Castlefield Stock Story - The Gym Group
In this Castlefield stock story, Eleanor Walley outlines our engagement with The Gym Group on the topic of gym safety, discussing the policies and procedures in place to foster a safe environment for gym users. We also discussed ways in which this approach could be strengthened further – for example, supporting the ‘Ask for Angela’ initiative and improving public reporting on the topic of harassment.
The Gym Group is a national provider of low cost, 24/7, no-contract gyms which is held in our sustainable fund range, both in the Sustainable UK Opportunities Fund and the Sustainable UK Smaller Companies Fund.
After its success in bars and clubs across the country, an ‘Ask for Angela’ trial has been launched across a number of fitness and leisure centres.
The initiative encourages those in an unsafe or vulnerable situation to discreetly ask staff for help by using the code word ‘Angela’. This follows a number of recent articles calling out gym harassment, and a rise in social media trends encouraging women to speak out about their experiences.
It is thought that the initiative could be rolled out nationally across the fitness industry later in the year. Against this background, we felt it was important to approach The Gym Group to understand better how it promotes a safe environment for gym users.
The company stressed that there are strong policies and procedures already in place to respond to, and prevent instances of harassment.
A key focus is training staff to identify the signs of harassment, and the company run face-to-face training to ensure they are well equipped to respond effectively and escalate where necessary.
Staff are also made aware of ‘lower level’ issues such as staring and taking photographs which can run the risk of evolving into larger problems. For example, the company operates a policy on photos and videos to ensure that other members are not photographed. While staff are encouraged to intervene if this rule is breached, policing this may well prove challenging particularly amid the popularity of fitness influencers on social media.
As a 24/7 gym, a member of staff is not always on site and we wanted to understand how gym users can report an incident and access support in off-peak hours. We asked the company whether there are any tech-based solutions in place to manage this, for example a built-in tool on the company’s app to report incidents effectively and provide support.
Currently, a customer service line is accessible on the website which customers can use to report an incident day or night and the company explained that improvements to its app are due this year, which will include the option to contact customer service directly through the app. Further, there are emergency buttons located throughout the gym which will alert a 24/7 team immediately.
While The Gym Group’s public reporting on topics such as Diversity & Inclusion and Health & Safety is strong, we believe that this could be strengthened by reporting on its approach to identifying, responding to and preventing harassment.
We asked the company whether there would be scope to improve reporting on this topic, for example (i) instances of harassment, (ii) the action that was taken, and (iii) the remedial action taken to prevent a reoccurrence.
The company already uses a Health & Safety portal to collate the number internally, and the type, of incidents which we suggested could form the basis of its external reporting. We acknowledged the company’s point that disclosing this information without context felt ‘risky’ given it is not common practice in the sector and therefore could be difficult to identify where best practice lies.
However, we reiterated the advantage of being on the front-foot and shaping the narrative – in fact greater transparency is likely to position the company as a leader on a topic which undeniably affects the gym experience for many women.
Written by Eleanor Walley