Is a ‘golden hello’ the answer?

With the teacher recruitment challenge reaching crisis point, is offering sign-on bonuses a workable solution? Sue Birchall, long-standing SBL, discusses

Read the full article below or on page 18 in our Summer magazine.

We are suffering a crisis in recruitment within the education system, probably the worst for a while, certainly within my experience in the industry. Many roles, teaching as well as support staff, are becoming increasingly difficult to fill, and new ways of attracting and retaining staff are needed.

For support staff, the latest pay increases may go some way to attracting more talent. The levels of pay at the lower end of the scale had fallen to a point where a job in the private sector paid so much more that the usual attraction of term-time only working was no longer an incentive. Now that these roles have had a significant injection of up to a 13% increase, we would hope that they will, once again, become attractive employment opportunities.

For teachers, there are a myriad of reasons why recruitment is at such a low level. Of course, terms and conditions will play a large part in this issue, as will the real-time cut in pay over the last ten or so years, which has made the profession less financially appealing to many. Government targets for recruitment of early career teachers are continually missed, year-on-year, and teachers are leaving the profession in unprecedented numbers.

Workload has to play a large part for all school staff

Workload is regularly highlighted as an obstacle to retaining staff in schools at all levels. The government has recognised this and has published a ‘school workload reduction toolkit’ that you can find at https://www.gov.uk/guidance/school-workload-reduction-toolkit . At an individual level, all schools and academies are working towards reducing the burden of data, looking at flexible working, and at the procedures for everyday tasks to reduce the administrative burden.

Tackling this crisis as always has fallen to the schools and academies, with many of us resorting to agency and other more costly means of obtaining the right staffing. Along with the increased cost of salaries, this is a bitter pill to swallow and is not good for restful nights when you are worrying about how to ‘make the money fit.’ It’s not ideal and, in the long run, doesn’t resolve the issue.

So back to the initial question – is a ‘golden hello’ the answer? Offering a joining bonus does have its benefits; it is controlled by the school and so is a known cost, it could have a short-term effect on recruitment and research shows that more pay improves recruitment and, possibly, retention. So, what about the downsides?

Money is a motivator so you can assume that it would be an encouragement for prospective staff and as such a good recruitment tool; however, one-off payments are known to have a shorter ‘shelf life’ as an incentive, and may not help with retention. You may need to structure the golden hello so that it continues into employment longer term; you risk the loss of parity in pay for similar roles in schools and, one could argue, this is already in place with recruitment and retention payments.

Should the golden hello be monetary?

If the welcome bonus were not to be money, could it be a package? Research has shown that workers would appreciate more in the way of flexible working, health benefits and leave. Again, this could be a great recruitment tool, but surely one that should be enjoyed by all staff, regardless of length of service.

How do you decide the level?

This is a fair question and one that needs to be agreed at the outset. It is, of course, governed to a degree by affordability, but there is a risk that it could become a contest, with schools ‘bidding’ for staff in a competitive strategy.

For me, the answer is fair pay, workload management, employee benefits and flexible working. In the long run, this will save money through retention and benefit our school community by providing consistency and stability.