GIG WORKER MODEL
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PureGyms ’employees’ have two statuses.. They are simultaneously an Employee of PureGym and get paid a monthly salary , and they are also a Self Employed Trainer that can access and train PureGyms client base at whatever rate they choose too. Once their client base grows they can become a full-time Self Employed Personal Trainer.
None of this is relayed back to the Customer.
Notice that none of the requirements stipulate ‘DBS’ checks.
How can PureGyms Safe Policy truly be implemented??
They have already confirmed that
the PTs interact directly with members (not through us)
And that PTs are ……
Self Employed
In my circumstance (and those found across Social Media) this would explain in full why PureGym did not conduct a full investigation, and why no action was taken against the male member of staff, despite their own protocol.
This was all highlighted in the documentation that I provided to them during the process of disclosure.
It is clear that they cannot discipline or fire their staff as their staff are SELF EMPLOYED. Their job advertisements even states that as their client base grows they can reduce their employed hours and become a full-time self employed Personal Trainer. This means absolutely no affiliation with Pure Gym except wearing the Uniform. If this isn’t a description of a ‘Gig worker’ I don’t know what is.
PureGyms concerns of their ‘EMPLOYEE’s employment rights and ability to take them to court overrides their obligation to their ‘Members‘. Especially it seems a female ‘Member’ (note they do not use the word Customer or client) , who they have no direct point of contact with.
A ‘member‘ is in fact their SECONDARY source of income. An ‘employee‘ is their FIRST.
This is more than evident once perusing their website. On further investigation their ‘Personal Training Academy‘ whereby someone can enrol for a fixed fee, study at home and is guaranteed a paid position in their Gyms.
I dread to imagine how much worse the outcome would be for someone who found themselves in the same predicament or worse than my own but they had actually entered into hiring the services of a PT under the misguidance that the contract was between them and a PureGym Employee. Not a Freelancer who may not even be DBS checked and can have one on one sessions outside of the Gym.
Once the potential issues of any form of Safety, insurance and PureGym acting as though they are not accountable for the actions of their Self Employed Employee, the scale to which this could go wrong is in fact terrifying.
This is precisely why these CONCERNS need to be highlighted and treated sensitively and SERIOUSLY.
The Business Model above indirectly renders a PureGym ‘member’ as nothing more than a mere transaction.
PureGym have even cited that there is ‘no point of contact with a ‘Member‘. Therefor how can there be any true Customer relations or Customer Welfare.
The word Customer is not even used in PureGyms terminology, PureGym distances themselves even more from the Customer by continually referring and labelling Customers as Members.
If all PureGym wish to do is supply a paying Customer with the use of Gym Equipment and a building to exercise in, then technically this model might be adequate and less ambiguous………….
…………………BUT THEY ARE NOT
PureGym supply and offer classes that ‘Members’ can enrol on depending on the package they have subscribed too.
PureGym also encourage Self Employed employees to poach for business and their ‘members’ regardless of what package the Member has signed up for.
Therefore they are supplying additional facilities which they cannot distance themselves from. …..