The weight of the pandemic
GoodLife Fitness Centres Inc. chief operating officer Jason Sheridan was a very busy man in the days leading up to the latest easing of provincial COVID-19 restrictions.
In Ontario, Sheridan says, GoodLife’s fitness facilities have been closed for longer than they’ve been open during the pandemic. Gyms are ideal hot spots for infection: They’re closely packed with clients who are coughing, breathing hard, or just taking a breather. But Sheridan says GoodLife is up to the challenge of reopening at half-capacity with the necessary restrictions in place — and even keep up hybrid digital/in-facility workout options.
The Star spoke to Sheridan shortly before Ontario’s restrictions eased on Jan. 31:
What happened to your workforce when GoodLife had to close completely?
It was different for different people within our organization. There are many who provide services that can be done online, like personal trainers. We were doing remote personal training — not as much outdoor personal training in the winter as
we would have seen in the spring and summer months last year. But there were some people who were able to move online. There were some people who needed to keep working because we had to maintain the clubs. Somebody had to be there to make sure everything was OK with the facility. But we did lay off while we were closed.
Do you know roughly how many workers you had to lay off?
In Ontario, around 85 per cent.
How is GoodLife doing — financially speaking — given all the closures and restrictions you’ve seen over the past two years?
This pandemic has been very, very challenging. We’ve been closed more than we’ve been open since the pandemic has begun. The costs continue to be there for the business. It’s certainly a challenge — probably the hardest thing we’ve ever faced — but we are resilient, we are confident, we are prepared to move forward and to get back to where we were. We are in a good spot and we’re confident, moving forward, that we will get back to where we were.
Over the past few years, there’s been a huge rise in at-home workouts out of necessity. How does GoodLife plan on competing?
The reality is that at-home workouts have always been around. It’s always been a part of the fitness industry. Pre-pandemic, we were seeing more and more offerings for people on their phone or some other technology they could use at home — and we were even seeing that within the club. You would see more and more people with their phones following a workout while they were inside the space.
Prior to the pandemic, we wanted to get into this hybrid workout experience where people would have an in-club experience, but also have digital options. That was partly because the challenge for fitness for everybody is often convenience. Things change as you go through life. What works for you as a student, versus when you start a family, changes, and changes your ability to fit fitness in. What we wanted to do was make sure we can meet people in all of those places.
As the clubs reopen, we certainly see people starting to move away from digital experiences and back indoors. But hybrid experiences are here to stay. The key to fitness is finding the thing that works for you, and some people may have found exercising at home works better. But on the other side, a lot of people may have been exercising at home and they could be at a point now where they’re ready to go to the gym.
For us, it’s about hybrid option and making sure we’re offering both. We launched our on-demand classes as part of our app, where people can access workouts and training plans. It’s something that’s been coming for a long time.
There’s every possibility that another round of lockdowns or closings could happen. What’s the plan if that’s the case?
What we’ve been doing all along is reacting quickly when changes are thrust upon us. Whether it’s new regulations or closures, we’ve done what we’ve had to do. Our people have been so great and so innovative. We’re all hopeful that we’re closer to the end of this than we’ve ever been — but you can’t get too far ahead of yourself. It could happen.
If it does, we’ll do what we’ve always done. We’ll pivot to remote training. We’ve got our on-demand programs, we’ve got Instagram Live. We’re going to keep providing the service that we’re known for and helping people to take care of their physical and mental health — and we know we can do that better when the clubs are open.
A lot of people don’t have a space in their apartments or condos — and some people just have a better workout when they’re in the gym. They feed off that energy from their trainer or instructor. We know it is so important for people to be able to access a space like that. We’re all hopeful that people are recognizing how important physical fitness is in all this — and how important mental health is — and we’re just going to keep providing the best, safest environment that we can.
It’s been hard for a lot of employers to bring workers back into their facilities after all the lockdowns and restrictions. Are you having trouble getting your trainers back?
We’ve been closed more than we’ve been open since the pandemic has begun.
JASON SHERIDAN GOODLIFE FITNESS COO
That is a reality for us as well. There are so many people that are eager to get back. One of the things I love about this industry and about GoodLife is that the people who work for us are just so enthusiastic, and so positive, and they are so eager to help people feel good. So many of them just can’t wait for the clubs to open.
But we’re in an industry where there’s a lot of uncertainty. We’ve been closed more than we’ve been open, in Ontario since the beginning of the pandemic. There are some people who have a tough time with that and have left the industry. It’s really sad to see that. But we’re really optimistic about the future.
There are lots of folks opposed to restrictions who say gym closingss are impacting their mental health and saying ‘these are unreasonable, we need to get rid of restrictions.’ What do you make of people who make that argument?
It’s a difficult topic. It’s certainly very polarizing. We’re likely not the only industry that has had those types of conversations. We’ve heard people on both ends — and it’s difficult to be in a scenario when you’re trying to balance people who are very passionate on either end of the conversation.
Health-care workers really face the brunt of the challenges of this pandemic more than anyone. Anything we can do to help, we will do. There’s a way to do it safely. But we’re going to respect the regulations that come our way — reluctantly, of course. We want to stay open. We want to help. We want to provide that service. But we will do what we need to do in order to support society as a whole.
The Omicron wave is still here. How can you assure your clients they will be safe when they walk into your facilities?
The ultimate thing we need to consider when it comes to operating during this pandemic has been about what we can do to minimize risk. At GoodLife, we have great ventilation — it more than exceeds the recommendations for filtering air. We operate with lower capacities so it’s much easier for people to socially distance. People will stay, on average, around 50 minutes. It’s not like you’re around others for a long period of time. We wear masks in the gym.
It starts to become a balance between the things we can do to reduce that risk and the experience people are looking for. People are at a point where they want to take care of themselves. We’re excited to reopen. We still have some restrictions for at least another six weeks or so. And we’re really confident in our track record. We’ve worked very hard to adapt. We’ve provided great service, we’ve kept the club safe, and we’ll continue to do that. We’re just eager to see people come back.