What businesses can learn from the NFL about keeping employees happy

Despite what the folks in suits might want you to think, it’s not that hard to own and manage a professional sports team. 

In pro sports like the NBA and NFL, you can’t always buy the best players, because of restrictions on player contracts and roster spending, but you can invest in creating the best experience for your team and fostering an enviable roster of benefits. 

Take Mark Cuban’s takeover of the Dallas Mavericks in 2000. “I’ll do whatever it takes to make this team successful,” Cuban said after his ~$280 million purchase. “There is no amount of money that I won’t spend.”

Mavericks star Dirk Nowitzki noted poor travel accommodations as one area that Cuban immediately addressed. Cuban “was like, 'Okay, we need to change some stuff around; I want free agents to come here and look at Dallas as the spot,’” Nowitzki said. 

So Cuban purchased a 757 jet for team flights, put the Mavs up in five-star hotels, provided catering for games and practices, and built out the team’s staff until there was a coach for every player. He spent money to take advantage of a gap in the market and make the Mavericks a desirable workplace to play and to stay. 

This is where the lessons lie for anyone in management. While the money a team spends on players is capped, the money owners spend on production and operations is largely left up to the front office. And as it turns out, the players are more than ready to tell you where that money should be spent.

In February, the NFL Players Association released its second annual player survey, which is filled with some simple lessons that can help anyone looking to retain top talent in a competitive job market.

Treat family like family

Across 11 categories, there were 29 total “F” grades handed out, and no individual category earned more failing grades than “Treatment of Families,” with the Bengals, Chargers, Patriots, Steelers, Buccaneers, and Commanders all falling way short of expectations. Add in the 10 “D” grades awarded in this category and you have half the NFL saying their team is not working hard enough to treat their families right.

Players said they wanted indoor family spaces and day care available on game days — two improvements that would seem easy to implement when graded against the scale of owning a football team.

Meanwhile, four teams got at least an “A-” regarding treatment of families: the Cowboys, Dolphins, Vikings, and 49ers. What did all four franchises have in common? They had a family room at the stadium and provided day care.  These benefits can jump a team from worst to first in a category. 

Comfort is key

This is a layup for any boss who’s serious about investing in their staff. NFL players cited issues with their practice facilities at home as well as on the road. Six teams received an “F” for their locker rooms, which is surprising. If you’re a billionaire owner, you should be hiring the Frank Lloyd Wright of locker rooms and putting them on retainer.

Travel is also a sore subject, with three teams — the Buccaneers, Titans, and Commanders — getting failing grades. According to the Buccaneers’ report, younger players had to pay the team $1,750 last season to avoid having a roommate on road trips. What a place to pinch pennies!

Half of the players on the Commanders said they didn’t have enough space on team flights. If the new ownership group in Washington is looking to earn some trust from their players on day one, there’s a clear place to start.

Keep your promises

The most shocking grade on the report card this year goes to the Kansas City Chiefs, who, despite winning three of the past five Super Bowls, gave team owner Clark Hunt an “F-”, good for lowest in the league.

The report makes clear that players on the Chiefs had been raising issues with the team’s facilities for years and were assured improvements would be made.

“What adds to the frustration is that management told the players that renovations would come after the 2022 season,” the report reads “The players went on to win the Super Bowl and when they arrived back at their facility for the 2023-2024 season, they realized the team never followed through with the promised renovation.”.

If you make a promise to your team, and your team goes above and beyond all expectations to achieve success, you have to keep that promise. 

Invest in career development

No player is ever a finished product. Every prospect drafted and player signed in free agency brings a skill set, but helping them reach their potential can happen only with great effort from both the player and the support system around them.

Every team knows this, but somehow there remains a big gap in the investment teams are willing to make in their most important assets. Players on seven teams said that the training facilities at their club were “no better than other places they could train offsite.”

Staffing is another issue that, when raised, brought big problems. While players on most teams were complimentary of the staff who helped keep their franchise running, when there are simply not enough hands on deck to keep up with player demand, it can quickly become a problem. Just 52% of players on the Washington Commanders said they receive enough one-on-one treatment from the team’s training staff, and fewer than half of the players on the Chiefs believed the team had enough full-time physical therapists.

The NFL is a union of 32 money printers that happen to host football games. If you have the coin it takes to own one of these franchises, you have the money it takes to fully invest in them.

None of this is rocket science. Treat people and their families well. Give them the space to flourish. Don’t go back on your word. Show your talent that you’re invested in their growth and development. This is true in any business, not just the NFL. 

Of course, the needs of an NFL team are vastly different from those of most businesses, as are the finances available to them. But clear communication between the employees and employers is a key aspect of creating a solid working environment, regardless of what industry you’re in. The first step to giving workers what they want is giving them the opportunity to express those needs. In some cases, the fixes might be easy to implement, and pay off exponentially in the long run.

Tyler Lauletta is a writer whose work as appeared at The Sporting News, Business Insider and Sports Illustrated.