swim instructor

lifeguard

customer service representative

joiner

duty manager

Places for People

I've worked here for a number of years and i can honestly say they have been the worst years of my life. Like in school you have your groups and clicks and if your not apart of them or say something against them they WILL make your life difficult. You will be bullied by the groups and clicks and stand against them you will be attacked like a pack of wolfs by many and will be made to be a liar at all costs. Its always one rule for them and four or five for you.

The way I was treated was absolutely disgusting, they looked down on me if i was the bottom of the pecking order despite working the hardest, the longest and being paid the lowest. I covered everything from complaints, set ups, take downs, abusive customers, first aid, cleaning, lane control and every bit of rubbish that gets dished out at us. It’s like managers can dish out jobs to us just for the fun of it. The turnover rate is incredibly high as people who work there for 3 months are just too tired and exhausted to continue.

The management do not care about there staff, you are treated like a bit of dirt on there shoe, if you disagree with them about care or report anything, they make your life unbearable.

Don't be fooled into thinking you have opportunities to progress in the company and other sites as those roles are reserved for managers "friends" and some roles are filled with people who are clearly not suited for the role

Beware!!!! This place WILL make you ill if you work there, you will not receive any help. More to the point departments is run by people who will try and put all their friends in posts rather than people who have the right skills so there is no progression if you’re not in the click.

They promised so much but only delivered disappointment. Always being give more and more but not allowed any help. ( only get help if your one of the hand picked) they take and take and take and will give nothing back not even a thank you. They talk the talk but they cannot walk the walk. Your just a number to them you’re not even considered a human being as far as they are concerned. I remember having to LITERALLY CRAWL OUT OF WORK as i was just so exhausted after my shifts,  I could never use their facilities not even for a simple swim/gym as I was just too tired after my shifts. 

They say in there job adverts we treat everyone equally and fairly which is all a pack of lies.

My advise would be no matter how desperate you are for work avoid this company at all costs

I joined as a team leader, but in reality, the role was more like a glorified lifeguard and cleaner. My responsibilities often went far beyond this, including lane control, pool set-ups and take-downs, responding to first aid incidents, and managing difficult customers. On multiple occasions, I performed tasks equivalent to a duty manager, yet my pay remained at the standard lifeguard rate.

Career progression was particularly frustrating due to favoritism. On two occasions, I was denied promotion to duty manager—a role I believe I had earned—while it was instead given to colleagues with closer personal connections to management. These individuals were often less experienced and less committed, while hardworking staff were overlooked. I was given a formal letter of concern, which felt like a strategic move to block my progression and reduce the duty manager’s workload.

The straw that finally broke the camel’s back was being denied the promotion for a second time because of this unfair letter. At that point, I walked out during a shift and made the decision to leave.

The workplace culture added to the challenges. Staff were sometimes spoken to inappropriately, unfairly targeted, or dismissed when raising concerns. Employment regulations were occasionally not followed, including shifts without legally required breaks. Specific incidents, such as being prevented from attending a scheduled staff event to cover an 18-hour double shift, highlighted the strain of the role. High staff turnover reflected these difficulties, with many leaving due to long hours, constant overtime, and lack of support.

Since leaving, I have joined an organization where pay is fair, training is excellent, and colleagues are genuinely supportive. I no longer go home deflated and exhausted after doing multiple jobs at once or feeling undermined by colleagues competing for promotions. This experience reinforced the importance of fair promotion practices, transparent management, and a workplace culture that genuinely values its staff.

Where do I begin...
If you like working in a micromanaged, autocratic, and toxic environment this is the place for you!
Having worked for this company for many years and it being an utter joke from the start, I kept telling myself it would get better and to stick it out. 
The office environment is toxic. There is a large conflict of interest. A large number of staff are either siblings or in a relationship. 
If you ever want to progress here, you better hope your face fits because otherwise you’re not moving anywhere. 
I really feel for the staff working in the PMD department they are expected to carry out their day to tasks while their phones ring off the hook all day meaning they physically do not get a chance to carry out these tasks. Don’t even think about putting yourself on bulletin to wrap up a call because you will get a warning!
You’re timed for going for a wee. Your time in the lavatory while doing your business is added up and sent out as a stat for you whole team to see followed by a stern talking to by your manager if you go over a certain amount of minutes. 
Oh but they’re adamant it’s NOT a call centre even though all the call stats are up on giant TVs for everyone to view like you get in a call centre. 

You could work as hard as you like and think you’ll be appreciated for this but you won’t. But the smallest mistake you make because we’re all human and you’ll be pulled apart and most likely slagged off. 

0 career progression unless you’re part of the clique. 

Unrealistic expectations this last year while working from home and home schooling children. Constant micromanagement and no trust in staff to get their work done. 
Im so happy to no longer be working for this company. Wasn’t even given my exit interview either, can’t say I’m surprised! Never trust a company with such a high turnover of staff.

AVOID!

