Investigating the Causes of Swim Instructor Turnover in the Aquatics Industry

Employees are said to be the backbone of any organization. The aquatic industry is one of the largest employers in the sport and recreation sector and is rapidly growing, with career opportunities available to a diverse workforce for individuals of all ages and backgrounds (Sherry et al., 2021). The aquatics industry is experiencing increased voluntary and dysfunctional swim instructor turnover. Employee turnover is the rate at which individuals leave an organization, and high employee turnover can be disruptive and costly for management, employees, and customers. High swim instructor turnover undermines the effectiveness of swim instruction and exacerbates the risk of swimming-related injuries and drowning. Therefore, a critical first step is to better understand the reasons for turnover to address concerns with recruitment and swim instructor retention. High employee turnover should not be excused as an inherent characteristic of the aquatics industry, but rather the result of individual and systemic factors. As swim instructor turnover is an under-researched issue, we adopted an exploratory approach to this research. We utilized a qualitative research approach, collecting data through a series of semi-structured interviews, to explore the reasons for swim instructor turnover with nineteen (58% male, 42% female) former swim instructors. Most respondents reported a combination of reasons that ultimately led to separation from their position. A deductive analysis of the interview data revealed the reasons for turnover among former swim instructors: swim instructing as a temporary role, limited career progression, failing to understand and underestimating the swim instructor working environment, and a negative view of management. This research extends human resource management literature across the aquatics industry by identifying reasons for turnover from the perspective of former swim instructors. When swim instructors depart, it can disrupt existing relationships and workflows, and makes it so that fewer individuals get the benefits associated with learning to swim. These results suggest managers would benefit from implementing appropriate retention strategies to retain swim instructors, realistic job preview, swim instructor training and personal development, and exit interviews.