Its one thing employing great staff but it’s another keeping them around. Having great staff supports your business success and underpins all the hard you have put in yourself.
How to identify a great PT or Instructor: All great customer-facing employees have one skill in common – they can build a long-lasting relationship with your member or student. This is vital to keeping members motivated and loyal to your business. Along with this, your PT’s or Instructors should be able to set realistic and specific goals and put in the work with your members to reach them. Possibly the most important trait all your staff should have is that they love what they’re doing! This energy is catching and it’s the energy and passion your members and students need to see.
When you find someone with all of these qualities in a staff member the last thing you want to do is lose them to a competitor! That’s why we’ve put together some top tips on keeping great staff around, even on a budget!
Do your research
No matter how much we love our job we all need to be paid at the end of the month and this can be the deciding factor between one job and another. Research what other companies are offering in the area, you don’t necessarily need to pay the most (you can offer other benefits) but you will need to be somewhere in the right region for people to interested in the position.
Offer Benefits
If your budget can’t stretch to match up with the salary your competitors are offering, consider offering benefits money can’t buy. Think about what your business can offer a good staff member, whether it’s a few free memberships so their friends can join or a bigger holiday allowance, it could just be enough to keep your staff invested.
Training
All good PT’s and Instructors will want to progress, not only in their fitness or belt grading but in their career. Offering regular, useful training and courses is a great perk to any job but particularly to people who are used to taking on a challenge. Not only will this benefit them with job satisfaction but it’ll also benefit your business to have highly skilled staff.
Trust them
One of the best things about having employees that are good at their job is that you can trust them to be responsible and do the best for your business. Taking a step back and letting them take control of their class or their own timetable for example, gives you time to concentrate on other aspects of the business and gives them ownership and responsibility for their work. This will give your employees much more job satisfaction and push them to be the best they can be. Remember to still be available to provide support where needed.
Listen
Being a valued member of the team means being listened to. Take on board what your staff have to say and the feedback they provide, whether it’s where to next invest your budget or things your members or students think could be improved. Sometimes it’s easy to see this as a criticism of your business and your work, but remember that they’ll have your best interests at heart and providing feedback in itself is a sign they care. Maybe build on this by creating a regular staff meeting where everyone is free to bring up issues and ideas or if you’re short on time, put out a comments box to review as and when you have time.
Team Spirit
Creating a sense of team spirit with your work members is essential to keeping good staff loyal to your business. There are so many different ways to achieve this such as encouraging communication and friendships, encouraging activities outside of work, team building days and celebrating achievements. Create an open, friendly working atmosphere means people are happy coming to work and this is priceless!