The year ahead for organisations operating fitness, health and wellbeing services

As another busy year for the sector gets underway, Clare Dunn, Associate Director of Business Engagement at CIMSPA looks at some of the key areas of focus for organisations operating fitness, health and wellbeing services.

“As with the start of every year, operators of fitness and physical activity businesses will be experiencing a busy time. The demand for services to help people get fitter and healthier and fulfil those New Year’s Resolutions, will see gyms and leisure facilities busy and PTs, Coaches and Group Exercise Instructors getting increased enquiries about their services.

Those running businesses across the sector will obviously welcome the increased demand for their services, but they’ll be mindful of some key challenges. They’ll be focused on how they deliver on an increased demand given the staff recruitment and retention challenges that continue to impact the sector. And they’ll have one eye on the months ahead. They’ll be looking at how they sustain engagement with new customers and clients, as we all know that sometimes those resolutions made at the start of the year may start to wane.

Workforce development

Key to addressing these challenges is workforce development. We know from our extensive work with businesses around the country that their employees play a huge role in keeping customers motivated on their fitness and wellbeing journey, ensuring that they stay engaged with the business. This has been particularly important during the cost-of-living crisis when people may feel compelled to reduce their household spend.

What we’ve seen is where businesses, through their excellent staff, develop relationships with customers where they understand that their health and physical and mental wellbeing isn’t a luxury, the customer retention rates as the year progresses, are stronger. Where staff are using techniques and skills that they’ve developed through regular professional development to help customers progress towards their goals, or they’re using the latest motivation approaches that they’ve learnt, customers recognise the value of their investment in their gym membership, classes or sessions and are likely to continue their attendance.

We’ve also seen positive ongoing engagement where businesses are offering specialised provision to support customers and clients who may face additional barriers or challenges to participating in exercise or activity.

For example, there are gym’s that have, with CIMSPA’s support, trained members of their team to develop and run programmes to support women. We’ve all seen the research that shows why women are put off being physically active. The gyms that are offering dedicated provision with professionals on staff that develop programmes to address those barriers and can tailor provision to the female body, considering different life stages, such as the menopause, are seeing a positive impact on attracting and retaining female clients. Similarly, organisations that are investing in the development of their staffs’ skills and expertise to support clients with long-term health conditions are finding that investment is hugely beneficial in keeping those clients engaged and active in the longer term.

In any service industry, people are the most important asset. In our sector that’s amplified. We know from our work with hundreds of businesses through the UK over the last 12 months, and our Workforce Insight Report, that there continues to be challenges in recruiting and retaining staff across a range of roles. However, our employer partners tell us that their relationship with CIMSPA is having a big positive impact on this.

By employing CIMSPA members, businesses have the confidence that their staff are competent professionals that will represent their organisation well. CIMSPA members make a continued commitment to their professional development, so our partners know that their staff are continuing to develop their professional practice whether that be as a practitioner or a manager. Because CIMSPA members benefit from CPD opportunities, training and personal development support, they are members of staff that are well supported in their role and future development and are likely to be driven to continue their career in the sector.

CIMSPA Partners

This all helps business that are in partnership because they can demonstrate to customers that their staff meet industry professional standards and are recognised as professional practitioners and managers, enabling customers to feel more assured when they engage with the business.

Through their partnership with us, businesses are receiving a range of support and advice to enable them to develop their workforce, and ultimately their business. We are helping organisations to access the best quality, specialist training and development which is not only enabling them to enhance the services that they offer to customers, but also demonstrating a strong commitment to their staff which has positively impacted their employee retention. Our partners tell us that because they know that all the training that we suggest or recommend is quality assured, it takes away a huge overhead for them in researching and sourcing provision from the plethora that is on offer. The quality assured nature of what we suggest, also reduces their risk, and ensures that their investment has the desired impact on their business.

Recruitment

We also support our partners with recruitment through our jobs service which puts their vacancies in front of the sector’s leading professionals, and we help them to identify and create a plan to address current and future skills shortages within their business.

Sector development

Our partners also play a vital role in the ongoing development of the sector through input into our local and national policy influence and development, our ongoing work on the continued evolution of professional recognition within the sector, and the sectors alignment with allied industries such as healthcare.

Challenges

It’s likely that 2024 will present big opportunities and challenges for businesses across the sector. The continuation of a very challenging economy that impacts operating costs and pushes consumers to tighten their purse strings, plus political uncertainty in a General Election year, potentially delaying decision making on investment, both present significant unease. However, the benefits to both physical and mental health and wellbeing of being physically active continues to build slowly but surely in the public consciousness. In an Olympic and Paralympic year, as people look beyond the elite activity that they see on their TV screen or in a stadium, the opportunities for businesses to offer accessible, realistic and innovative ways for people from all background to get more active will only grow.

And at CIMSPA we’ll continue to work with our partners to help them maximise those opportunities for their business through a qualified, competent, excellent workforce.”

For more information on opportunities to partner with CIMSPA please see below.

See all CIMSPA partnership types

Clare Dunn is Associate Director of Business Engagement at CIMSPA. Clare works with businesses of all sizes across the sector to support their workforce development. Clare is responsible for CIMSPA’s local skills delivery team who are bringing together employers, education providers and employability-focused organisations to effectively and efficiently ensure that the right training is delivered in the right places at the right time. Clare has over 15 years’ experience working across the sport and physical activity sector including in leisure operations management.