Shifting roles, fluidity in the Fitness Industry - Staff Retention Series

We’re losing fitness instructors almost as fast as we’re losing members. Some are choosing to become estate agents or financial advisers… there must be a better way! If we improve staff retention, we’ll improve member retention.

The staff pathway discussed in a previous article [click here] is a useful tool in retaining staff that are looking for change… The pathways should not be rigid, so that if a member of staff wants to swap from the management route to the exercise referral route for whatever reason, the pathways can support this, and help define the training plan to switch. Regular appraisals will check how staff are progressing on their chosen path, whether additional CPD is needed, or adapt for changing personal goals as staff develop.

The Pathway to PT - Staff Retention Series

The fitness industry is churning out thousands of new instructors and personal trainer wannabees every year, but we are struggling to keep these people engaged within fitness. Over 80% of PTs are leaving the industry within their first year, according to Joe Oliver of YourPT. It’s a no brainer than member retention is linked to staff retention.

Here are 3 tips for new instructors or aspiring PTs; talk to members, get commercial, and communicate with your members.

1.    Talk to members

Whether you’re working in a budget club, a leisure centre, or a private or big box gym, there will be an opportunity (or requirement) to deliver new member inductions. Grab these opportunities; not for a ‘prospect pipeline’, but to meet and talk to as many members as you can.

How to streamline your hiring process - 12 Top Tips - Staff Retention Series

This is a guest post by Alina Cooper from FitLinks, see below for more details.

Everyone is guilty of over-complicating things. Or worse still, living with processes without really understanding why we’re doing it. Surely in this age, we should be doing things faster, easier and more directly?

Recruitment is no exception. In today's market attracting and retaining top talent is challenging. Be aware that most candidates will apply for multiple jobs simultaneously. In fact, a staggering 47% of declined offers in 2015 were due to candidates accepting other jobs.

Retain Your Staff - Get Onboarding right, and ensure new staff are engaged and motivated

In the same way that the new member journey is key to keeping members long term, so the staff on-boarding process is key to retaining staff. If you can get your staff to stick around, you’ll have better member retention too.

A good induction is critical to making new staff member feel a part of the organisation. Throwing them in at the deep end or picking it up as they go along rarely has a positive outcome, regardless of their previous level of experience.

Struggling to recruit? The difference a good job description makes.

This is a guest post by Alina Cooper from FitLinks, see below for more details.

Do you find yourself with a low volume of candidates? Or perhaps the quality just isn’t there?
These problems are unfortunately far too common and many employers are left baffled as to why they have been unsuccessful.

The answer is often quite simple and with a few small tweaks you can make a really big difference. In fact, one of our clients saw a 328% increase in applications in just 24 hours!

So, where to start?
When reviewing the performance of a job advert there are two key factors to consider:

1. The Job Description

With so much competition for top talent and so many companies recruiting for the same role it is essential that your job description stands out from the rest. Ask yourself, why should the candidate choose your company over the competition? What makes you different?

Want to improve member retention? Work on your staff retention with pathways... - Staff Retention Series

Member retention often focuses on the member experience, journey, and communications. But a significant contributing factor to the poor member retention in the fitness industry is poor staff retention.

By working on staff pathways, motivation and benefits, we see more engaged staff, which has a direct positive effect on the member experience. Put simply, if you improve your staff retention, you will also improve member retention.

At GGFit, we spend a lot of time defining the member journey with clubs, looking at key contact points and measures to maximise member engagement. We’ve recently been working with clients on staff pathways to help manage the process of recruiting and retaining good fitness instructors and other key staff.