The Human Return Opportunity for Multi-Academy Trusts

With over 1,100 Multi-Academy Trusts educating more than half of all secondary pupils, trust employees play a key role in delivering stability, safety and ambitious educational and business outcomes.

However, those people are under increasing strain as they feel the impact of consolidation, complex pupil need, constrained funding and the rising cost of living.

Against that backdrop, leaders should ask themselves a set of key questions. How do we retain talented people for longer? How do we create a consistent employee experience across multiple schools? How do we ensure employees feel connected to the organisation as well as the work they do?

Those questions sit at the heart of our new eBook, Building Employee Engagement in Multi-Academy Trusts.

Drawing on our latest research and our experience supporting more than 70 MATs, the guide explores how trust leaders can create what we describe as Human Return: the measurable value generated through stronger retention, higher productivity and practical support that helps employees thrive.

Turning challenge into opportunity

Much of the discussion around education understandably focuses on challenges. Financial pressures continue to shape decision-making and employees are balancing organisational change with the day-to-day realities of delivering exceptional outcomes for pupils.

Our research has identified another worrying pattern across schools. As many as 64% of employees say they are more committed to their work than they are to their employer, a factor that is significant contributor to retention issues.

If we look at this positively though, this doesn't just point to a workforce that has become disengaged, it also highlights an opportunity.

Schools continue to attract people with a strong sense of purpose. Teachers, support staff and leaders care deeply about the pupils and communities they serve. The opportunity for trust leaders is strengthening the connection between that sense of purpose and the organisation itself.

As trusts continue to grow through expansion, merger and school conversion, creating a consistent employee experience becomes increasingly important. Employees experience the organisation through recognition, communication, benefits, wellbeing support and leadership. Together, these experiences shape how valued and connected people feel.

Looking at workforce investment differently

Staff costs typically account for more than 70% of school expenditure, making people the largest investment most trusts make.

Increasingly, this means trust leaders must look beyond workforce costs and consider the value created through retention, performance and workforce stability.

This is where the idea of Human Return becomes useful. Strong engagement contributes to workforce resilience, while effective recognition helps reinforce behaviours and values. Benefits, discounts and salary sacrifice schemes can create meaningful financial value for employees while strengthening the overall employee value proposition.

These outcomes matter because retention remains a significant challenge. Department for Education data shows that 42% of teachers leave the state sector within ten years of qualifying, while research from Oxford Economics estimates that replacing an employee earning £25,000 or more can cost upwards of £30,000 once recruitment, onboarding and lost productivity are taken into account.

When experienced employees choose to stay, trusts retain knowledge, capability and continuity that can take years to rebuild.

Creating value through connection

The most successful trusts today understand that engagement is built through everyday experiences.

Our research found that 93% of employees say feeling appreciated matters, while 77% say support and recognition improve performance. Those findings reinforce what many leaders already know from experience; that people perform at their best when they feel recognised, supported and connected to a shared purpose.

Recognition, wellbeing, benefits and employee listening are often viewed as separate initiatives. In reality, they all contribute to the same outcome: helping employees feel valued and connected to the organisation around them.

When that happens, the benefits extend beyond engagement scores. Trusts see stronger retention, greater workforce resilience and a more stable environment for pupils and communities alike.

Looking ahead

The National School Trust Report 2025 confirmed that financial sustainability is now the number one priority for MAT CEOs. Our belief at Reward Gateway | Edenred is that employee engagement can now be one of the single biggest contributors to achieving that goal, and not by just looking at the financial picture in abstract.

The trusts that succeed over the coming years will be those that see engagement, recognition, wellbeing and employee support as investments in organisational performance and resilience. They will understand the value created when employees feel connected to both their work and the organisation that supports it.

Our new eBook, Building Employee Engagement in Multi-Academy Trusts, explores this opportunity in more detail and provides practical guidance for leaders looking to strengthen engagement and build a more resilient workforce.

In a sector where people represent the largest investment most trusts make, understanding and improving Human Return may become one of the most important leadership conversations of all.