Play more. Earn more.

  • August 28th, 2015
  • Chris White

Simon Shibli and his team - from the Sports Industry Research Centre based at Sheffield Hallam University - has completed a phenomenal piece of research. The research investigated whether there is a direct link between playing sport throughout your personal and academic life, to whether you can earn a higher salary in your working life.

...see an increased earning potential higher than those that didn't engage in sport...

The team, which famously created the algorithm to predict both Australian and GB's medal haul prior to their hosting of their respective Olympics, also discovered that in many instances, non-graduates who play sport can see an increased earning potential, higher than those that didn't engage in sport.

A self assessment

The individuals surveyed were asked a series of self assessment questions that were on a five-point scale, with 5 being strongly agree and 1 being strongly disagree. Individuals who had played sport showed the highest levels of agreement with the following questions:

  • "I am generally more productive in my job than my colleagues"
  • "I tend to have less time off with sickness or illness than my colleagues"
  • "I was able to use examples from my university extra-curricular experience in job applications and interviews"
  • "I used skills learnt from my extra-curricular activities at university in my job

They all cited various skills learnt from sport, including:

  • Team work
  • Social skills
  • Leadership
  • Organisation
  • Confidence

Earning Potential for Graduates

The research that looked at a number of graduates from both "Red Brick" and post-1992 "New-Universities" concluded that graduates that play sport have earning potential that on average is £6,344; higher than a graduate that didn't play sport.

The study moved on to say that this figure increased if you had volunteered your time to university sport - in such roles as officials, club committee members or coaches - your average earnings increased by a further £2,662 annually.

Furthermore the report also stated that keeping fit will help; a number of respondents did not actively engage in sport, but were regularly attending the gym, still showed higher earnings than students that were members of societies or did non-sport related volunteer work whilst in higher education.

... non-graduates that engaged in sport earn over £8000 more than those that didn't...

I'm not a graduate but I play sport

The survey also revealed that playing sport in your personal life can pay dividends in your working life, even if you chose not to enter higher education. The average salary of a non-graduate in the workplace, that engaged in sport regularly, was just £208 lower than that of a graduate that did not engage in sport, whilst remaining over £8000 higher than a non-graduate that didn't.

Employment

The research candidates were also asked about periods of unemployment they had experienced in their life. On average 25% of candidates surveyed had experienced a period of unemployment, however, the figure for those that had never taken part in sport was 7% higher than those that had shown engagement.

Conclusion

The survey concluded that showing active engagement in sport in one's lifetime will benefit you later in life, both proven on a financial level but also an individual's perception of their work ethic and regardless of financial gain, over 80% of athletes surveyed agreed that sport had a positive impact on their working life.

Source: http://c1593.r93.cf3.rackcdn.com/BUCS_Employability_Research_Report.pdf