Job Overview
The PureGym Group have landed in the US.
PureGym opened its first site in the North of England 15 years ago. Today we have 600+ gyms in 4 countries, Franchise partners in the Middle East and are growing rapidly. In November 2024, PureGym bought just under 60 gyms from the Blink Fitness (part of Equinox) estate in the New York and New Jersey area, taking our footprint in the US to an exciting level.
We aren’t total novices to the US market – with 3 gyms in the Washington DC area branded as Pure Fitness, our American exploration started in 2021. Now we are preparing to accelerate.
An opportunity has arisen for a Head of People - US to join the Group. Based in the New York and New Jersey area, the role will be focusing on the people who make a difference to our members every day – our gym teams.
The Head of People - US will be reporting to the London based Group Chief People Officer and play a fundamental role in leadership in the US, pulling on the support of the Group and executing the operational HR & People plan for both stability and growth.
Responsibilities
Working with a small US based team, the role is responsible for the following remit:
Talent Attraction
- Own job analysis and role design to ensure efficiency is a core driver in our low-cost mindset and environment.
- Ensure direct candidate sourcing in gyms is managed in line with Employer Brand guidelines.
- Encourage and enable employee and member referrals schemes for quality and cost-efficient candidate attraction.
- Own quality control for candidate assessment and selection in gym roles.
Administration & Service
- Work closely with external partners to deliver excellent administration services.
- Support the Group team option creation and preparation to bring administration and service in house.
- Ensure People team partner with payroll to confirm seamless payments for our people.
- Ensure PTO and family leave is managed appropriately.
Total Reward
- Drive the annual compensation review process locally.
- Work in collaboration with the Group People function to deliver local annual performance cycle and the US compensation strategy.
- Work in collaboration with the Benefit Brokers on day-to-day benefit administration for all benefits offered, including but not limited to, health and welfare, retirement, transportation, etc.
Learning
- Drive a culture of learning in gyms as a core part of the growth mindset and culture of the Organization.
- Work with the US people team, Operations team and Group Learning team to determine learning proposition needs.
- Ensure succession and growth plans are supported and fueled by the development pathway programs.
Wellbeing
- Encourage and enable people to utilize and embrace the wellness library content.
- Drive a culture of balance, with hard work and wellness at the core of the balance equation.
Engagement & Communication
- Continually promote a diverse, inclusive and equitable workforce in line with the PureGym Group’s inclusive culture.
- Embody and drive the PureGym culture through the organization, being the US custodian of behavior and ensuring a great place to work.
- Partner with the Engagement & Communication team to adapt annual plan to US needs.
- Be the figurehead of the annual engagement survey completion and work with function leaders to develop targeted improvement plans each year to ensure this is a great place to work.
- Ensure the working environment is appropriate for all employees.
Employee Relations
- Be the US employment law subject matter expert, managing all people and employment issues with a fair and compliant approach.
- Understand and adhere to all applicable federal, state, and/or local leave and income replacement laws.
- Reduce risk across the organization by leading the management of all Employee Relations (ER) issues. Oversee the team running day-to-day oversight of investigations.
- Look holistically at root causes of behavioral issues in order to create and implement training, policies and procedures that reduce ER incidents.
Partnering & Performance
- Serve as the Partner to the local leadership team to meet goals and objectives around People and Culture – providing counsel and guidance on performance management, hiring, training and upskilling, team cohesion, employee engagement and other topics for our Gym teams.
- Focus on the implementation of retention strategies, with a growth mindset for the gym estate development over the coming years.
- Develop and implement talent strategies that touch all aspects of the employee lifecycle to drive performance, development, engagement and retention.
- Coach employees at all levels, building trust and rapport to provide support in areas such as leadership development and employee relations.
- Design and implement resource operating models and organizational designs that will enable efficiency. Partner closely with Operations leadership to design, implement and then manage the field structure and resource model.
- Guide employees’ communications on strategic and tactical objectives related to employee experience working closely with the local leadership team and Group Communications function.
CANDIDATE PROFILE
The ideal candidate for this role will be someone who is energized by being part of something bigger than themselves. Working in collaboration is a core strain of the PureGym Group DNA, and the group matrix is an exciting and rich learning environment for anyone who engages with the opportunity.
PureGym’s purpose and mission is to inspire healthier nations. We build and create environments for members to take care of their physical health at an affordable price. That doesn’t happen by chance, every decision we make protects our ability to keep cost low and make our environment a great one.
Qualifications, Attributes And Skills
- Bachelor’s degree or similar in a related field preferred.
- Ideally, 10+ years of progressive relevant experience, including prior management experience.
- Experience in supporting multi-site field operations-based teams.
- Strong knowledge and experience of US employment laws and regulations.
- Outstanding organizational, interpersonal, collaboration and communication skills.
- Demonstrated success in leading, inspiring and coaching teams.
- Ability and flexibility to travel within the gym estate.
Join us on our mission to inspire a healthier nation.
Apply Now
