members are needed to supervise.
Even before the height of pandemic lockdowns, retreat centers have been coming up with innovative ways to cover hours. In many cases, a mix of volunteer, hourly, and salaried staff combine their efforts to ensure guests’ needs are met and the center is properly cared for.
Team Effort
For overnight coverage, staff members at one center fill in additional hours for minimum wage, not their usual staff fee. Overtime still applies, and is paid based on an average of their staff rate + minimum wage.
Some centers ask their salaried staff members to cover a weekend or two a month.
Residential Staff
Some centers have residential staff who live onsite and can provide full coverage, both day and night; but it can be a challenge to figure out where and how to house them without displacing guests.
For some Catholic centers with Sisters living onsite, the residential Sisters act as point-people and emergency contacts.
Work Exchange
Some centers are exploring work-exchange models: offering room and board to staff in exchange for a reduced wage.
One community member suggested looking to the American Camping Association for helpful work-exchange resources, best practices, or models to learn from. Camp work often parallels retreat work, and summer camps have been doing work-exchange for a very long time.
Guest Offerings
Guests are sometimes asked to pitch in during their stay as well.
One center has guests who have been coming back for a long time (decades) and those guests are trusted. They’re given emergency numbers and allowed to stay unsupervised.
At another center, guests come to meditation retreats expecting to perform a “yogi job” (thirty minutes of washing dishes, etc.). This contribution is considered part of their practice or retreat experience. This helps lessen the load of staff, although staffing is still needed to support other aspects of the retreat.
When it comes to staffing at retreat centers, there’s a need to be creative and work with what you have.
Staffing Tensions
With shifts in technology and staff demographics, retreat centers are finding ways to manage the expectations of new hires, embrace the practicalities of running a center, and adapt to change. Community members identified some of the ongoing staffing tensions they’re encountering and best practices for addressing those tensions.
Managing Expectations
Job listings - Even if job listings are detailed and clear, understand that applicants may not want to work after hours, be on call, or work onsite.
Be sure to communicate your expectations during the hiring process. Bridge the gaps where possible, and confirm that the candidate understands the full scope of the work you need them to do.
No matter how enthusiastic a candidate may be about a position, if you need them to work overnight and the candidate can’t work overnight, they may not be a fit for your center.
Heavy turnover creates gaps in staffing that can be difficult to fill. Get ahead of potential issues by asking candidates what their needs are. Ask them what will keep them in the position longterm and try to meet those needs.
Specialization - It’s common for retreat center staff to wear multiple hats: One staff member might communicate with guests, make bookings, maintain facilities, manage social media, and keep financial records. These days, however, roles may also be highly-specialized.
Highly-specialized roles offer more advanced skill and proficiency in specific tasks because the staff member’s focus is narrower.
Be aware, however: If the booking specialist is the only person who knows how to use the booking system, it can be a challenge to cover their absence. It’s good to have some redundancy on staff and maintain streamlined, accessible systems. Multiple staff members or volunteers should be able to fill in if there’s a gap in coverage.
Updating systems - Many retreat centers are open to upgrades and innovation, but it doesn’t always happen overnight. It takes time and resources to move hardcopies into digital format. This process requires change management and managing continuity.
Remote work - Many employees want to work remotely now, but brick-and-mortar retreat centers simply can’t go fully remote. Be creative and consider ways to integrate remote work into your center’s day-to-day operations. Where you can’t make concessions, communicate why to staff:
Some staff needs to be onsite to maintain land and facilities.
Having a person “live” and available helps guests to feel held in a sacred space.
Part-timers - Some centers use part-timers to fill in the gaps, because younger staffers prefer to work limited hours or have limited responsibilities.
A prospective candidate or a younger volunteer has very different skills, expectations, and values around their work—including how much they want of the work.
Defining Change
Centers are trying to ease these growing pains by asking: What systems and processes are appropriate to leave behind? What’s core to our retreat center as we move into the future?
Identity documents - The ARC Retreat Community shared a copy of the identity document created by their board. The identity document helped them develop clarity around the core of who they are as a retreat center. Even staffing decisions are based upon it.
When you create an identity document, make sure you also have the flexibility to change. Develop clarity around what change means for your center at a deeper level.
Building a team - The ARC board’s strategic plan for their center prioritizes a cohesive staff dynamic that’s able to pivot in an emergent design.
Communicating identity with staff - Mission statements and identity documents at other retreat centers are shared widely with staff, posted everywhere (for visibility), and made available in multilingual translations (for accessibility). This helps give staff a clear sense of purpose and belonging.
“You can train on skills, but you can’t train on the heart. That’s the tension: If staff don’t come with the heart, it can be a real disconnect.”
Staff Needs
What a retreat center needs to operate is only one part of the equation. Staff also need to feel supported. Community members report their staff can struggle with:
Fatigue - Core team members are being stretched too thin.
For example: Kitchen staff might work a ten-day retreat. That’s a long stretch, and there’s a need to remedy their fatigue at the physical level.
Keeping up morale and engagement can be an issue as well. Be aware that mental, emotional, and spiritual fatigue can also affect your team.
Wages/compensation - Quite simply, staff need to be able to make ends meet.
Clarity of roles - Retreat centers are emerging environments. There can be so much “pivoting to adapt” at a retreat center that staff roles are in constant flux. This flux can add stress and confusion to any team dynamic.
