Hub Climbing Reviews

I used to love working here, but after a change in management, it felt as if the front desk staff weren't supported in the same way. There were too many changes happening all at once and the desk staff were never consulted or advocated for. Employee reviews (which I was told was linked to our hourly wages and potential raises) used to happen every 6 months, but after a change in management, the staff no longer got employee reviews and therefore stopped receiving raises. Working at Hub became overwhelming because of the new paperwork and changes to the job that seemed to occur almost weekly. Weekend shifts were a lot busier than weekday shifts and some weekend shifts even felt like a completely different job. Many shifts were understaffed or left as unscheduled. As a result, the line-ups at the desk would become super congested and customers would have long wait times leading them to lash out at the desk staff. It seemed as though many of my coworkers were burnt out and would start decreasing their hours of availability due being over-scheduled. The staff turn-over rate is also extremely high due to many of my coworkers feeling dissatisfied with the job. Poor communication between upper management team and staff members. Some changes were communicated the day of and were effective immediately. Many changes happened during my time working with Hub and many of these changes were made known to staff super last minute, sometimes with members being made aware of changes before the staff were notified. It seems to me the upper management did not care enough about their staff to let them know of changes in a timely manner. There were many inconsistencies in training and assessing staff members. Some staff were assessed on their ability to perform safe and comprehensive orientations, while others were not. Some staff had taken ladder training, while others had not. Some staff took coaching courses and were assessed, while others were not. From my experience, these inconsistencies created friction between staff members because of the extra workload that some staff had to take on while others did not. It seemed as though there was no real system for training or assessments which was pretty annoying. Along with the inconsistencies in staff trainings and assessments, there were also inconsistencies within youth programming. It is advertised by Hub that no climbing experience is necessary to apply to the position of front desk staff. If you are hired as front desk staff, you could also potentially be put into an instructor position with absolutely no climbing experience since there was a lack of coaches at Hub. It seemed to me that the Hub just wanted to take on friendly faces and bubbly personalities instead of building a climbing community, improving their youth climbers' abilities or improving their youth program offerings. In my opinion, some of my coworkers who were coaching should not have been coaching due to their lack of experience in climbing. Youth climbers who were signed up for the same program did not receive the same level of expertise depending on the coach they were paired with due to the lack of climbing experience from some of the coaches. Coaching pay was similar among all coaching staff, and unfortunately coaches who went above and beyond were not properly compensated.

Staffing: It's true that staffing a part-time position isn't without its challenges. Some staff have very challenging availability and management did their best to accommodate needs. However, there often was a lot of oversight when it came to scheduling gaps.The scheduling tool highlights the empty shifts, and posts them at the top of the schedule. It seemed that instead of off-setting their hours, the management team left the staff to fend for themselves. A single staff member should never be left alone to cover the entire gym, and even less so to close the gym. The staff are expected to cover the front desk, run orientations, and do sweeps every half hour. Hub advertises that they are all about safety, however an employee working alone cannot be responsible for the entire facility, and respond to an emergency. What made the staffing gaps even more appalling is the fact that management knew about them, but didn't fill them. In situations when an employee was scheduled to work on their own, their fellow employees stopped in to help. In these situations it seemed that the employees took more ownership of the situation and the gym than the people who were paid to do so. Changing expectations: When I took this job the expectation was that I would greet members, conduct bouldering orientations and do sweeps. From the time I started, the expectations and the size of my role appeared to change. Changes were implemented without consulting the FD team. I’m not so disillusioned as to think that the management team should consult part-time staff before implementing changes that they consider essential to safety, or to procedure. However, what I can expect from a good and considerate employer who cares about his staff is proper communication regarding major changes. Staff could have benefited from a meeting to discuss major changes and address any concerns employees may have. Growing Responsibilities: The front desk staff are responsible for some of the safety inspections. The team of directors wants everything to be safe, I can appreciate that, however, in my opinion, a part-time staff is in no way qualified to sign off on inspections. Personally, I signed off on inspections without knowing what they meant because I had to. Communicating to Members before communicating with the staff: It seemed that communication mishap happened often. I think it’s important that changes be communicated clearly with staff before they be communicated to members. For instance, the staff should be aware ahead of time for major events. Same goes to club cancellations. If the management team decides to cancel a team, the staff should know ahead of time. The reasons for the cancellation should also be communicated. Parents and members often have questions and it looks completely unprofessional when we are unable to answer them. Overwhelming managers and spreading them too thin: It seemed to me that the management team was spread very thin. Their workload kept growing, to the point where it seemed unhealthy.