For decades, capital improvement conversations at private clubs revolved around the same familiar priorities: renovating the grillroom, upgrading the golf course, expanding the fitness center, and modernizing the pool complex. Member-facing amenities dominated the capital plan, while back-of-house facilities and employee spaces were treated as an afterthought, functional at best, forgotten at worst.

Across the club industry, there has been a meaningful shift in thinking, which has led to a quiet revolution in capital planning. Employee spaces (staff break rooms, locker rooms, housing, and wellness areas) have moved from line items reluctantly funded to strategic investments that directly determine whether a club can deliver the member experience it promises.

Clubs that embrace this shift are creating a clear competitive advantage. The clubs that don’t are caught in a costly, exhausting cycle where employees continue to rotate through as though in a revolving door.

The Labor Crisis That Won’t Go Away

Across the field of hospitality, and in private clubs specifically, organizations are fighting a retention crisis unlike anything anyone has ever seen. Back-of-house positions have been among the hardest hit. These are the roles that keep a club’s kitchen, grounds, and service operations running smoothly. High turnover comes at a significant cost when clubs analyze their recruiting, hiring, and training expenses. Additionally, clubs must account for productivity and institutional knowledge that is lost when the employee leaves.

Investments Worth Considering

Employee Housing. What was once primarily a concern for remote destination clubs has now become a nationwide issue. Clubs in resort areas, affluent suburbs, and coastal markets are navigating intensifying difficulties to attract and retain quality staff as local housing costs put homeownership out of reach for many hourly employees.

Progressive clubs are addressing the challenge with creative capital solutions like integrating staff housing into larger facility projects to secure board approval. Boards are increasingly encouraged to view these investments not as charitable gestures, but as essential operational insurance. A club that can house its team is a club that can consistently deliver great service.

Break Rooms and Staff Dining. Employees who eat well, rest adequately, and have a comfortable space to decompress between shifts perform better and experience less burnout. Clubs that have invested in upgraded staff dining with quality food, clean surroundings, and a genuine opportunity to recharge report measurably higher staff morale. The difference between a club providing a well-designed break environment and one with only a folding table in a basement storage room is profound.

Locker Rooms and Personal Space. Private clubs that are serious about retaining talent must attend to back-of-house environments, ensuring employee locker rooms reflect the quality of member spaces. They should be modern, clean, and functional. The employee locker room space serves as a daily reminder to staff that they are valued and respected.

Training and Development Spaces. Continued focus on attracting and retaining top talent with professional development at the heart of that strategy will define the competitive landscape. Opportunities for career development is a great differentiator for talent seeking an investment in their future, rather than only their immediate performance.

Technology and Communication Infrastructure. Modern workforce management, including digital scheduling, transparent communication tools, and streamlined onboarding, require investment in technology. Employees who feel organized, informed, and supported in how they manage information are less likely to burn out or look elsewhere for employers who provide these tools.

Becoming an Employer of Choice

Private clubs now compete not only with one another for talent, but also with every employer in their local markets. At KOPPLIN KUEBLER & WALLACE, our governance education encourages boards to consider an Employer of Choice Committee to act as a strategic partner with management on talent strategy. A shift that would have been unusual just a decade ago.

Becoming an employer of choice is not an overnight achievement but a purposeful journey that requires strategy, commitment, and care. By prioritizing the growth and well-being of employees and recognizing that this responsibility is shared among members, boards, and leaders alike, private clubs can cultivate workplaces where employees truly thrive with a sense of purpose and belonging.

Achieving employer-of-choice status requires intentional leadership. Leaders who model empathy, communicate a clear mission, and build trust at every level. When that alignment is reached, clubs don’t just operate effectively; they lead the industry by example.

Reframing the ROI Conversation

The biggest barrier to investing in employee space has long been the same challenge that slows any back-of-house capital project: visibility. A new dining terrace generates excitement at the annual meeting; a refurbished staff break room does not. Sophisticated boards, however, are learning to reframe the argument, and the numbers are in their favor. Consider a club with $12 million in annual revenue and a service model that relies on 100 hourly employees. If turnover runs at 55 percent, the club must replace 55 employees each year at a serious cost per replacement. Investments in employee spaces, housing assistance, or enhanced work environments that reduce turnover to 35 percent, which means 40 fewer replacements, can generate significant annual savings that could be reallocated to investment in a staff housing unit or a comprehensive employee area renovation that could pay for itself in as little as two years.

What Leading Clubs Are Doing

Across the industry, the most forward-thinking clubs are making employee spaces an integral part of their master planning conversations by:

• Incorporating employee housing into master plans, treating it with the same architectural intent and strategic consideration as new member amenities.
• Conducting formal behind-the-scenes audits to evaluate employee spaces with the same rigor applied to member areas and then allocating capital reserves accordingly.
• Building career development infrastructure such as training areas, certification support, mentorship programs, etc. all of which are supported both physically and operationally.
• Benchmarking the employee experience alongside the member experience, using retention rates, exit interview data, and satisfaction surveys to guide capital allocation decisions.

The clubs leading this shift are not simply being generous to employees, they are doing it because they see the results. Stable, experienced, and motivated teams consistently deliver the high service levels that keep member satisfaction scores strong, waiting lists long, and dues revenue growing.

Private clubs are entering a period of significant capital divide. Those that have modernized their approach by integrating human capital needs alongside member amenity investments are building a sustainable operational foundation for the future of their club. Those that continue to overlook the employee experience are accumulating a different kind of deferred maintenance: the gradual erosion of institutional knowledge, service consistency, and workforce stability, one employee resignation at a time.

Club Trends – Spring 2026