The colleague newsletter Issue 3
PLAYING OUR PART
INTRODUCTION Welcome to the Winter 2023 edition of the colleague e-magazine. In this issue, we’re proud to showcase the brilliant work taking place across our business, from colleague promotions to new operational changes helping to make our jobs easier.
WE HOPE YOU ENJOY!
CELEBRATING OUR COLLEAGUES! At Everyone Active, we’re proud to support our colleagues. From offering apprenticeships throughout the year to providing necessary training needed to help with career progression - we’re as passionate about our people as we are about encouraging everyone to take part in activity.
Click here to check out our Colleague Survey Review 2023-24 and find out about the work we’re doing to improve our workplace.
One of our key goals as a company is to celebrate colleagues’ success as they reach their career aspirations, such as the promotions for twins Rainer Meek and Elizabeth Spencer, who each became general managers at their respective centres. Below they give us an insight into their journey with Everyone Active so far and how they have come to achieve career success. General manager at Raich Carter Sports Centre, Rainer, said: “I first worked as a sales manager, using my experience as a gymnastics coach to train, coach, and develop membership consultants. I then relocated to Hetton and Houghton, and went on maternity leave before moving back to Raich in December 2019 as operations manager. “After my return, I attended a course which outlined the Emerging General Managers Programme (EGMP) and during my personal development plan, I discussed progressing to be a general manager. From there, I attended courses that were really helpful including insight training - they made me look at how I like to be managed, how I manage people, and areas I needed to improve, although coming from a sales background really helped me with the commercial aspect of being a GM. “I love the variety my role offers, and I really enjoy being able to develop colleagues and see them progress to the next stage of their career.” Elizabeth added: “I’ve been a general manager at Eston Leisure Centre for the last four and a half weeks, and I’m loving it! Before this role I was a sales and FOH manager in Sunderland and worked at Hetton Community Pool, Houghton Sports Centre, and Sunderland Aquatic Centre over the past eight years.
“I had a year off work for maternity leave, returning to my role as sales and FOH manager in April 2022. As I’d been in my role for seven years at this point, I really wanted to progress my career with Everyone Active and so I applied for the 2022-2023 EGMP, completing this in September 2023. The course really helped as it gave me insight into all areas of becoming a general manager plus a twoweek general manager work placement. When the GM role came up at Eston Leisure Centre, I jumped at the chance to apply! “I’ve worked in leisure for years in a variety of centres across Sunderland – and every role has helped me develop fundamental skills for teamwork, delivering great customer service plus a deeper understanding of how a leisure centre operates. “I love working as part of a team, driving revenue, and providing a great service for our members.”
SUPPORTING YOUR ROLE – WELLNESS MEMBERSHIPS Since launching the UK’s first Activity and Wellbeing suite this summer alongside our partnership with Good Boost, we’ve been busy brainstorming even more ways we can improve the health and wellbeing of our local communities. Enter Everyone Wellness and Everyone Active Platinum Wellness +, our new membership concepts available to existing and prospective members which enables you, as an Everyone Active colleague, to provide access to all the tools needed for members to improve their mental and physical wellbeing. In addition to granting access to the stateof-the-art gyms, swimming pools and group exercise classes at our centres, Everyone Wellness members will also benefit from
Health Hero, our health care partner which offers either a GP telephone or video appointment within 24-hours of initial contact. Wellness members also have access to Everyone On Demand, 14-day priority booking, monthly guest passes, personal training and discounts from over 120 handpicked brands through our member perks scheme, encouraging them to continue their wellness journey outside of visiting our centres. Wellness + members also have access to spas, FORTIS and hot Yoga studios nationwide. To learn more about our new memberships and how you can implement them to help your members achieve their health and wellbeing goals, visit: https://vimeo. com/883607568/3d30e5d076?share=copy
ALSO NOW AVAILABLE FOR ALL COLLEAGUES VIA THE COLLEAGUE APP
AGE IS JUST A NUMBER CAMPAIGN Age is Just a Number was back for a third year in October and November, as we encouraged people of all ages to get active or try out a new activity this year. Not only did this help increase their fitness levels throughout the campaign and beyond, but our efforts are likely to have a long-term positive impact on their mental health. We want to thank all the sites that got involved and helped engage the older generation. We were able to share some fantastic stories of our customers and introduce many new people to our facilities. Over the two-month period of the campaign we promoted senior sessions through in-centre posters, weekly comms, social media content and internal colleague communication. We saw a positive increase across both senior activities and senior swimming.
