Staffing Your Spa for Success PART II

How do you know where to start?  As a spa or salon owner or manager, the first thing to look at is any consistencies in turnover.  After years in the club and spa world, it is obvious to me that turnover is contagious.  When one disgruntled employee starts complaining on the job, they all seem to get on the band wagon.  This could be due to many in-house issues; low morale, no clear career path, lack of recognition and even poor employee-manager relations.

If you were a fly on the wall, what would your staff be saying when you were not around?  Are your employees happy and feel this is the best work environment they have ever been in?  Or do you have back-stabbing employees, consistent fires and daily drama?  These are two extremes and hopefully you spa's staff is relatively drama free and content.  Many managers don't even realize or care about how their staff feels.  This is the difference between an effective manager and a manager with ongoing staffing issues.

To be an effective manager you need to give your staff the opportunity to express their thoughts and feelings so you know when problems exist and how to put them to rest as quickly as possible.  A weekly, mandatory meeting is necessary to keep the lines of communication open and to keep any egos in check.  This is also a great way to develop trust and give your staff a time and a place when they know problems and issues will be addressed.

I hope you take the time to do an environmental evaluation of your spa and give your staff the chance to vent before it is too late.  Remember it is less expensive to keep your existing staff happy and on board, them to find new ones!  

Staffing Your Spa for Success in 2008

With the new year upon us, it is time to take look back at what we did great last year and what we could improve on.  Staffing is an on-going issue that most of us could use a helping hand with.  Was the difficulty staffing your manager and department head positions, or was the challenge in the hourly and part time positions?  Do you have high turn over in your existing staff?  Are you getting qualified candidates for your open positions?

There are a few concepts to consider when looking to improve the staffing program for your spa or salon.  A better retention program, an applicant tracking program and an employee referral program.  I will delve deeper into each one of these in my next entries.  If you can find a way to dial in each idea to fit your spa or salon, you will be able to hold on longer to your current staff and have more luck when hiring new ones.

It is important for companies to position themselves more competitively - having more efficient, productive staff and keeping operating expenses low.  An organizations biggest asset is its people, and also its biggest expense.  If you want to increase your staffing success, might you consider using SpaandSalonJobs.com?