Northern Arena making a difference on the Shore

Northern Arena - Finalist in Excellence in Customer Service Delivery and Excellence in Strategy & Planning, Winner of Employer of the Year and Supreme Business Excellence Winner.

Finalist in Excellence in Customer Service Delivery and Excellence in Strategy & Planning, Winner of Employer of the Year, and Supreme Business Excellence Winner for North Auckland, Northern Arena has gone from strength to strength since first launching in 2010.

In a few short years, they have established themselves as a world class private family fitness centre with a combination of swimming pools, gym, group fitness classes and expert staff located on Auckland's North Shore.

Their mission statement is about 'changing lives' and in their own words this is 'what we live and breathe at our facility.'

"We have 117 employees currently at Northern Arena," explains Bryoney Shaw, Senior Accounts & Payroll Manager. "As an employer we definitely have a good reputation in the industry and actually have quite a lot of people approaching us saying 'I hear you're a great place to work.'"

"It's just a really positive, friendly environment. Most of us have been here since the very beginning, so we're quite a tight knit family," adds Bryoney.

The commitment to family extends to their customers. "As soon as you walk in the door, from the café to reception, to the gym, to the swim staff, we want you to walk in and feel like you've actually had a great experience. It's not just walking in for your swim lesson and getting out the door. The majority of people will end up staying far longer than their actual lesson or training," says Bryoney.

Northern Arena stands out as a business committed to helping people improve themselves - from staff to customers. "Our aim is to take care of our staff and to keep our customers here at Northern Arena as long as we can. We want to make a difference in their health and wellbeing, and we believe it's within the swim school and the gym that we can do it for the whole family," says Kelly Howarth, Gym & Group Fitness Manager.

"We have a business plan. And, it's about challenging - challenging ourselves, challenging what we think is the norm and then trying to beat what is best standard or best practice in the industry," adds Dean Kent, Swim Gym Physio.

"Matthew Saunders is our Director and he really sets the tone for the facility, for the senior management team, and it flows on from there. His experience in other industries opens up a lot of out-of-the-box left field thinking. Mathew sets some very ambitious goals with the help of us, his senior management team. So, that's where initiatives like the Manuka Doctor's Sponsored Babies Program came from, and our ability to license some of what we're doing to other facilities like schools or sports centres," says Dean.