123% 135% MORE
INCREASE IN SENIOR ACTIVITIES INCREASE IN SENIOR SWIMMING THAN 30,000 SENIOR PEOPLE GETTING ACTIVE!
THE SPORTING CHAMPIONS AWARDS Thank you to everyone who joined us for the Sporting Champions Mentoring day on Tuesday 7th November at Porchester Hall. We had an incredible 200 guests join us for the day including young up and coming athletes, Everyone Active colleagues, sponsors and clients. We were thrilled to host our first Sporting Champions mentoring day of the year followed by our first Awards event since 2019, with Great Britain’s double world 110m hurdles champion and former world record holder Colin Jackson hosting the day. We started the day off with mentoring sessions hosted by Olympic and Paralympic stars including Lutalo Muhammad, Richard Kilty, Maisie Summers-Newton, Kadeena Cox and Lauren Steadman, who shared their insights and experiences with the Sporting Champions. These sessions covered topics such as social media and media training, race day preparation and mental wellbeing and psychology in sport. We then celebrated the incredible achievements of our athletes with our Sporting Champions awards. In addition, we had the chance to celebrate the Everyone Active Team of the Year – a special award for the Everyone Active facility which has helped our Sporting Champions the most throughout the year, and has ensured that individuals could utilise their fantastic training facilities. Congratulations to the winners - Westway Sports and Fitness Centre!
HEALTH AND WELLBEING AWARDS 2023
HEALTH & WELLBEING
HEALTH & WELLBEING
SPORT & ACTIVITY
ACTIVITY & WELLBEING AWARD
KIM PERRY Flitwick
ROSIE MORGAN Barking & Dagenham
VICKY AYRIS-KING Basildon / Brentwood
STEPH COLVERSON Pingles
EAST REGION
AQUATICS
CONNOR COCKBURN Washington
ACTIVITY & WELLBEING AWARD PAULINE COFINAS Middlesbrough & Redcar
SOUTH EAST REGION
AQUATICS
NINA CARTER Basildon SV
ACTIVITY & WELLBEING AWARD CRAIG HUGHES Brent & Harrow
WEST REGION
AQUATICS
SARAH RICHARDSON Chilterns Lifestyle
ACTIVITY & WELLBEING AWARD EMILY KNIGHT & TEAM Slough
EVERYONE
NEEDS YOUR SUPPORT We’re recruiting for volunteers to become Diversity & Inclusion Champions across the organisation. This role will actively promote, celebrate and raise awareness of Equality, Diversity & Inclusion to support colleagues and our customers so that we become everyone’s first choice for activity and are representative of the communities we serve. Champions will meet monthly via Teams to discuss ideas, develop an action plan of activities and feedback to the Inclusive Advisory Group to inform our work. If you’re interested to find out more or volunteer for this role please contact Jules Twells, National Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager. The first Diversity & Inclusion Champions meeting will take place in January.
WELCOMING NEW
PARTNERSHIPS AND FACILITIES The £1.1million refurbishment of four fitness suites at Middlesbrough Sports Village, Neptune Centre, Rainbow Leisure Centre and Eston Leisure Centre was completed in November. As part of this, the existing fitness suite at Guisborough Swim and Fitness Centre benefitted from a raft of updated equipment.
In September we took over delivery of park tennis across Sunderland, following a £403,000 investment in 17 courts across seven of the city’s parks. £332,000 of this funding came from the UK Government and LTA Tennis Foundation, with the remaining £71,000 coming from Sunderland City Council.
We’re delighted to be operator of the Jamie Brough Pavilion and football pitches at Papplewick Green in Hucknall on November 1. Work is already underway to convert two of the changing rooms into a studio space to run activities and classes.
Successful launch of 6.3 million pound swimming pool at Eversley Leisure Centre The newly completed extension introduces a 25-metre, 4-lane swimming pool designed to cater to the diverse aquatic needs of the community. The new facilities are fully wheelchair accessible, with level access between the changing rooms and the pool, ensuring that all members of our community can enjoy the amenities without barriers
If you have any questions about this newsletter or would like to offer any ideas about how we can improve it, please email: newsletter@everyoneactive.com