Please tell me about employers who support employees who are athletes

[cundrumabun]

Just curious. DS is competing at national and international level in a fairly niche sport which he loves. Representatives of the sport's governing body sometimes talk about the "dream" of becoming a professional athlete, but as far as I can tell it doesn't pay very much and is usually short-lived, leading to an even less lucrative post-athletic career in coaching or sport admin. DS is very academic and studying subjects that could lead to a lucrative career in finance, business or something more technical. At some point he may need to choose between the sport he loves and his future career ... but do some people manage to successfully combine the two? I'm thinking that perhaps some large employers may support employees who compete nationally and internationally at a senior level - perhaps giving them additional unpaid (or even paid) leave - and maybe some element of sponsorship. Do you know of any examples?

The armed forces, if you very good at your sport and get onto the military teams, you get paid time off to train and compete.

If he were to become self employed, say as a physio or chiropractor or something related to services athletes use, he'd be able to control his earnings and his time off for competing and training. A lot of friends who competed nationally and internationally in sports like cycling, rowing and ironman found this worked for them.

Deloitte are good with flexible working - I know lots of new graduates who have managed to agree part time working to do lots of things - a hobby, a random masters. I think a professional sportsman would be supported - if they got a supportive manager.

Banks love this sort of thing.

Banks and big accountancy and legal firms. We had an Olympic athlete at the firm I trained at.

Not sure about the sector he is potentially going into, but in the large multinational engineering firms I know of employees are supported in this kind of thing.
I used to do a lunchtime fitness class with an international level luger for example.
It's the kind of thing that was encouraged and put in the internal newsletters etc. So it certainly does exist, though I don't know how far that support went.
Those companies also supported a number of sports teams. That might be a good place to start looking, look for companies that currently sponsor, say, a lower league football club local to where they are based - I say lower league because then you know it's more about supporting that kind of thing than about advertising.

Thames Water have 2 world champions in Dh's team.
I think big firms like this, or as pp's suggested Accountancy firms would be good bets.

I second big 4 accountancy firms. It's been a few years since I worked there but there was at least 2 people who competed at top level and were given lots of time off to compete as part of the deal. I am sure they had some pr to do in exchange mind.

Depends on the company really. You’d have to ask the employer. I competed internationally at a niche sport for 15 years while holding down a ‘proper’ job. I got 2 weeks extra unpaid leave a year and they were v flexible. This is useful as you might not know in advance whether you are going to get selected for certain competitions so need an employer that doesn’t mind you taking leave at the drop of a hat. As a result Of their help I was loyal - I stuck around doing a job that didn’t really fulfil my career aspirations while I competed. I always name dropped the employer in press Tokyo show my appreciation.

Now i have retired from competing I have moved on and got a fulfilling, high flying job in my chosen career as I kept a foot in the door while I was competing. I couldn’t do sports management / administration, esp not in my chosen sport. I think it would detract from my passion for my sport if it was also how I earned my money.

Armed forces is a very good shout for athletes.

police, fire do I think.

Actually makes me very cross that the way sport works in this country is if you aren't funded by the lottery, it's actually very difficult to train elite post-18. Not just the money, but you are also blocked from accessing top coaches, training hours etc. It's showing big time atm when for example International level swimmers (of any age) cannot train because only funded swimmers are allowed in the pool during lockdown. Funded isn't necessarily a measure of success or potential either, lots of sub olympic athletes who aren't ready for Tokyo but could have aimed for Paris have had a year off effectively.

How old is he? Mine is in a similar situation. They are really looking at the US for university on a sports scholarship if they aren't funded. And as all the funded places are currently filled for the next 4 years it's unlikely, no matter what medals are won. And when you move from the GB competition circuits, then your chance of selection for internationals and then funding don't exist.

before lottery funding it used to be common for olympic level athletes to work and train. Now generally they are funded and train full time. It becomes very difficult to stay level with funded athletes when you are training round a job.

Sorry, rant over!!

Military, police etc will. Also Pfizer are very good with this, and GSK. PWC, also, but no experience with the other big ones.

Big multinational IT firm - top level sports people very well supported with extra leave etc and achievements publicised internally.

I used to work for a restaurant chain that sponsored me as a semi professional, then professional athlete. But it was not a company policy. I was just very lucky and my sport became of interest to the owners in early days.
Get to networking events in his sport, any festivals alongside it etc and get him to introduce himself to companies and the people to know in that circle. Come across professional, set up a portfolio website to give them details of via a business card when he meets them, and work on a fanbase if that's possible. Sponsors want to take on athletes that are popular, they need eyes to be on them so social media is helpful.