Gymshark - stretching and toning their approach to hiring an inclusive workforce

We're delighted to have recently added Gymshark as a new client - they are deeply committed to promoting flexible working principles and they already have lots of great flexible jobs on 2to3days!

To welcome Gymshark to our community, we asked them to tell us a bit more about themselves and why 2to3days is such a great fit for their recruitment strategy and staff welfare goals.

Please give us a summary of the vision and mission that sits at the heart of Gymshark’s success? 

Our purpose is to unite the conditioning community, where conditioning is everything we do today to prepare for tomorrow. Internally, culture is our number one priority. This has become even more important as we have both grown and adopted an increase in remote working. 

We talk a lot internally about family (cheesy, but true!) and refer to our employees as being part of the Gymshark family. Similar to a family setup, we are based on shared values and look out for and support each other as we move forward together. 

Why have you chosen to partner with 2to3days? 

We want to find the best talent – simple! Juliet and 2to3days put people first and that is exactly what we do. Many companies talk about flexing their approach, but at Gymshark we offer so much more - we invest the time to understand each candidate's background and needs to customise a flexible working proposal that ultimately promotes the very best working environment for everyone to thrive.  

Do you have to be a fitness fanatic to work at Gymshark?

Absolutely not! We have people from all backgrounds in the Gymshark family. Ultimately, we love fitness, but we do not expect all our employees to. We speak about being disruptive - challenging our ways of working and asking questions to continue to push boundaries and drive innovation - and to effectively do this, we need a diverse workforce from different backgrounds, with diverse interests.

What plans are afoot to ensure that you create a truly diverse and inclusive workforce? 

To support our plans, we have an internal consultant driving an exciting D&I strategy, as well as a designated Employee Resource Group. Additionally, we continue to benchmark our current position with external support bodies (Disability Confidence/Stonewall, etc) and closely monitor gender and ethnicity pay reporting to identify opportunities for improvement.

Our recruitment process is linked to mandatory unconscious bias training, tailored training for recruiting managers and updated recruitment processes. We also have coaches to help support Women in Leadership, as well as supporting all aspiring talent within the business.

What does working flexibly really mean to Gymshark and what support do you give to ensure you walk your talk? 

We work flexibly and we really do mean it! We trust our people to get their work done in a way that suits them and to work that out with their team. This means identifying when you work best as an individual and altering your hours to suit accordingly, so whether this means you are a night owl and work better on an evening so need to start later in the day, you can do this.

We know that people have lots of different things going on in their lives from juggling parenting and caring responsibilities or just having the flexibility to take your dog out in the middle of the day. You can easily split up your working day to help accommodate personal needs. 

We encourage this flexible approach by ensuring employees are taking time out for themselves in the week - this may be attending regular Gymshark-hosted wellbeing classes (such as yoga or meditation), encouraging employees to take their calls offline, or having fun and making use of their personal 'Slack' status emoji to notify others when they need to be offline. These initiatives are encouraged by the leadership team, who lead by example, working flexibly where possible.

Do you have any challenges to recruiting talent and if so, what are you doing to crack them? 

Of course we our have challenges; one of ours is around the misconception that we discussed earlier about candidates thinking they must be a gym lover to work here or have to wear our leggings or drink protein shakes! Another is across the full breadth of opportunities we can offer.

Many people do not know that we have a growing 70+ data team or that our tech function includes 40 engineers that work on some of the latest technologies available. We are developing and promoting these messages externally and enhancing our employer branding, recruitment processes, and candidate experience.  It is an exciting time at Gymshark, we are growing as a business and this is a fantastic opportunity to join the Gymshark family.

What have you learnt about the way you work as a result of Covid-19 and how has the pandemic altered the way you will hire and work going forward?  

We are extremely proud of our innovative HQ in Solihull and the campus we are expanding in that space; however, we have hired extensively throughout the pandemic with the majority of employees recruited remotely from interview process to onboarding.

We continue to refine this process as remote working is clearly set to stay, with a focus on ensuring that the unique Gymshark culture remains prominent throughout.

Find out more about Gymshark and view their current flexible job opportunities