Alright, let me give you a very detailed breakdown about LA Fitness and the different management positions since I worked as both an OM & GM (sales manager). I initially took this job to get into management and really just use it as a stepping stone. I first got hired on at the Burien location as an Operations Manager back around 2013, and things were SO much different then in terms of the company and upper management.
My experience started out great because I got hired to run a brand new club just opening up, so there was a ton of excitement, fun, and good vibes all around. It also helped I had an amazing DOM (District OM) who truly did care about me, the other OMs, and our well being. The base pay is horrendous, but 10 years ago (things are much different now and will never be the same) I made good money ONLY because of the amazing staff I had and the TON of extra work I put in with what they referred to as "EFTs or clear-ups". That's basically where someone's monthly membership fee's were declined because of getting a new credit card, not enough money on it, or any other reason. If I personally called the member and got them to update their card or pay their dues (I would average at least 5+ a day the first couple years at the Burien location) I would get $10 each one, but that commission would gets taken away if the next month it declined again. If my staff did it then I would get $5 and they get $5 so there was definitely motivation for them to do it as well (my unde
Full review on what to expect when working for LA Fitness
Firstly I will state that working for LA Fitness was a great experience in terms of building skills towards the promotion of understanding how businesses are run. Management skills and experience is what you should strive to gain. I will state that this company could be better. Yet, they choose not to be. Which is very unfortunate.
Lets list off what you should look out for within this position or if you are a low tiered Personal Training Counselor pay right attention.
I myself started late Dec. Last year. Within 3 months I was promoted to Head Manager. Within those 3 months I noticed that the pay was decent, but for lack of a better word there is no difference in terms of responsibilities when it comes to being promoted.
Your base pay will always be the same. 13.50 (California)
Even if your a Head manager you will still receive 13.50.
LA Fitness are crocks when it comes to pay.
Your threshold robs you of commission and trust me making 1,700 off commission would only net you 1,200. Its happened to me. So yes don't expect to be given what you expect at all.
Lets put this into prospective for garnished commission pay.
PTC: Tier 1 500 dollars reduction in your pay.
APTD: Tier 2 250 reduction in pay.
PTD: No threshold (but you still get paid 13.50)
Oh by the way the thresholds should have been increased due to the increase in base wage. So expect more to be garnished from your commissions.
The threshold they put upon you will always deduct t
ProsExperience
ConsLong Hours, Very Bad Pay Structure, High Turn Over Rate
First I was hired to work in the kids club where you can have as many kids as come in for one employee since at my location my manger would let anyone call off and not find coverage. Also if anyone ever complained about the amount of kids vs employees the employees were told to inform them that "because we are not a state lawed daycare we don't have to follow the state laws of employees to children." Also the kk girls are on their phone not paying attention to the children or will have their back to the children not paying attention at all.
Next I was switched to front desk which is where you scan the members in along with answer the phone and be the "billing dept" i was never correctly trained since I would go out to the front desk on saturdays to work and just learned as I went. while making these calls to people who's card declined and people who pay all at once you would get $5 dollars for a decline or 4% for anything else. If the person card decline again the next month though they took the $5 back even though you paid taxes. Also then employees would call these members from their cell phone to get the clear up because the OM's pushed to hit 121 clear ups a month or 221 or 331 because each goal gave them extra hours to make these calls. The company put in a 3 call limit but people would receive as many as 20-60 calls in one day. Even thought corp which doesn't really do anything will send out messages saying that you aren't allowed and then if they get caught the mana
Started as a PTC, rose to PTD. Let's just say I'm glad to be out.
I'm going to start with the sales part, but if you're looking to be a personal trainer, scroll down.
SALES POSITION: PERSONAL TRAINING DEPARTMENT
You need the personality of a pure-bred salesperson, which is willing to...not lie, but withhold some truth. If you have that in you, more power to ya.
As a PTC and then an APTD, I saw many practices that were downright sketchy by the higher-ups. I was told to pay more attention to new potential members, because that's where most of your commission will come from. Current members within the personal training are pushed into the back burner, because whether or not they have problems with their program, it doesn't bring in much money. When a client buys into a training program for 3-12 months, they have 10 days to cancel with all of their money back, or else they'll have to pay 50% of the remaining balance. Thus, I've seen training directors sell, and then avoid those customers who want their money back if they're unsatisfied. I've seen clients fight tooth and nail trying to get a hold of training directors to cancel, but they would play the avoiding game until those 10 days are up so the client would be trapped.
