Pros
On the club level there are many pros. We get to spend each day at a beautiful, state of the art facility with a team of talented people. The free family membership for club managers is a great perk, as well as the various discounts throughout the club (Life Cafe, LifeSpa, training, supplements, etc). As a Spa Manager I have had the opportunity to learn & embrace another side of the salon industry, having never formally worked in management. There are systems in place to help you succeed; a lot of the tools (& definitely the clients) are right at your fingertips. I've had the privilege of seeing many team members (both in salon & out) build successful, lucrative careers at Life Time.
Cons
There is a serious work/life imbalance involved, especially for management. The expectation across the board is pretty much 6 days/week & 50-55+ hours. These expectations fluctuate depending on the day of the month. There are several days that end up being mandatory for managers, regardless of where it falls in the week. Forget attending your child's basketball game or regular church services, if it's "Open House" weekend, the last few days of the month, or another corporate mandated event, you're going to be at work. Think you'd like to take a day off during the week since you've been there all weekend? Well you'll also miss Daily Huddle & a handful of other "mandatory meetings", "calling parties", & "club pride" activities. Put in a long day & ready to head home to relax? Well you better hope one of your hourly employees doesn't call off because otherwise, you're closing! With severe budgetary limitations, including a very scant payroll, there's not any flexibility to have as many people scheduled as necessary. As a salaried employee, consider yourself free labor. As a manager, you are also contacted plentifully during your "OFF" hours as well, as many of the IT systems & SOPs are a little too complicated for a $9/hr employee. The company slogan is "the healthy way of life company", but sometimes actions speak louder than words & the expectations once you are into your management role definitely don't reflect the healthy way of life. Unfortunately the LAST thing I want to do is be there the extra time that it takes to workout :(. I used to be Life Time's biggest cheerleader but many of the recent changes have made feeling positive challenging. At least 4 of the 10 managers I trained with are no longer with the company, which says a lot. It's really hard to have any sort of routine outside of your job.