What is the best part of working at the company?
Would be a great company to work for, if the job description / work area matched the job advert and interview questions. Some Managers are really flexible and will go the extra mile for you when needed. Lots of online on boarding modules to go through during induction and then shadowing other team members for a min of a week to learn the  inner workings of the very long winded tablet system for mobile staff (that is very self explanatory and won't let you finish until all mandatory boxes are complete anyway). Only real downside is the expected overtime every day to get you to the first and last jobs 2hrs from your home address!! 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Forced overtime expectations that are not contractual.

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Mobile engineer, so almost left alone if you are doing the job correctly. Friendly team mates and line management

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Wanting you to leave your home address at 06.00 to be onside at your first job for 08.00, when told all work will be within 30mins of your home address!

Since joining the company over the past year and a half, a number of new senior managers and a few 'Heads of' have fostered a very toxic work environment within the MarComms team. Quite a number of the team share the same sentiment but keep their feelings bottled up in hope of change or finding a better job opportunity. 

There is severe micromanagement within some teams, the tendency to blame colleagues for the managements' mistakes and 'clusters' of manager favorites. Colleagues are overworked (burnt out at best), underappreciated, the pay is woeful for certain colleagues who work the hardest but are at the bottom of the chain. Tight unrealistic deadlines and no feedback from management on good work done. There are hardly any progression or personal development opportunities. Work-life balance is poor. Most colleagues spend numerous hours working very late, at the weekend or start work at very early hours.

What is the best part of working at the company?
Experience and having a positive rapport with most of the people I worked with regular guests 

What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Lack of organisation and awareness from certain management, lack of incentive and recognition for hard work as well as expected effort towards sales targets despite staying on the same wage as the original Placemaker position before sales was integrated, plus there is no opportunity to earn commission off sales made

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Tends to be quite toxic in some departments. You also learn after a while that if you need something done but cannot do it yourself, there are only a couple people in positions of authority who will actually do it for you without having to remind them again as they actually care 

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Unfulfilling and not challenging, you can always guarantee that something hasn't been organised correctly etc so your shift doesn't go smoothly

Places for people are a new company for the fitness industry, they have widened the company by coming in to the fitness industry and they do have their pro and cons. The position i applied for was not what I thought but enjoy it in someways. I've learned customer services by meeting new people every day, punctuality, giving first aid by myself, as the job is at a school and i do lots of supervision of all the customers that come to the school. A typical day at work; is opening up the STP ( synthetic turf pitch); set up the football equipment. Also i sit in the office and observe all the football teams to make sure they are all o biding by the rules. The management side of things, I do safety checks of the building under the HASAWA and following NOP and EOP procedure. I personally don't find this position challenging, because not much happens to make it challenging. Most enjoyable part is to have my freedom in the office to do personal things, as well as do my job.

I would start the day helping in the kitchen to cater for various meetings. This would take up most of the morning, once done i would then work on reception answering the phones and greeting customers. If it was quiet on reception i would go to one of the other departments and help them with scanning/photocopying documents or inputting data. After lunch I would clean up from the business meeting and put more tea and coffee out. I would then go back onto reception and continue answering phones until my shift was over. 

The hardest part of the job was learning how to deal with customers over the phone as I had to figure out what department to put them through to. The most enjoyable part of the job was working with my co-workers who were friendly and willing to help me learn how to do the job and what was required of me. 

I learned that when dealing with difficult customers that it is best to remain calm and do everything you can to help them as well as asking for help from other co-workers on how best to deal with the situation if there is little i can do to help them.

when i went for the interview/trial shift, i was hired on the spot (which should have been my first red flag). i was interviewed by a lovely person (who ended up not even being my manager, as they were based in a different location) and was not able to communicate well with my actual manager because they didn't speak english very well. it's worth mentioning that there were no extra language requirements for this position, so i wasn't aware this would be an issue when applying. the person i originally interviewed with had my mother's number (as an emergency contact) and would regularly ask her about my shift availability instead of me - very weird! if all of this wasn't enough to deal with, after i got the job and had been working for less than a week, i was essentially ghosted by my manager for about a month (with no pay for the work i did during my first week) and was eventually paid in cash. the *only* good thing about this job was the flexible shifts, but i'm putting this down to a disorganised management "team" rather than employee benefits. 

It was about  six weeks from the initial phone call to the actual job offer having interviewed three times with different people (due to sudden changes in their management - this should have been my first red flag!) I was supposed to have 2 weeks training, my 1st weeks training (offsite) was good - my on site training basically didn't happen, I was just left to my own devices (red flag no 2?!). In a typical day I spent most of my time dealing with complaints. It was quite a b****y place to work as most people were either quite young and didn't know any better, or old enough to know better - there was the odd good egg though! I definitely felt that the senior management do not care for any of their staff, they are stretched between centres and never try to help you, although I think they are put under a lot of pressure. I generally felt the whole place was quite 'underhand'. I think it would be fine if you were going in as a receptionist/lifeguard but I would avoid any kind of managerial role at all costs. I really liked the free gym membership though! (who wouldn't?)

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Swim instructor 137 salaries reported	£17.70 per hour
Lifeguard 98 salaries reported	£13.32 per hour
Customer service representative 122 salaries reported	£24,942 per year
Joiner 126 salaries reported	£36,865 per year
Duty manager 61 salaries reported	£28,186 per year

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