Sony

In 2004, Sony sought tenders for the management of its fitness facilities across its three sites at Weybridge (1,000 employees), Basingstoke (1,000 employees) and Thatcham (200 employees) with the aim of reducing operational subsidy. Bladerunner was appointed to manage all the fitness facilities, running this service on a commercial basis and introducing a standard monthly membership fee for employees at all sites.

New developments
Following recommendation from Bladerunner, November 2006 saw the opening of a new exercise studio at the fitness facility at Weybridge which significantly improved the offering at the site, enabling the Bladerunner team to provide an extensive range of classes and programmes to Sony employees.

The new studio offers a range of classes including the popular Body Training Systems’ programmes such as Bodypump, Bodycombat and Bodybalance, along with circuits, aerobics, Spinning and Swiss ball core conditioning. Mind and body classes such as Yoga and Pilates are also available.

The gym itself was also refurbished, with new equipment added and the layout changed to ensure increased usage of the facility.

The facility at the Basingstoke site was also extended, with a Spinning bike and group exercise area included within the gym. This has significantly increased the gym’s capacity and has attracted more female employees to make use of the facilities on offer. Each gym now operates at full capacity with a 33% membership uptake and active usage averaging of 68%.

Incentives and marketing of the gym
Promotions are tailored to suit the time of year and are continually updated to ensure they appeal to members. Ongoing monthly activity includes a running league, muscle of the month, nutrition tips etc. Materials for many of the professionally produced promotions are provided by Bladerunner head office. The Bladerunner team also works with Sony to maximise sports and social activity, and assist the company in raising the profile of health and fitness to encourage a healthy workforce. The company intranet is used to encourage the staff to take more exercise and the gym team work with the on-site restaurants to promote the gym with innovative promotional activity such as stickering fruit with offers and providing free cholesterol testing.

Staffing
Each facility is managed by one member of staff at each site. All staff are highly qualified to Level 2 on the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs), a standard required for all Bladerunner employees.

Opening times
The gyms are in operation from 7am-8pm, Monday to Friday, and are supervised for 8 hours each day.

Inductions
All new joiners have a health screen and are also offered a full fitness assessment and induction. The fitness assessment takes 45 minutes and is particularly important if people have never used a gym facility before. These are followed by a full induction, where members are shown all the equipment and a tailor-made programme is created. New members are then re-assessed and their programme updated after 6 weeks, 3 months and then every 6 months.

Service level agreements
Regular monthly update meetings take place with the client to review performance against agreed service levels and KPIs for areas including staffing, opening times, membership numbers, class timetables etc. An annual review considers performance for the whole year and sets targets for the coming twelve months.

Additional services
The fitness areas offer health screening for members, monitoring body fat, cholesterol and blood pressure. Any employees on site may take advantage of this service. The Bladerunner team also works with Sony on its backcare programme, with the fitness team delivering all manual lifting and handling training for employees on site.

Sony agreement
The contract at Sony has recently been extended for a further three years; employees are charged a membership subscription on a monthly basis of £15.00, which is collected by direct debit by Bladerunner on behalf of Sony. Bladerunner retains all monies and is responsible for all costs and receives in addition, a subsidy of up to £20k p/a from Sony subject to KPI’s being achieved.