Fitness industry’s views of the Register of Exercise Professionals

Muriel Bankhead, head of research and information at SkillsActive takes a look how the fitness industry views REPs…

Since its inception in 2002 the Register’s membership has grown to 30,000 out of an estimated 40,000 practitioners who work in the fitness industry. While the Register of Exercise Professionals (REPs) has the support of the industry as a whole, it has a more direct relationship with individual fitness practitioners than it does with employers.

The Register reviews member satisfaction on an annual basis, but for the first time in 2010 it also participated in a survey to measure awareness and perceptions of the Register amongst employers and stakeholders. The SkillsActive: Awareness and Perceptions Survey measured knowledge and satisfaction with its Group companies delivering services across all its sub- sectors: Health and Fitness, Sport and Recreation, the Outdoors, Playwork and Caravans. In total 413 telephone interviews were conducted with employers (353) and stakeholders (60) with quotas for each of the five sub-sectors. As some of the SkillsActive Group companies only deliver services to one or two sub-sectors, respondents were asked to give their main sub- sector of activity, followed by other sectors that they also serve.

Of those that took part, one hundred and fifty organisations operate to some extent in fitness comprising 123 employers and 27 stakeholders, of which 23 were training providers. Eighty- three organisations consider themselves to be mainly operating in fitness, including independent fitness clubs, public leisure centres, multigroup clubs, other fitness clubs and hotel-based clubs. A further 67 organisations consider some of what they do to be within fitness, with the majority (46) giving their main activity as Sport, 13 as the Outdoors and eight as Playwork.

Awareness Sixty-five per cent of all fitness organisations are aware of the Register, and this increases to 72% of organisations that mainly operate in fitness, followed by 52% that mainly operate in Sport.

Two-fifths of respondents aware of REPs (40%) were aware that is it part of the SkillsActive Group. A third (33%) of fitness operators who were aware of the Register knew about the Register’s marketing materials for employers, like plaques, posters and leaflets. The larger the organisation the more likely they were to know, increasing from 25% of organisations with 1-10 employees to 39% of organisations with 50+ employees.

Overall satisfaction All respondents operating within the fitness sub-sector were

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asked to indicate their level of satisfaction with the activities of the Register on a scale of 1 – 10, even if they were not aware of the Register. Excluding those who didn’t have an opinion, 64% of all respondents operating in Fitness are satisfied with the Register (15% very satisfied), 67% of those aware of the Register are satisfied (38% very satisfied) and 76% of those that have had dealings with the Register in the last 12 months are satisfied (39% very satisfied).

Impact of the Register on skills development More than two-fifths of respondents operating in fitness (44%) considered that the Register has had a positive impact on skills development. This increases to 64% of those aware of the Register and 87% of those that have had dealings with the Register in the last 12 months.

Figure 1: Perceived impact of the Register on skills development (organisations operating in Health and Fitness)

A major or significant positive impact

A minor positive impact

A minor negative impact

A major negative impact

No impact

Don’t know

2%

The Register – all health and fitness(150)

The Register – where aware (98)

The Register – where had dealings in the last 12 months (47)

The REPs Journal 2011;21(June):12-14

11% 11%

1% 1% 0% 1%

0% 0%

29% 23% 26% 17% 26% 36% 27% 39% 51%