How Magna Vitae’s latest facility became a coastal careers generator…
As the foundations were laid for the new Station Leisure & Learning Centre in Mablethorpe, a place that would transform the community health and well-being offer and reward the Lincolnshire coastal town with a transgenerational and intuitive community hub, the Magna Vitae team embarked on a challenge like no other.
How to grow the venue and workforce while maintaining the charm of a small, long-serving team with much loved local repour.
As the Station Sports Centre, the venue had 3.5 full-time equivalent staff members, serving a membership base of approximately 350 members. The new Station Leisure & Learning Centre required a workforce of 28 strong for a membership of over 1000.
The ‘Station’ charm was non-negotiable, and as the team approached the recruitment challenge, the emphasis was on keeping the core, the heart of the venue, that friendly smile, that warm welcome. Everything that said Magna Vitae is here for you.
“It was essential that our members experienced the same excellent customer service and didn’t feel alienated in what would become a much larger venue.
“We didn’t sit there and think we’re opening soon. Let’s put some adverts out. We really looked at how we could develop the team, recruit, and incorporate the 20+ years of experience and all the Magna Vitae love into what was a four-week onboarding process.”
-Naomi Wilkinson-Baker, Director of Operations, Magna Vitae
The new Station Leisure & Learning Centre is a venue accessible by design, with a foyer that encourages people to come in, explore, and just be a little bit nosey. However, we didn’t want to lose that 1:1 welcome or our positioning as a friendly and welcoming team.
However, recruitment in a rurally isolated and deprived community on the East Coast, wasn’t without challenge, and in its search for 24 new team members Magna Vitae had to think outside of the box. A standard job advert didn’t suffice, the skills base simply wasn’t there. So, Magna Vitae focused their recruitment efforts on upskilling and giving new opportunities to local residents.
“Our recruitment strategy aimed to attract team members who were the right fit; it didn’t matter to us if they didn’t have leisure experience; we cast our net wide to attract candidates who wanted a career change or the opportunity to be upskilled, and importantly who wanted to help others.”
-Lindsay Barrett, HR Manager, Magna Vitae
95% of our new recruits are from Mablethorpe. They knew people who work in the centre or came to the centre. Some have been customers who have shown a bit of interest and thought, “I would quite like to work here.” This approach has allowed us to quickly create a close-knit team.
“We didn’t want to throw anyone in the deep end, so we started the process early back in April, long before the venue was to open in July, to be sure to allow time to get our recruits qualified, trained, shadowed and to allow them to spend time in our other venues, and learn from other team members.”
“Team building was an essential component of our induction process; our recruits spent time getting to know each other, be this going on team walks, or spending time in our venues; we needed to build trust, and we spent a lot of energy and a lot of time on nurturing this team, so they could hit the ground running.”
“Our new team is a pairing of new and experienced. We have moved some existing team members from other venues to bring their expertise in swimming pool operations to a team that has never had a swimming pool before.”
-Lindsay Barrett
Equal emphasis has been placed on upskilling the existing team, and everyone, whether new or old, has received customer service training, additional professional training in new business areas, and the opportunity to develop personal skills.
“We now have an existing team member who has been with us 20 years, training as an Aquacise instructor; people have grasped the opportunity to upskill.”
-Lindsay Barrett.
Leisure attendant Matthew, 21, has progressed from being a shy young man who, with his hood up, didn’t speak when attending the Magna Vitae’s ‘Aspire to be’ employability programme with his mum to now being a confident young man who is in full-time employment, delivering centre tours.
The venue is also soon to welcome an Apprentice, a young man who didn’t get the results he hoped for in his GCSEs but who joins as a leisure team member. Magna Vitae and Lincoln College will support him in achieving his level 2 swimming and level 2 fitness qualifications and revisit his maths and English GCSEs.
As you arrive at Station Leisure & Learning Centre, you are no longer greeted by one team member, that familiar face, but rather you are greeted by a larger team, a team reflective of the community they serve, a team that is the community.
Explore our Leisure Venues
Join us at our four locations in Skegness, Horncastle, Mablethorpe, and Louth.
Enjoy fitness suites, swimming pools, café facilities, a variety of exercise classes, and vibrant community groups.
Horncastle Pool & Fitness Suite
Welcome to Horncastle Pool & Fitness Suite. Take a look at our venue by clicking the link below.
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Meridian Leisure Centre
Welcome to Meridian Leisure Centre. Take a look at our venue by clicking the link below.
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Station Leisure & Learning Centre
Welcome to Station Leisure & Learning Centre. Take a look at our venue by clicking the link below.
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Skegness Pool & Fitness Suite
Welcome to Skegness Pool & Fitness Suite. Take a look at our venue by clicking the link below.
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Our charitable status.
We are proud of who we are and what we do.
As a Charitable Trust, we aim to combat social exclusion and improve health issues, along with so much more!
Our mission is to enhance the quality of life for our community by offering an extensive range of leisure and cultural activities designed to inspire, entertain, and nurture well-being.
