How Basic-Fit transformed its EX with Workday, marking the company’s ‘biggest project ever undertaken in HR’

With over 1,400 clubs across Europe, Basic-Fit is one of Europe’s largest gym groups, offering a plethora of benefits to both members and employees alike. 

But managing such a large customer and employee base is no mean feat, which is why UNLEASH sat down for an exclusive interview with Basic-Fit’s Head of Human Resources, Marie-Veronique Bernard.

Bernard, who is responsible for the entire employee lifecycle at Basic-Fit, will be attending UNLEASH World for the first time next week, and taking center stage alongside Siemens’ Carissa Hickling to discuss how to harness talent intelligence and labor market data.

Can’t wait until next week? Don’t worry, we’ve got you covered with this exclusive interview with Bernard, where she shares knowledge on Basic Fit’s HR tech, company culture, and future plans.

Achieving full employee visibility with the right HR tech

Back in 2019, Basic-Fit had a big job – the business was set to roll out Workday’s new platform across its multiple sites.

But implementing the system was a huge job for Basic-Fit, with Bernard stating it was the “biggest project ever undertaken in HR in terms of collaboration for all countries”. 

What made matters more challenging, was Covid-19. The global pandemic caused Basic-Fit’s clubs to close and for staff to work from home. This meant that employees learn the new system, while also adjusting to doing their usual job remotely.  

Yet despite these challenges, Bernard expresses that it was “the right decision” to push ahead with the integration.

She says: “The reason we wanted to change our HR system was mainly because we were running on so many applications – I think it was around 16, so basically, every country had its own set of systems.

“We therefore didn’t have a very good user experience as there were so many different logins that people needed, and the data visibility was also scattered.”

 Workday was therefore Basic-Fit’s solution, providing an easy-to-use platform which was simple for managers and employees to use, so they didn’t have to spend hours learning how to use new HR systems.  

The system also allowed Basic-Fit to have one system that was able to capture all processes for every country and to push a standard process through a system that is intuitive. 

“When we onboard someone, we want them to be able to work as fast as possible in the gym,” Bernard adds. “We want to have an engaging onboarding experience, so employees feel that they can be autonomous straight away. 

“Keep in mind that our employees work alone in the club. We also have a lot of people that come in and out of the business, so we want to know they’re being onboarded quickly, but also in the right way.” 

Through Workday, Bernard shares that Basic-Fit saves two days of training, as before, managers would sit down with new employees and do their own onboarding. Now, it’s much more intuitive, and all employees undergo the same process.  

Employees also have all their information in one spot,” Bernard comments, “so they can find answers to common questions with a little less hassle than before Workday was implemented. 

“From an HR perspective, we’re now able to gather better data, and we’re able to target what really matters. 

“So we have completely reviewed our employee journey, and we have been able to identify the most complicated aspects, where we can improve it, and the changes that matter. This also means that managers have full visibility of their teams.”

Creating a company culture for all and improving retention

Fostering a harmonious company culture is a top priority for most businesses – and although Workday has improved Basic-Fit’s employee experience, there are still various other aspects Bernard is focused on improving.

“At Basic-Fit, we embrace a competitive and winning mindset, driven by an entrepreneurial spirit and a pragmatic approach,” she shares.

“Our mission to make fitness accessible to everyone in Europe is at the heart of everything we do, and in turn, our team members share a passion for making a real impact.”

Consequently, when Bernard is recruiting new employees, she looks for like minded people, with the ambition to grow – especially important as Basic-Fit has an internal mobility rate of 95% among managers.

“We have found that usually, young people find gyms an attractive place to work, especially because employees that work on the shop floor generally have an ambition to help people and make a difference,” Bernard highlights. “Our clubs also often have a sense of community about the club they work in. 

The topic of talent attraction is always an interesting one. The reality of our business is that you need value for your money – our business model also goes hand in hand with that, especially regarding salary and benefits.

“This remains a challenge, but we’re trying to offer creative ways in which we can offer benefits to our employees.”

To tackle this challenge, Bernard has set two main priorities: length of stay of employees and identifying talent. 

Bernard likens Basic-Fit’s mission to increase employee tenure to be similar to that of retail shops – where many employees stay for a few months, to then find another job. 

To improve this, Bernard is starting to identify when people leave, why people leave, and how we can incentivize them to stay a little bit longer.  

In terms of identifying top talent, the focus is on how to grow employees skills. 

She adds: “If I look at the demographic of our employees, many of them are very young, so they’re arguably less loyal than the older generation. 

“Because of this, we need to be more reactive and proactive in how we search, advertise, conduct interviews, and the type of profile we’re looking at. 

“This is something we’re working on in collaboration with our own data, because we have a lot of employees, so we want to be able to see trends and patterns.”

Hear more from Bernard at UNLEASH World 2024

On Wednesday 16 October, Bernard will be taking center stage, alongside Carissa Hickling, Global Head of Talent Acquisitions Analytics and Intelligence at Siemens to discuss Harnessing Talent Intelligence and Labor Market Data. 

Bernard says: “I’m excited about the chance to meet and engage with peers to take full advantage of the networking opportunities at UNLEASH World.

“Likewise, there’s a lot of discussions around AI, and while I understand its applications and actively use it, I want to dive deeper. Specifically, I’m interested in how we can bridge the gap between AI and the more human-centered components of HR. 

“As we enter an era where AI could potentially handle many tasks, like conducting interviews, I’m keen to explore where the human experience fits into this. I believe it’s crucial to maintain authenticity and address the inevitable mistakes or limitations of AI.”

To hear more from Bernard, make sure you attend her session! It’s not too late to sign up for UNLEASH World 2024 and join us in Paris  – you can book your pass here!