How to Effectively Manage Staff for Sports Events

Whether you’re a new staffing manager or a seasoned professional, you understand that strong staff management skills are key to unlocking your team’s potential and ensuring the success of an event. This is especially true for sports events, where the fast-paced, high-energy environment demands keen attention to detail to keep everything running smoothly. Hence, knowing the right strategies is essential to making informed decisions and staying in control.

In this blog post, we help you strengthen your staff management skills by sharing seven essential tips for effectively managing staff at sports events.

How to Effectively Manage Staff for Sports Events

Sports events are experiencing rapid growth, with the global market valued at approximately $266 billion in 2023 and projected to reach $510 billion by 2032. With this expansion comes a rising demand for skilled and reliable event staff. However, building a high-performing team doesn’t happen in a snap; it requires effective leadership and strong management skills. 

Elevate your staffing game with these seven strategies for managing staff at sports events.

1. Build a Strong Hiring and Onboarding Process

Your responsibility in managing staff begins with the hiring and onboarding process. Make sure to develop a well-structured hiring process that ensures you bring in individuals with the right experience and skills in crowd management, sports assisting, or other specialized areas as needed. Your onboarding process should also be comprehensive and engaging, providing new hires with the necessary training, resources, and support they need to fulfill their roles.

For more details on how to recruit event staff, here’s a post worth checking out.

2. Define Roles and Responsibilities

A good manager assigns positions, but a great one ensures that every staff member clearly understands their roles and responsibilities. Provide your staff with detailed explanations of their roles and responsibilities, as well as your expectations of them through documents or verbal communication. By doing so, you can enhance the efficiency and effectiveness of your team while they’re on the job. As a study notes, “Employees who experience role clarity are 53% more efficient and 27% more effective at work than employees who have role ambiguity.” 

3. Create Comprehensive Policies for Staff

Sporting events can be fast-paced and demanding, making clear organization and structure essential for smooth operations. One effective way to achieve this is by developing comprehensive event policies. These detail the guidelines and protocols necessary for ensuring different aspects of the event run smoothly.

Here are some policies you might consider implementing when you’re staffing sports events:

• Attendance and Punctuality Policy
• Code of Conduct Policy
• Uniform and Appearance Policy
• Communication Protocol
• Break and Shift Policy
• Equipment and Property Use Policy

4. Encourage Staff to Familiarize Themselves With Sports

Hiring staff without prior experience in sports event staffing is perfectly acceptable. However, encouraging them to gain a basic understanding of sports can enhance their effectiveness and contribute to smoother event operations.

When staff members are well-informed about the sport being played during their shift, they can better anticipate the game's flow, key moments, and high-demand periods, allowing for more efficient support and coordination. For example, in the sport of soccer, it takes a halftime break of 15 minutes. By knowing this information, staff can prepare in advance for increased crowd movement, restroom lines, and concession stand rushes during the break. 

5. Prepare for Accidents and Staff Turnover

In dynamic environments like sports events, accidents can happen at any moment. To ensure the safety of guests and staff, it is essential to implement safety precautions and establish a well-structured emergency response plan. This should outline protocols for medical aid, evacuation procedures, and clear communication strategies for swift action when needed.

Another common challenge in event management is staff turnover, which can disrupt operations if not properly addressed. To mitigate its impact, consider maintaining a pool of backup staff who can step in during unexpected absences. Additionally, establish quick decision-making protocols for staffing adjustments to ensure the event continues running smoothly, even in the face of last-minute changes.

For more tips on reducing staff turnover, be sure to check out this post.

6. Gather Data for Continuous Improvement

Data is a critical tool for optimizing future events, and if you manage your own event staffing agency, leveraging data becomes even more beneficial. A study featured on Forbes shows that 49% of professionals believe analytics helps them make better decisions, 16% say it enhances key strategic initiatives, and 10% find it improves relationships with both customers and business partners.

To maximize the value of data, gather feedback from staff after each event regarding their experiences and performance. Additionally, analyze attendance records, shift efficiency, and overall event success. These insights allow you to refine staffing strategies, improve scheduling, and enhance operational efficiency, ensuring smoother, more successful events in the future.

7. Ensure Accurate Payroll Management

Once the event has concluded successfully, it’s essential to acknowledge and fairly compensate your staff for their hard work. To start processing payroll, verify the work hours of each staff. This will maintain payroll accuracy and compliance. After that, process overtime and bonuses equitably, recognizing employees who took on additional responsibilities or extended shifts. Additionally, promptly address any payroll discrepancies to prevent errors. Finally, ensure all staff receive their payments on time through their preferred or previously agreed payment channels. 

If you manage event staff at sports events in the U.S., consider reviewing these payroll compliance guidelines while processing payroll.

Optimize Sports Event Staffing With StaffConnect

Staffing successful sports events requires seamless coordination, real-time communication, and efficient staff management, exactly what StaffConnect delivers. With features designed specifically for fast-paced sports environments, StaffConnect helps you:

• Streamline communication with a centralized communication hub and automatic reminders to keep staff informed before, during, and after the event.
• Ensure accurate time tracking with GPS check-in and check-out so you always know who’s on-site and track work hours accurately.
• Maintain secure staff records with an encrypted database, protecting sensitive information.
• Simplify workforce management with calendar and app integration, a built-in payroll system, and powerful data collection tools for performance analysis.

But that’s not all; StaffConnect also offers white-label custom branding to maintain your unique staffing identity, along with other powerful features. Book your free demo today to learn more!