Run away FAST!!!!!

by Name withheld for legal reasons
(Seattle, Wa.)

24 Hour Fitness is absolutely the worst company I have ever worked for. I was a personal trainer there in 2005 for several months. I watched trainers all around me at the location where I worked leave on a regular basis in disgust. Not all of them left for better positions. Some described to me that they "hung on as long as possible". Most told me they left not for a better position but that they were tired of the stress and pressure that the management puts on trainers to sell training and to withold fitness advice from clients (so they will buy more training later).

I also left to be a trainer at another company after several months. I simply couldn't take the unprofessionalism of my district and club fitness managers any longer. Months later I returned to 24 Hour Fitness to be a sales counselor and later became an assistant sales manager for 2 years. I had a mortgage to pay and bills to pay and couldn't afford to leave. But I hated almost every day at that position. The stress and pressure was unbearable. But, worse than that, the sheer corruption and incompetance of club upper and district management was beyond belief. One would have to work there to appreciate it. I have never worked at a company that treated employees with such contempt. It was disturbing. I was constantly trying to protect my subordinates from being abused and discarded by corrupt and and dangerously indifferent management staff. The company encourages managers to "write up" employees as much as possible. It results in employees who are excited about entering the fitness industry and changing peoples' lives leaving in frustration and taking their new certifications and experience elsewhere. I met and worked with some very talented people who were even more disgusted by what they saw there than I was and who left within days or weeks of being hired. Our division vice president (who was one of the most evil and corrupt people I have ever met) asked us during a manager meeting once how we could lower our division's 245% employee turnover. Shortly after he then said we needed to put the screws on our employees and "hold them accountable" and put more pressure on them to produce. He wanted us to put them under sweat shop conditions and anyone who complained was to be disciplined further. It was awful.

I currently have a charge pending with the US EEOC for age discrimination against 24 Hour Fitness. I would highly advise anyone who is considering working for this company to stay away and not waste your resources. 24 Hour Fitness trainers are some of the worst I have ever seen and they have a bad reputation in the fitness industry. You could be hurting your career and lose your enthusiasm for the fitness industry if you spend time working for these thieves.

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i know now your suffering
by: ali

lets get to the whole truth about this parasitic bloodsuckn company. first it is rotton to the core!second people are worked like pigs and dogs at this company . they are exploited to the fullest extent. iam an amercian citizen for the last 12 years, and i have never ever even heard or imagined such a poposterous treatement in a company that has 500 clubs and growing? iam a top graduate from oxford uk. iam also a indian heratigefrom new deli. and to let you know iam not in the slighest niave or ignorant to this.in my country we have our challenges, yes. but if employees get treated we have rights and unions to protect us. this would never happen ever in my country! ever! my experience in working with multipal trainers in 2.5 years i have seen , heard , and experienced this treatment . and they all have the same stories to tell. my observation of this was thet are emotionaly very burned out, they have lost a taste and zest for life, they secretly live with parents, can hardly afford basic living conditions, they are manipulated and cajouled to push sales, yet their certs say it is not honorable to practice that motive as a trainer. their cert are very inconsistant and contrdictive in their knowledge and practice as well.they have revealed to me of conditional medical plans , no benifits, the standard 40 hour work week is a challenge as well to attain. struggleing to obtain , or maintain 5 hour a day is pitiful! and it being revealed to me that unpaid and client not showing is unpaid and not supported, as well as having to work hours unpaid . another i observed was most of trainers do not even meet the ideal fitness, leader body prototype standard . i have noticed thes trainers are fat, illprortioned, very young and nieve as well.also i observed how the promotition functions as well. this master trainer how i was believing this trainer has extensive time and many years in the field to obtain this posotition.it was revealed to me this person has had so little experience , and how they take a course online to obtain this such posotion. how obsurd! how minipilative to a client and to the trainer! thats total dishonesty to the fullest extent! now in ymcountry we have a term , it is called guru. that means a master , a leader , a sage, . it does not matter what it is applied to in a profession. it takes 12 to 25 years to obtain the title of a guru. a guru is respected wheather of money , status, . noone reads a book, takes a couse in two days or a month, and is a guru , master. whats wrong with this 24hr company? how can they be so misleding and dishonest to the employees? i have found endless lawsuits agains this company, endless complaints . and amazingly they all are exceptionaly consistant and agree on everything! iam shocked to say the least!

