People Business Partner- Gym Operations (South) in London

The PureGym Way

PureGym is the No.1 gym operator in the UK, and the 4th largest gym operator worldwide. With 700+ gyms and over 2 million members across the UK, Europe & the US, we are the gym where Everybody is Welcome. We champion diversity and are committed to providing a workplace where everyone feels free to be. We’re proud to be recognised as a Top Institute Employer, reflecting our commitment to excellence in employee experience and workplace culture. See our careers page for full benefits.

We offer:

• Free nationwide gym membership for you + 1
• A truly flexible working culture
• Life insurance x4
• Company pension contribution
• 25 days annual leave, plus 1 personal day
• Option to purchase additional holiday (up to 5 days)
• Great learning & development resources
• Enhanced maternity pay, paternity and adoption leave

The Role

Location: Remote Monday and Friday, with 2-3 days on the road out in the South division or at our offices (London/Leeds) for meetings

Type: Full Time

Contract type: Permanent

The People Business Partner supports Gym Operations by partnering the Divisional Director and Regional Managers to deliver high performance across the division. This role works closely with operational leaders to drive talent, engagement, retention, workforce planning, and people capability while identifying risks and enabling continuous improvement.

Your Key Responsibilities:

1. Effective & Consistent Stakeholder Partnering
   • Build strong relationships with Divisional Directors (DD’s), Regional Managers (RM’s) and key stakeholders through monthly field days and regular gym visits.
   • Develop a deep understanding of regional challenges and opportunities, creating targeted action plans with DD’s and RM’s.
   • Use the “Visit With a Purpose” framework to support delivery and accountability of agreed actions.
   • Attend monthly Divisional Meetings to present updates on people action plans, underpinned by data and insights.
   • Provide a commercial perspective and act as a constructive, critical partner to support stakeholders in delivering key business initiatives.
2. Workforce Planning & Talent Management
   • Build a strong talent pipeline using our internal progression programme, enabling an “internal first” approach to filling vacancies.
   • Ensure every new gym opening has the right management team in place through proactive talent planning and succession management.
   • Lead all management recruitment across the division, ensuring consistent, fair processes and effective management of the Divisional People Chessboard.
3. Improve Retention of Personal Trainer/Fitness Coaches
   • Drive targeted retention solutions for high risk or historically challenging gyms, working with RM’s and the Gym Recruitment team to diagnose root causes and provide tailored support.
   • Review monthly turnover data and communicate insights to Regions and Districts to increase visibility and ownership.
   • Use available retention tools (exit interviews, retention data, progression data, engagement surveys) to identify trends and recommend improvements.
   • Increase the division’s 12 week rolling retention by 2% per third.
   • Partner with RM’s to co-create the Divisional Action Plan following our engagement survey and ensure ongoing delivery throughout the year.
   • Alongside the Divisional Director, lead and organise the divisional Employee Voice Forum to share progress, actions, and changes resulting from feedback, promoting transparency and trust.
   • Increase engagement survey participation rates and lead follow up actions to address results and feedback themes.
   • Promote the use of role specific mental and physical wellbeing tools across the division.
4. Reduce Employee Relations (ER) Risk
   • Collaborate with the Divisional ER Specialist to understand all ER activity and identify trends impacting case volumes, highlighting risks and putting place proactive measures.
   • Deliver Anti-Bullying & Harassment training for all Gym Operations roles as part of the mandatory learning cycle.
   • Improve manager capability in ER by developing and delivering Core Line Manager training, in partnership with the Learning Team.

The Person:

• High energy and will thrive on moving at pace and going the extra mile.
• Strong sense of ownership and accountability.
• Ability to build great relationships with a remote stakeholder group by listening and understanding.
• Substantial experience of handling complex employee relations cases with great instincts for making the right decision in a time pressured situation.
• Strong communication and influencing skills, and an ability to adapt both style and approach.
• Ability to inspire, motivate and coach managers to be better people managers.
• Comfortable operating in a high support, high challenge culture.
• Strong technical generalist partnered with a natural ability to think commercially and see the bigger picture.
• Creative in their problem-solving style.

PureGym is proud to be an equal opportunities employer. Our company mantra is ‘Everybody Welcome’ and we are dedicated to promoting a diverse and inclusive place to work. From a hiring standpoint, we welcome applicants from all backgrounds and are committed to ensuring that our PureGym colleagues reflect the diversity of the nation as well as our millions of gym members we serve.

Please note: Applications will be reviewed on a rolling basis, and the advert may be withdrawn at any time. Early application is encouraged.