New project: Supporting Sauna Professionals in their careers & establishing a national framework

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After the successful launch of the Operator Membership, the British Sauna Society has been developing its plans for its Sauna Professional Membership. The first phase of this has been undertaking a research piece to deeper understand the challenges and opportunities for Sauna Masters, as well as Sauna Operators and their wider staff.

Sauna Master is currently the most common understanding of those who work in saunas, but we want to consider all roles that work in sauna environments. For many people new to sauna in the UK, sauna hosts or managers are the first encounter they will have. The experience that first point of contact provides is essentially the front line for the growth of sauna culture across the UK, and we want to support that to make sure it’s exceptional wherever anyone goes for an authentic sauna experience.

We’re also very aware of the uniqueness of sauna culture across the UK and want to preserve the creativity and exploration that we’re seeing. We’re looking to create a framework that makes it easier to work, operate and build a well-paying career in the growing UK sauna industry, but one that is also a platform for performance, artistry, creativity and innovation. It’s particularly important to us that this is preserved with any development of guidelines or regulations by local or national authorities.

Objectives for the BSS

Industry definition, standards and professional identity

  • To gain clarity across the industry on the work that professionals in the sauna industry do, and the roles that they carry out with an agreed terminology

  • The importance of standards for sauna professionals in maintaining quality sauna experiences across the UK

  • Establish an easy available baseline standard for anyone working in a sauna environment in the UK

Career support, development and entry pathways

  • Ensuring that Sauna Professionals can develop life long careers that are financially stable and sustainable, with career progression

  • To establish worker protections for Sauna Professionals, for example safeguarding or non-payment

  • Ensuring that young people are brought into the sauna industry early to secure the future of the industry and to offer employment opportunities

  • To work towards a further educational qualification and an apprenticeship pathway, as recognised by the Department of Education

  • To be ensure UK Sauna Professionals’ training and skills are recognisable if they wish to work abroad

Culture, craft and authenticity of practice

  • Protect the authenticity of sauna rituals and traditions, ensuring standards, education and knowledge sharing as the industry grows

  • Promoting the deep knowledge and high levels of artistry that are inherent in quality sauna rituals and traditions

Industry infrastructure & employment ecosystem

  • To develop connections with the insurance industry to offer Sauna Professionals secure and affordable cover

  • Establish a directory of Sauna Professionals that is available to Operator Members to facilitate hiring, training and specialist rituals or events in saunas across the UK

  • Encourage saunas across the UK - from small to large - to hire specialist Sauna Professionals and to expand the range of sauna rituals that they offer in their programming

  • To provide a clearer and more robust framework for training organisations across the UK and abroad in which to offer and explain their services

Advocacy, public policy and external engagement

  • To develop connections with connected industry authorities and councils to ensure that the work of Sauna Professionals is understood with the right details

  • To stay ahead of any wider regulation development and to ensure that authentic sauna experts are guiding it to be a help rather than a hindrance

  • To ensure any regulation or guidelines apply fairly across different size businesses, protecting both individual workers, small businesses and large corporates

  • To work with HMRC to recognise any fees as tax deductible

What’s in it for Sauna Professionals?

  • A richer jobs market resulting in a more competitive market with better pay

  • Career progression

  • Pride and identity in working in a nationally recognised profession with public profiles into specialisms and skills

  • Being able to share that you’re a registered professional that is endorsed by a national body

  • Access to specialised insurance and safety protections for your work

  • Belonging to a connected community that recognises and supports your career

  • Have a leading say in how the Sauna Professional career develops in the UK

What’s in it for Sauna Operators?

  • Showcase the investment in training and skills of your staff to the public and have it as a point of differentiation from competitors

  • Access to a detailed catalogue of Sauna Professionals

  • Easier and smoother recruiting processes with more definition around job roles and descriptions

  • Access to local funds that support young people into education and training

  • Raised standards for all sauna staff, particularly through baseline education for sauna hosts

  • Improved maintenance and longevity of sauna equipment with better educated staff and ritual practitioners, and by proxy bathers

Please share any thoughts or ideas if you have them here.

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A really comprehensive document and covered all and more of the topics/issues . Thank you so much :folded_hands:

I would maybe hope for an expansion of the insurance issue and qualification recognition when overseas. As well as HMRC etc . But this is low on the list of things things to be addressed .

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This is laudable set of goals to professionalise UK sauna workers and establish an ideal ecosystem for training and employment. Clearly it is an ambitious vision for one organisation to take on and there will be many steps along the way. I do worry that maybe BSS Professional Membership is implied to take on too many parts of the ecosystem - is it an accreditation, a union, or a recruitment agency?

I’m just a bather, not a sauna worker. I think it’s worth taking a step back and recognising that one of the brilliant things that elevates a dedicated sauna venue from the dreaded gym sauna is that there actually is a sauna host, not just someone who switches it on in the morning. I’ve never found any host to be substandard. I am pedantic enough to point out that experiences being “exceptional wherever anyone goes” is as impossible as everyone being above average, but concede there may be room to raise standards.

I’d very much like to hear from people who are (or have been) a sauna host as to what their training entailed, whether they have had any continued professional development since their first week, and if they feel they’d benefit from professional membership. I’d also love to hear from anyone who has worked for multiple employers in different venues what their training had in common.

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Hello Gabrielle, this is a really important and exciting step for the UK sauna industry and it’s great to see a focus not just on growth, but on quality, professionalism and long-term sustainability. I’m thrilled.

From the perspective of a founder that has developed a Thermal Wellness House (opening 2027) with the most critical areas are training and lineage of practice. As sauna culture grows rapidly in the UK, I feel that there’s a real responsibility to ensure that what is being delivered remains authentic, safe, and rooted in established traditions, while still allowing space for creativity and evolution.

I strongly believe in training Sauna Masters with experienced European practitioners and institutions, particularly those with a long-standing cultural relationship to sauna and Aufguss. These are practices that have been refined over decades, and learning directly from trusted masters helps preserve both the technical skill and the deeper ritualistic and performance elements that make sauna so powerful.

At the same time, there’s an opportunity for the UK to develop its own identity - but from a place of informed creativity rather than reinvention without foundation.

I would be very open to contributing in any way that I can when it comes to defining clear training pathways that include internationally recognised standards and supporting exchange between UK and European sauna communities

I also feel it’s important that any baseline standards don’t dilute excellence, but instead create a minimum level while still encouraging mastery and specialisation.

Ultimately, the first experience a guest has is often with a host or Sauna Master, and this can define their relationship with sauna culture. Getting this right is essential if we want to build something meaningful and lasting in the UK.

Would love to stay involved as this develops.

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This is a great project and we’re very supportive of it!

On the jobs market side, as an Operator ourselves, possibly it would make sense to have the Operator Memberships require Real Living Wage registration?

From a business point of view, the more that operators can run rituals, aufguss, and other events as part of their existing business (rather than through collaborations or contractors) then the more these businesses will be able to pay their staff (and the more frequently these events can be offered to the public).

We’ve been actively exploring training in this area as we look to expand into more sites so we’d definitely be interested in the directory!

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Hi Paul, thanks so much for sharing your thoughts.
Our thinking on the professional membership is long term: what we’ve included here is a vision rather than a to do list, and will have to happen over many years. Part of the project will be to prioritise what is most important (hence wider input is vital) and to understand what the roadmap and long-term plan will be.

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