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YUP!
by: Anonymous

I just got a job there and feel like Male trainers are valued more than Female trainers. I was hired at the same time as a Male trainer and he is pulling in about 20 appts already and I have about 5. He has the same cert as I aquired around the same time and I got a higher score than him by almost 100 points. I was told to introduce myself to the sales team and build a relationship but when I tried to, I was told I was being a distraction. I was given no time to try to get clients but my co-worker had a week. I have been excited for a long time to become a PT and knew that working for 24 was going to suck but I figured I would be paying my dues and gaining experience but I have to say, working for 24 is sucking my enthusiasm for being a trainer and helping people and I fully understand why there are ill feelings towards 24 trainers, we simply are drained from the bull that goes on behind the scenes. 12$ an hour when the company is getting $60 is ridiculous all be it it's corporate but geez! It has only been a month and Im not expecting to be able to hit my sales goal by that 3rd and final probation period month so I cannot wait to find something better. Even if it means not being a trainer.

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24 Hour Work Contract
by: Anonymous

We are having issues with the work contract ...they wont give us a copy of our personal training contract. Anyone have a copy?
They let a trainer go and 15 people who trianed with him said they loved his work and want him back. He was training and doinng group x classes and then taught GROUP classes at another place. Same as all other trainers do, do to the fact that there are SO many here you do not get enough hours in. So now due to Jealously the young 25 year old office mang. let that trainer go which is the worst business decissoin I have ever heard. You see complaints every day about 24 hour trainers and now they have an asset but are letting him go and refusing him to see his personal training contract to know what he was doing was in violatoin or not.
fullofmoney8@yahoo.com
Please email me here if you have a copy of a contract. Thanks.

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Rascism practiced by employess!
by: Fitness member

As a fitness member, I was called a Racist name which I choose not to publish not furthering the insult to my Black ancestry, by a Hispanic member. When I reported it to the front desk and management(also Hispanic) nothing was done about it!
This same member, brought a friend into the locker room and started cursing me out to her friend in Spanish and English continuing the verbal assault. I reported it to the
the front desk, manned by a single female also Hispanic, who management left alone in charge of the WHOLE gym! It was between the hours of and 9am in the morning- the BUSIEST hours of a fitness center!
Anything could have happened to me, had something took place a physical altercation lets say, by the time Police would have arrived the damage would already have been done!
It is a scandal that they charge so much money to the members yet can't ensure their safety from other members who are threatening and violent.
That experience alone let me know to NEVER apply for a position, ANY position with 24 HR Fitness Centers. If you refuse to protect your members God only knows what your employees go through.

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interesting feedback
by: Anonymous

I was trying to decide whether or not I should work for this company, but it sounds like it's not a good company. I think the whole supplement thing is lame. I'm against trying to push products on clients. I've heard that if you don't meet your sales/supplement quota, you get fired?? Is that really true? If so, what a bunch of BS!

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True
by: Anonymous

Yes if you dont sell a minimum of 100$ in supps after your first 3 months probation period you will be fired. I am currently an employee but am leaving this month to start my own training. 24 hour makes me not want to be a trainer. All the extra crap you have to go through is ridiculous although i did gain a lot of experience and confidence as a trainer since i was brand new to the game. As bad as it is my advice is to do it for a couple months just to learn a few things but dont get stuck there.

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It's true
by: Anonymous

Yes, you will be written up if you aren't showing projections over a high "minimum" on the PPR. After being given a DAR (written warning) twice, you will be terminated and won't be able to recieve unemployment insurance. Before this happens, however, you will be forced to sign and form stating that you will be terminated if you don't meet these goals. If you don't sign the form you will be fired.

Run away FAST!!!!!

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