To be shocked my gym is paying trainers in central London 7.34 and charging people 50 an hour

[DyslexicScientist]

Just come across an ad www.gumtree.com/p/sports-health-club-jobs/nuffield-health-personal-trainer/1026573932 on Gumtree of all places. I assumed the trainers would be on at least double that as its supposedly a good gym.

www.gumtree.com/p/sports-health-club-jobs/nuffield-health-personal-trainer/1026573932

Its a buisness not a charity

Yanbu. I'm quite surprised too. I would hope that gym staff were qualified and well paid. Mind you, if they're not it explains some of the shit ones I see .

My friend's DP is a personal trainer and apparently it's a thing. You work for peanuts doing 'free' sessions for club members with the aim if converting them into personal clients.

Half my post disappeared

It's a business not a charity.

I think it's shit wages but gym membership is based on what people in that area will pay. Even if it cost you less/more chances are the staff wouldn't be paid more/less.

It happens everywhere.

I left a hair dressers many years ago because they put their prices up massively and we're still paying the hairdresser minimum wage.

This is why most PTs at self employed. They pay rent to the gym and keep the rest.

Most people applying for this job will only just be qualified and looking for experience. Which is why lots of employed PTs are not the best.

They are PT/fitness instructors and sales people.

However they do get paid for free sessions, because they are on a wage.

Where self employed PTs who offer a free starter session are doing it for free.

It is a charity actually but I suspect lots of charities pay minimum wage.

YANBU. It demonstrates perfectly how little respect most businesses (or charities) have for their staff and how exploitative they are. However, this thread illustrates that many people think this is perfectly fine... 'it's a business'... 'might lead to other work...'

This is why we have such appalling inequality in this country and why we have food banks etc.

Totally agree twofingerstoGideon!

I've experienced it on here, I have good working conditions but not great. I complained about something here and 90% of people were just "shut the fuck up you have it better than most people so should just be happy" rather than congratulating me for my good working conditions and supporting me to make them better.

dyslexic yep, that race to the bottom mentality prevalent on these boards 'Someine else has it even shiteier than you, how, dare you complain.'

Because another employer somewhere else treats their employees badly, doesn't make your employer any better.

It'd be interesting to apply that logic to say, parking. Fuck off how dare you complain about me parking my Micra half blocking your drive, coulda been an artic so up yours whiny bitch.

But employers are apparently immune from any criticism.

Those wages are pretty crap but nothing really surprises me anymore

People who give to charities generally don't like the charity to "waste" their money on things like paying their staff well tbh.

I think there's merit in the argument that it leads to better paid contacts. Perhaps the PT's see it as advertising: they get paid for doing a few sessions at a low rate, but double it when they get regulars and build their own business from their if you see what I mean?

But it says £7.34 plus enhanced payment for PT hours
So doesn't that mean that they get paid £7.34 as a 'retainer' rate while they are just knocking around the gym, and then for the hours they are training, they get paid extra?

So if they are working an 8 hour day but only have 4 PT clients, they at least still get paid for all those hours?

It is a fairer system than hairdressers, who get paid a flat rate regardless of whether they are earning the salon £100 or £20 an hour

At Pure Gym, where I go, the personal trainers aren't paid at all! In return for their time (which includes teaching classes as well as being generally on duty) they can use the gym for training their own clients, and obviously try to recruit other clients as well. Gyms can charge hefty rents to personal trainers for using their premises, and it seems like enough PTs think this is a fair deal that it works as a business model.

I looked into being a personal trainer a few years ago (which is how I found this out) but decided against in the end after consulting a few. Hard work, unsociable hours and whilst you can make a living you have to really be motivated to do it.

Surprised by this, I know tennis coaches that work for gym/fitness places and I know none of them do it for anywhere near minimum wage, I'm surprised a personal trainer isn't on a similar hourly rate.

I think they're paying them to be there as the people who answer questions, tidy the equipment that is left everywhere, and so forth. I don't know if some gyms take a cut from their PT fees or not.

I belong to Pure Gym. I think some of them are employed but most of them are self-employed and their "rent" is payed by being there to do the menial things. Thus, they are very happy to answer questions and show you how to do something. They can be a tiny bit overly keen, though, and when I chose a trainer a couple of others who had been chatty and helpful in the past seemed very slightly miffed. And I don't know WHAT I would do if I wanted to change to a different trainer altogether!

Don't most businesses work like this? My company charge close to £200 an hour for my work but I'm on under 30k a year. I don't think salaries are usually a proportion of profit.

Same here. One of my clients charges over £200 an hour for my work and pays me £20 BUT they pay rent, council tax, insurance, cleaning staff, elecricity, advertising, accountants etc. They pay that on days when there is no work too. People have no idea sometimes.

This explains why all the PT's at my gym are so shit.

At my gym ( a large and well known chain) they have personal trainers who supervise the gym etc for 8 hours a week for free. In exchange they can do personal training in the gym and advertise themselves doing as many hours as they like for approx £30/ hour upwards. Apparently this is regarded as a very good deal and seems perfectly fair to me.

Most PTs wouldn't have the resources to work without the expensive gym settings they require.

My dh and I both see PTs. His works in the gym. Mine doesn't have enough time to do the free hours so works elsewhere. Free market.