26/04/2023
An Open Letter to Gyms: WHAT ARE WE WORTH?
Before the pandemic my rate for a group class was between $70 and $80 per hour. Now the pandemic is over it seems the hourly rate for yoga teachers has gone down. Three times now I’ve been offered a class for $60. When I say my rate for a permanent classes is $70 the manager will not budge. It’s almost like there’s been a notice from head office, that $60 is the ceiling and to pay more would be stepping over the line. Each time I go through this a part of me wavers. I love to teach yoga and I know I offer a good class. But if I take $60, I just gave myself a 10% pay cut and it doesn’t seem right when everything else around me (besides a yoga class) seems to be going up. Three times now I have refused on principle. Three times I have missed out on the job because presumably there’s another yoga teaching waiting to take my place.
I know why this has happened and it’s actually the gym's own fault. They went and put all the small yoga studios out of business with cheap, unlimited classes and now they can’t afford to pay the yoga teacher an honest rate. I do appreciate that people can now get their yoga at a very accessible rate, but this quibbling over $10. Really. It seems to me it was the gyms who offered too many classes and now it’s the yoga teacher who must take the cut.
What a weird world us yoga (and pilates) teachers have found ourselves in. There is a reason why our hourly rate is a little higher than many jobs. Most employers are legally bound to give their staff at least a three hour shift to make it worth their while. Gym-owners, I don’t want you to think that it’s just one hour that you’re getting out of us. Our preparation time and travel is not included in the cost. There are no special benefits such as a mobile phone or a car. There’s no sick pay, superannuation or holiday loading. We pay for our own insurance, our first aid certificates and working with children checks. Not even a uniform. My yoga pants cost me almost a week's wage! And let’s not start on the trainings. At this stage I don’t want to admit how much money I’ve spent on trainings. All for the goal of giving your clients the best and safest experience.
As I sit here this morning, having once again negotiated myself out of a job, I am wondering if I was the one that was quibbling over $10. I am thinking maybe the writing is on the wall for us yoga teachers. The gyms will soon be getting their receptionists to do an online yoga teacher training for $200, and that will be that. Instead of the yoga teacher getting paid a feasible hourly rate, the gyms will get ‘Bulk Yoga 24/7’ and will be happy knowing that even if a good percentage of their clients don’t turn up, it was all those group classes on the schedule that hooked them in and now they’ve got them paying $19.99 a week for the next year.
I know times are tough but gym-owners, even for you, I think this flat rate philosophy is a mistake. When you refuse to pay an experienced teacher what she is worth because you think there will always be a new teacher ready to take her place, you are bringing down the quality of your group classes. In the end your students will sense it and the numbers will go down. It’s fine to pay new teachers a slightly lower rate. When I first began teaching I didn’t care about my hourly rate. I took every class I could just to get the experience. But it is the accumulated wisdom of the experienced teachers who really bring the culture of the studio up. My initial training was a start, but it was only through attending classes and having conversations with those experienced teachers that I really learned and improved. It has taken many years of teaching and considerable financial investment to bring me to a place where I know that I am now one of the experienced teachers. I know our value and it seems a shame that I and many others will be pushed off to the side over a matter of $10.
Monique
www.embodiyoga.com.au
