Les Mills has published research looking at how Gen Zers perceive career opportunities in the sector.

CalledNurturing the Next Gen, the report is designed to future-proof the industry from both a staff and membership perspective and also to unlock growth opportunities when it comes to the recruitment of group exercise instructors.

The research is a follow-up to last year’s study, Gen Z Fitness: Cracking the Code, which threw light on this cohort’s attitudes to fitness.

Insights for Nurturing the Next Gen were gathered from a representative sample of 2,500 16- to 34-year-olds living in the USA, UK, Germany, Nordics, Japan and China who are open to working in the fitness industry.

Researchers found a strong interest in the idea of turning a hobby into an income stream and being paid to work out, while the lack of a mentor was the biggest barrier to becoming an instructor.

The 'hot prospects' – those respondents with a high level of interest in training to be a group exercise instructor – liked the idea of working in a fitness environment and upskilling, but also had the perception of it being intimidating, the training being overwhelming and of the work not being well paid.

The hot prospects are mainly motivated by their love of training and being in a fitness environment (55 per cent) and turning their hobby into an income stream (45 per cent). Among the warm prospects 34 per cent wanted to positively impact the lives of others and 31 per cent found the idea of the additional income appealing.

While a living wage was the most important factor (71 per cent) followed by pathways for progression and improvement (61 per cent), prospects also attach a lot of importance to social issues. Fifty four per cent want their employer to care about diversity, equity and inclusion; 55 per cent want their employer’s values to align with their own and 54 per cent want their employer to care about the environment.

There are some negative perceptions around training to be an instructor, including thinking it will be hard or expensive: 61 per cent agreed that having access to more detail about the training journey would make it more appealing.

The report makes a number of recommendations about how health clubs can encourage more people in this age group to train as group exercise instructors, including leveraging the current instructor team to seek out talent in their classes – male and females – and ask them if they would like to be trained.

Having a clear and actionable process for teams to follow when someone shows an interest is important, as well as empowering the existing workforce to be mentors. It’s also vital to give as much information as possible to prospects about what the training involves, as uncertainty around this is proving to be a barrier. When highlighting employment opportunities the report recommends amplifying DEI and environment values.

A correlation was drawn between high social media usage around fitness and the propensity to be an instructor. Sixty nine per cent of hot prospects and 51 per cent of warm prospects have a social media account documenting their fitness journey. This brings a secondary benefit to them becoming instructors as they would likely be effective advocates for clubs among younger audiences.

Les Mills offers more than 20 workouts, with the most recent launch being Les Mills Pilates last month. This matwork programme combines Pilates with music and and choreography.

Phillip Mills, founder of Les Mills, is speaking at the all keynote HCM Summit on 24 October in London. You can book tickets here.