If you have a caring attitude, be ready to be yelled at for doing too much customer service. Also, your district vice president will text you every time someone within your district when a significant sale has been made, so would sometimes averag
I'm a disabled veteran (90%) who recently got out of the military last year. I have a BS in Information Systems Security, almost finished with my 2nd BS in Project Management, have a AS in Aviation Management from the military, 10 years of Management experience (including the military), 5 years of Sales & Human Resources experience just to start off with qualifications. I took this job solely to do something and advance into a potential career.
Sadly, I found that the General Managers were either A) inexperienced, B) without a college degree or C) both. They have poor people skills, poor managerial skills and overall would not cut it in a real position of work whether organizational or in legitimate management position.
I was only employed with the company for 4 weeks because I chose to leave the position after being informed that I needed to choose the job or my daughter. That was a no brainer. Being told that by a manager is truly despicable and down right wrong.
Majority of the Membership counselors are younger (18-21 in age), whereas most of the WGM/GM staff are 21-30.
You make $350 base + commission + bonus (if your club gets 65%+) OR you make Minimum wage + OT if you do not break "draw" which is where Commission > minimum wage hours. However, you are unlikely to hit that solely because everything that comes in through the door whether you have set a appointment with them or not goes straight to the WGM/GM. I had numerous individuals that I spoke with through
ProsFree membership, the members that you meet/greet/talk with
The pay isn't worth the hours you will put into this position. Its a great place to work if you love that environment as I did. You definitely will have to hustle everyday to keep up with your goals. Management from my experience will assist you in closing a sale in fact it is mandatory that they do. They are more like babysitters than managers. Beware, however once you have proven you able to perform well at the position the shadiness of management start to be show. Its seems management have a me first attitude because unless you are GM or Weekend manager the pay is horrible. They will hired you just so they can keep your personal leads you worked hard for. I've hear this out the mouth of the manager I worked for. In my case, I had managers steal walk-ins also sales from me on my days off by entering your appointments as no shows on the guest register then sale them memberships. If I was to do it again I would not schedule any appointments on your day off even though it is encouraged. Its hard to hold them accountable for their actions because District Managers come and go so often. I was transferred to a different Location once I built a solid lead base and surpassed my goal every month I was there. I came in on my day off to workout and boom I was informed that I'd been transferred without any reason as to why. Think I was able to take my leads with me ? Once I was transferred to a different branch I felt as if they were trying to get rid of me there. Me being the resilien
Prosfun place to work
Cons6 day work weeks. minimal wage. very very poor managment
1.0
Front Desk Receptionist | Gambrills, MD | Jan 31, 2020
Soul Sucking
LA fitness does not value their employees.
Employees are incredibly underpaid, whether it’s front desk work, teaching a class, or babysitting 5-20 kids at a time: everyone is very underpaid.
The job itself is stagnant and requires front desk and sales people to be in front of computer screens all day. Kids aren’t given any structure in the day care area and get sick easily.
LA fitness is a multi-million dollar corporate industry yet refuses to hire a call company to collect funds from members who have missed payments. Employees at the front desk are paid minimum wage to call customers even on holidays to collect funds from people who are less than happy to give out card information over the phone. Every other gym around has a separate call company to do this for them. Minimum wage employees should not have to do this. Commission is only a few cents or dollars if you’re lucky.
Membership counselors tell front desk employees to give minimum information out about memberships, yet the gym opens at 5am and membership counselors come in lazily at 930/10am and when people come in to sign up and they can’t because front desk people aren’t trained to do so - customers are left angry and blaming them yet they are simply just there to check people in.
