CD - Australian Fitness Network

SPECIAL FEATURE
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR
THE QUALITY OF YOUR STAFF?
�The 2010 Australian Fitness
Industry Survey produced
by Ezypay provides club
owners and managers of Australian
fi tness clubs with insights into club
operations, staffi ng, sales, marketing
and fi nance along with the thoughts,
feelings and perceptions of the
members of their clubs.
In this series of articles, a panel of
leading industry professionals discuss
some of the major outcomes from this
year’s survey results.
The survey outcomes showed
that over 48 per cent of club owners/
managers found fi nding quality staff to
be an issue of concern.
WHO IS RESPONSIBLE FOR THE
QUALITY OF YOUR STAFF?
I personally believe the quality
GG of staff is the responsibility
of club owners and managers. I think
the RTOs have a responsibility to
produce the best candidate possible,
but as I see it I’m looking to hire on
four principles – attitude, character,
personality and emotional intelligence.
They are the four things I can’t change.
I can help refi ne their skills as a PT
and a membership consultant, but it’s
the hiring cycle where the problem
lies; a lot of people are hiring out of
desperation – it’s driven by the ‘burn
and churn’ mentality.
When working for the YMCA NZ
SH we operated a more consistent
approach to membership sales over
the year. This resulted in a number of
membership consultants developing
their skills and experience and not
burning out. This eventually saw them
working their way into other positions
and two are now club managers.
At the Institute we engage with
GB ‘career partners’ – a selection of
The 2010 AFIS expert panel included;
Grant Gamble (GG) Owner – Bodywise
Justin Wilshaw (JW) CEO – Contours
Gayle Brimble (GB) Training Team Captain – Australian Institute Fitness
Megan Craw (MC) Business Manager – Christchurch City Council, NZ
Jamie Hayes (JH) Managing Director – Healthy Inspirations
Edel Kilmartin (EK) Director of Operations – Curves
Justin Tamsett (JT) Managing Director – Active Management
Simon Hall (SH) CEO - Marketing Manager – Ezypay
Celeste Kirby-Brown (CKB) Sales & Marketing Director – Ezypay
clubs. One of the expectations they have
is that someone is going to come fresh
from a course and be a great PT. The
reality is, as an RTO there is only so much
we can do; someone can miss sessions or
arrive late, but if they sit that fi nal exam
and are competent at a base level we
have to issue a certifi cate. The industry
needs to have an approach of hiring on
not only qualifi cations, but attitude and
personality as well.
We advise our franchisees
EK to employ based on pride,
passion and personality and to then
empower them through training. We
have our own quality training within
the Curves University which all our staff
are required to attend. They must attain
this level before they are placed in front
of a member.
We are taking our staff down
JW a more traditional approach,
but all our staff members are required
to have a Certifi cate III in Fitness. We
counsel our franchisees and tell them
that while it is tough to fi nd quality staff ,
it is worth going through the pain to fi nd
people with all the correct attributes.
Then it’s totally the club’s responsibility
to motivate, to develop, to train them
and to keep hold of those quality staff .
At Healthy Inspirations our
JH focus is weight loss, and the
Certifi cate III just doesn’t cover it. We
have our own training, which at the
moment doesn’t require them to have
a Cert III or Cert IV. I think globally the
challenge of fi nding good staff can be
looked at in reverse with staff fi nding a
good manager.
The majority of owners don’t
JT have any human resources
background – and clubs need that
now more than ever. So, what can we
do to improve? We need the structure,
education and management tools to
manage people and manage HR.
I think one of the big
GG problems is the PT side
of things; the employed versus the
contracted system. I’ve changed
from contract trainers to employed
trainers so I have more control. I can
mandate that they attend training and
follow protocol. I think the number of
contracted trainers does cause a whole
lot of problems and is a big pressure
point in clubs.
That’s why you fi nd a lot
GB of long term ‘employees’
changing careers and training to
become personal trainers. They
54 NETWORK WINTER 2010 www.fitnessnetwork.com.au
| | www.fi tnesssurvey.com.au | | 2010 2010 AFIS AFIS Expert Expert Discussion Series Series – Quality – Quality