Throughout the Covid-19 pandemic, businesses face the loss of their pre-pandemic income and the fear that another shutdown could be just around the corner. This has been the case for a most restaurants, bars and gyms across Canada.
Goodlife Fitness has been a Canadian owned gym company for over 40 years, the women’s only location in Barrhaven, an Ottawa suburb, has been a place where women have worked out for more than a decade. This location and locations across Canada closed down back in March of 2020, with employees spending much of the summer waiting to re-open. Employees of the Barrhaven Chapman Mills Marketplace location were able to go back to work at the end of July.
New procedures
Re-opening also came with new procedures that Goodlife employees had to learn. The gym was no longer a gym where members could come in whenever they wanted. Members had to book a workout during the one-hour time slots offered during the day. The gym also operated on a reduced schedule. Between the one-hour exercise slots there was a half-hour break where employees cleaned the entire gym.
There were three new roles for employees, the greeter, the front-desk worker, and the floor worker.
The greeter stood outside of the door and checked off the names of all the members who booked, while also making sure that the people who hadn’t booked were able to enter as a walk-in, and not surpass the 18-person capacity on the gym floor and the eight-person capacity in the class. The front desk worker made sure that every member scanned in, ensuring they were adequately accounted for, while also answering hundreds of phone calls from members.
If people didn’t scan in or show up, they would have had a strike against them. If someone had two strikes, they would not be able to book for two weeks. The floor worker made sure that members were properly socially distancing and wearing their masks when they walking around the gym, while also cleaning machines after they have been used.
“I prefer to work the front desk, it makes me feel like I’m still doing the same job from before the pandemic,” said Gale Macleod “The greeting role is the one that makes me more nervous. Some people get a little too close when they tell me their name,” said Macleod, a Goodlife associate for the past three years.
The first few months after opening were successful, says Macleod. Members were excited to get back to the gym while still knowing that everything was clean and safe.
“During the first months of quarantine, I did workout classes online. I was a little nervous coming back to the gym because I didn’t want to be around too many people,” said Josee Peterson.
“Still, after going back, I think that the employees here are doing a great job at keeping things clean,” says Peterson, a Goodlife Fitness member for the past 10 years.
Even though many people cancelled their membership because of the pandemic, a lot of new people were signing up for new memberships.
At the beginning of October, more changes came. The policies became more relaxed. Instead of the booking system and closing for 30 minutes after every hour, members no longer had to book and could come in at any time. Members only had to book if they wanted to do a class.
A few days after these new policies were put in place, the provincial government announced that gyms would be closing down for the next 28 days, to try and slow down the amount of new cases in Ontario. Restaurants and gym were those affected the most.
The second re-opening
When Ottawa Barrhaven gym re-opened after the 28-day closure, Goodlife Fitness decided to go back to the booking system rather than the open hours’ system that was put in place the week before the closure.
Now there are no longer scheduled virtual or live classes, if a member wants to do a class, they have to ask an employee. The classes are now first come, first served. Members are also expected to keep three metres apart instead of two metres apart when working out.
The last couple of months have been a concern for Piper Veloso a Goodlife associate for the past year.
“Every day I get a call from a member wanting to freeze or cancel their membership,” says Veloso. “There is a misconception that gyms are not safe. We are cleaning every piece of equipment each hour and heavily enforce the mask policies,” says Veloso.
Employees of this Goodlife location are looking forward to January, their busiest month of the year, and are hoping that regulars and new members feel safe when they come into the club.