Customers get angry easily and have a sense of entitlement because they don’t want to pay guest passes to use a facility. People there think they can just walk in for free and then the blame is on your shoulders (for minimu
Its a kids job, meant to be temporary. If you want to use it as a stepping stone to get some sales experience because you think you might enjoy it, then go for it, but if your living by yourself and have to support yourself, it wont pay the bills. People who work here are immature and nonprofessional. Other people steal your sales and you have to catch them to reclaim them because they fail to follow procedures and do it on purpose too. I literally had people not even in the sales department taking walk-ins when the manager wasn't around without any disciplinary action to that front desk employee just because she decided to make checking people in people at the front desk her career and have been doing that for years. Manager is like 24 years old and was only employed for a year and his sales tactics are poor. The only reason the assistant manager and manager do better than lower level salesmen is because they get ALL the walk ins. They say you have to hustle to generate your own business which includes cold calling and harassing already existing members to put their friends and family on the "VIP" list so then you can harass them for 30 days until they're out of your call list. You do all this grunt work without much results and its just a waste, especially when you're watching your manager get all these walk-ins that are lay-downs. Its a joke. I felt like a telemarketer with how many calls I would make to the same people every few days. You will also be advised to call can
Prosvery basic sales experience if you want to see if sales is right for you or you like it
Consterrible management and pay and unprofessional environment. Its a kids job.
It might sound like people are beating a dead horse when it comes to dealing with bad management, bad pay, bad work environment, bad planning but no, it really is that bad. For starters the pay is awful no matter how hard or how long you work or even what position you have in the company unless your a big wig who makes so much money that you only have to visit certain gyms once a week. But let me tell you first hand, you will not make a living at this job and you will find that the whole company is basically running a big scam. Step 1- sell overly priced membership with hidden fee that NO ONE, and I mean no one tells members about so get ready to constantly talk to people who suddenly got charged an extra 100 dollars that they didn't know about and will try to ask you for help but you unable to do ANYTHING to help. Step 2 - Realize that literally it's all scam to make money off of people and to not let them cancel until it's too late and they get charged even though they want nothing to do with the company. Step 3- realizing that even IF YOU DO work hard and try to get members to renew and get new memberships that YOU WILL NOT MAKE ANY WORTHWHILE MONEY OFF COMMISSIONS. And even then, I've heard that they ended all front desk commissions but I'm not totally sure but it's not impossible. Step 4 - realizing that some people will be extra kind and will be patient with you, while other customers and management will do everything to pin the blame on you DESPITE you not even being t
ProsFree gym membership
ConsEverything and the gym membership isn't worth it.
Good for entry level employees, but near impossible to make a career due to the corporate environment
The personal training end of LA Fitness consists of job two paths: sales, and training. If you're looking for a career, I would advise that you seek employment somewhere else for a laundry list of reasons. However, if you're looking to gain entry-level experience in the fitness industry, I would advise that you start with the sales position, even if you want to be a trainer. This is because having in-depth knowledge of the sales process and a good relationship with the sales team is invaluable when being a personal trainer.
As for the culture of the corporation, there some great people that run the individual clubs, who care about their employees and the customers they serve. However, as the management level scales to the district, region, super-region, and above, so too does the lack of a connection to, knowledge of, and care for the individuals working for them in the club and their clients.
LA Fitness has a very high turn-over rate due to an ever-increasing demand being placed on individual employees, ever-changing and confusing pay plans, and increasingly difficult promotion requirements that are described by the interviewer to seem simple and as if it's a utopian-like job.
You are not given a job here, you're sold a job. Using an "elevator pitch," the interviewer will likely make you feel like you have found your dream job, where you will earn a fortune and make a positive difference in people's lives. However, in reality, you will likely never make much more t
Questions And Answers about LA Fitness
What is the promotion process like at LA Fitness?
Asked Oct 25, 2020
I had 3 months to keep a good grade of returning clients and attendance
Answered Jun 5, 2023
Based on your preformance
Answered Jun 2, 2023
How often do you get a raise at LA Fitness?
Asked Sep 16, 2020
3 months for personal trainer
Answered Jun 5, 2023
Hardly
Answered Jun 1, 2023
What benefits does LA Fitness offer?
Asked Jan 22, 2018
Vision dental
Answered Jun 3, 2023
Gym membership
Answered Jun 1, 2023
What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Asked Mar 14, 2020
Checking in clients for appointments and helping members sign up to get a membership. Helping clients with their membership questions.
Answered Jun 3, 2023
Not good vice presidents and corporate doesn’t want to pay it help
Answered Jun 3, 2023
What tips or advice would you give to someone interviewing at LA Fitness?