Demands on leadership keep changing as well—and not all leaders are set up for change management. Strong leadership in the midst of transition is vital for the health and stability of any organization.
As one center transitioned from a volunteer model to paid staff, they set up hybrid committees and named them in such a way that shifts in the focus of committee work were clearly defined. Establishing clear boundaries helped them to undo habits from the old days when the boundaries were less clear.
Ask your staff members what they need and find ways to meet those needs. When staff members feel supported, turnover rates go down.
Where Does HR Fit In?
HR is a specialized skillset, but often the leaders at retreat centers end up taking on HR roles in addition to their own.
Some centers are exploring having a dedicated HR person on staff, while others are considering working with an HR consultant or outside organization.
One retreat center is pursuing a grant to help strengthen the HR presence on staff.
Many centers agree that it would be beneficial to bring HR representation to the board.
Equity Practices in Hiring
Retreat centers are also turning their attention to issues of justice, equity, diversity, and inclusion—but don’t know where to begin. They’re wondering how to find diverse candidates as well as how to ensure a safe, welcoming space.
Community members suggested:
Building Relationships
White staff members may want to see more diversity and expect it to happen overnight—but it’s not an overnight thing. The slow, steady approach is best. It involves a lot of storytelling and demonstrating identity.
Consider where you share your story online (social media, newsletter, website) and even how your website is structured. Let people see your identity in the way you communicate.
Be candid when talking to candidates about who you are. Let people know that retreat centers can be a good fit for those who feel like they don’t fit into more traditional organizations.
You need to want to learn about different ways of being and why some things appeal to some people and other things don’t.
“It is more than just saying, ‘Oh, there’s a seat at the table.’ What are you bringing to that table? What dish are you bringing to that table that’s going to make that person you’re inviting feel welcomed?”
Within the organization, there have to be individuals dedicated to building those relationships.
The organization itself should be proactive; but if you personally have a diverse friend group, invite them to join the center too. Use word of mouth, invite your connections, talk to the people in your neighborhood.
Connecting with Community - Explore new ways to take your retreat center out to the community. What can you offer to build an open and trusting connection?
One center hosts “Welcome Wednesdays.” They offer lunch and a tour to anyone who signs up.
This gives people an internal view of the center and gives them a chance to envision themselves in the space.
Volunteers, employees, retreats, and donors have all come out of this offering.
Pay attention to the demographics of your area. If you’re in a very white location, go out to other sites—offer day retreats in more diverse communities.
Offer overnight retreats with scholarships and transportation provided for people to experience the center itself.
People who want to work at retreat centers are often people who have attended retreats first. Retreat-goers are primarily white, so to increase staff diversity, it can be a matter of increasing the diversity of retreat-goers.
Participate in Programs
Several centers have participated in RCC’s Racial Healing Initiative programs. This has raised the conversation around race and set them up to have future conversations. There are a variety of programs out there—explore your options.
Mental Health Supports
For retreat centers, it can be a journey to understand how they can honestly support mental health, especially with a smaller staff or limited resources.
There’s a common thread of staff coming to retreat center work to heal—part of their journey is to overcome something.
Some people find out after they sign on that being in a more remote, isolated setting is harder than they realized it would be.
Retreat center work can be demanding. Staff can end up focusing more on work. Even if they came to heal, they might not actually heal.
During the interview process, ask: “Is the focus more on your healing, or on the work? If it’s more about healing, then come as a guest, not as a staff member. Healing should be number one. When you’re in a better place, come to work.”
One center has language around: This environment can be difficult if you’re coming fresh out of addiction recovery. Housing allows alcohol and we don’t check bags. Different people have different feelings about intoxicants/mind-altering substances in retreat settings. This may not be the place for you.
Few retreat center workers take the time to go on retreat themselves. But retreat center workers need retreat in order to support their guests.
Leadership often takes advantage of time-off benefits, but operational staff rarely takes advantage because it’s harder for them to pull away (especially during the high season).
Being on retreat at your own center can be tricky—you get pulled into the work. Partner with other centers nearby and take staff on retreat there.
Get staff out of the work setting.
Learn about what other centers do.
Exchange staff retreats.
Mental Health Days - Does your center have policies in place for something as simple as a mental health day? Can a staff member call in and ask for a mental health day, no questions asked? Who do you fall back on when someone can’t come in?
Onsite therapists - One center used to have a therapist that came on certain days, but they phased them out due to cost and lack of use.
It was difficult for staff to show up for therapy and then go directly to work.
There were also concerns about a therapist being a barrier to communication about emergency issues (that staff would talk to the therapist confidentially about issues of harassment and safety instead of reporting those issues).
In lieu of an onsite therapist, this center now has a staff member whose role it is to connect staff with local resources if they’re having an emergency or a deeper mental health concern.
“People think that digging into spirituality can solve mental health problems. It can support you in your mental health, but it’s not a cure-all.”
Spirituality doesn’t fix everything. When it comes to mental health, there’s deeper work people need to do to address those issues.
Notes and Audio
Follow the link below to access PDFs, audio, and additional meeting notes.
Join the Discussion
Do you work at a retreat center? Would you like to connect with the RCC community for more insights and support? Find out about upcoming events.
Attend the next Community Call by subscribing to our mailing list.
Join our private Facebook group to connect with other retreat center professionals, learn, share, collaborate, and socialize together.
