Rewarding Job. Excellent Management. Life-Changing People.
Pros
I worked at Lifetime for 2 years and 6 months. The job role itself is highly rewarding in terms of job satisfaction, and being what Lifetime call a "life-changing person" - you truly are. And, as my former manager says "you make a profound difference" - which is true. My area manager was the best manager I have had in my career to-date. My area manager was kind, caring, personable, empathetic, considerate, firm but fair, knowledgeable, understanding, flexible, and somebody who not only managed his people, but lead them to success too, both personally and professionally. A leader of the people in every sense. Regular 1-2-1s which were always beneficial and enjoyable, wherever my personal KPI's sat at. And, when I was struggling with the workload and spoke to them, they supported me, fully, and even supported me, alongside the operations manager (now operations director) to complete a fully funded MHFA course, which I was then able to use to contribute to team meetings and in my job role. Anything that the Team wanted / needed, he would get it, if possible. This manager was not short-sighted like most, but focused on a long-term game plan, which meant that in the short term, at times, we may not have been hitting targets, but this didn't have a detrimental effect on his Team, because that isn't how you manage people - Instead long-term, KPI's improved and we were a great Team with many successes - and most importantly, a very happy Team, all agreeing on the yearly engagement survey that in terms of management, we 100% agreed on all points. Senior management are very much the same, ops manager, ops director, chief operating officer, and the new'ish CEO - very experienced, good at their jobs, at times a little too far removed from the day job and the impact of external factors on internal KPI's, but all very good people, leaders, and managers who were driving the business in the right and positive direction. As for the wider organisation, there wasn't a single person I had met, worked, or collaborated with, that I didn't like. Everyone was welcoming, approachable, friendly, talented, worked hard, passionate about what they do, and wanted to be at Lifetime. Overall, a good positive work culture with some fantastic rewards and benefits all-round, and a continuously improving organisation in all areas. I would strongly recommend Lifetime as a wonderful place to work. I didn't leave Lifetime due to organisational challenges, or because of my manager, but simply due to the nature of the role itself.
Cons
Some areas of improvement for Lifetime are internal communications of changes in the business and increasing the lead time for updating colleagues to implementing change. This was throughout my entire time at Lifetime, a sticking point for me. I've rated Lifetime as 4/5 for Diversity and Inclusion. Lifetime, as an employer, are not diverse. They are, however, inclusive. They have also and are investing a huge amount of financial and other resources into improving the EDI within the organisation, including the implementation of an EDI strategy. In general, though, the workforce at Lifetime is not what could traditionally be considered as a diverse workplace.
