Owning your own business is a dream many people have, however, knowing whether it would make a profitable business is often another story.
We will identify and discuss five key areas for you to utilize at your facility to improve employee retention in your spa;
Plenty of clients will respond to your marketing and come to see the new spa or salon out of curiosity, but getting them to return a second time is an important key to long-term success.
You cannot achieve this if your staff are not on board with the company’s vision due to their personal mistreatment.
It’s incredibly difficult to grow your revenue and business without good client retention, and your staff is integral to this.
This article will examine how to get the balance right between running a tight ship as the boss of a company and also cutting employees enough slack to maintain a good working relationship in your spa.
Presentation And Aesthetics Alone Will Not Suffice
Simply having a nice facility isn’t sufficient, as the competition is too high. You need to ensure that you are creating an experience that isn’t necessarily unique to spas but is worth returning for. There are a few ways to achieve this.
Highly-trained, professional staff capable of anticipating customer needs, effective treatments, wonderful ambiance, and participation in the community you serve are a few ways to earn a loyal customer base.
If you don’t keep your staff happy, then you can wave goodbye to doing so with any client base you have built up. That repeat business will be gone, which will have a detrimental effect on your company finances.
Your Staff Are A Reflection Of You
In addition to this, customer loyalty is also generated by word of mouth, so first impressions are incredibly important for the success of your business. You can’t underestimate how powerful word of mouth is.
If an employee is treated unfairly, it is likely to come across in their work. This is disastrous in the spa as the client will have a poor experience and not return.
Not only do you lose the resale value, but you also risk them bad-mouthing you to others, which will lose you further customers.
The underperforming therapist not only has not done themselves justice in the client’s eyes with a poor standard of work, but also dented your spa’s reputation in the process.
Further down the line, this will come back to bite you in the form of lost profits and decreased respect from peers and competitors in the industry.
The Advised Approach
Here are five recommendations that we think can really help you in your quest to improve employee retention in your spa;
- Act Upon Feedback
- Focus On Personal Development
- Recognition Of Achievements
- Make Onboarding Count
- Prioritize Recruitment Standards
Let’s cover them in more depth to drum home your understanding of each of the five core areas.
Act Upon Feedback
You can’t avoid some employee turnover. But whether you have high turnover or low turnover, you can gain important insights from spa employees on their way out the door. Many people make the mistake of waiting until they receive a resignation to discover what is going wrong.
You will get feedback from your engagement surveys, so use the results and take advantage of the information they provide to prevent further resignations.
Use exit surveys to get direct feedback from your soon-to-be ex-employees on exactly why they’re leaving and what suggestions they may have for improving the company. You might be surprised by what you learn.
Focus On Personal Development
Recognition can come from a simple thank you and a straightforward acknowledgment of hard work. Spa employees want to know they have a future at your company and you can give them a boost by providing development opportunities and investing in their futures.
If they don’t see it, they’ll look for it somewhere else. That’s why spa employee development is key for engaging and retaining top talent year after year.
- Prioritize internal hires and promotions when possible
- Provide opportunities for coaching and mentorship
- Make long-term employee goals and development a part of your regular performance conversations
- Communicate with your employees to understand their goals and expectations for development. Where do they see themselves in five years? What skills or experience do they hope to gain? Be sure to let them know what opportunities are available to them, including training, mentorship programs, and education support.
Recognition Of Achievements
Creating a positive work environment is essential for employee retention. Make sure your employees feel valued and appreciated by recognizing their accomplishments and providing feedback on their performance. Encourage collaboration, communication, and team building activities to help foster a sense of community in the workplace.
Here are a few ways you can build recognition and feedback into your spa culture:
- Practice continuous listening by using both annual and spontaneous surveys to gather employee feedback.
- Hold regular one-on-ones with all employees. This enables you to review performance together often, offer (and ask for) feedback, and discuss career development with spa employees.
- Create a spa employee recognition program. This builds recognition into your culture through peer-to-peer appreciation, public and private praise from managers, and company awards or mentions.
Make Onboarding Count
Once you’re confident you found the right match for the job, it’s time to onboard and train them. But onboarding is more than just signing a contract, taking a facility tour, and setting up the employee’s desk or in this case, treatment area.
You have a real opportunity to make this vital time in the staff members’ recruitment count. If you underestimate the importance of this then you will regret it in the near future as it will take longer to train and longer for the employee to settle.
Your onboarding process should be strategic and not be a one-off occurrence. It should be an ongoing procedure for spa employees to be able to revisit at any time during their formative months with the business.
Don’t take it for granted that they are ok because they have not raised any issues. Check with them. Reinforce the fact that it is ok to ask questions and do not miss the opportunity to build rapport by providing comfort and reassurance during their infancy with the spa.
The onboarding process at the spa should target several goals:
- Reinforce a positive first impression of your company
- Set clear expectations for their work and future at the spa
- Communicate what to expect in the first week
- Connect new hires to the team and help them build relationships with coworkers and colleagues to build a culture at your spa
- Provide structured opportunities for new hires to offer feedback on their job, company processes, and culture
- Start planning for their long-term future and development at the spa
Prioritize Recruitment Standards
There is a strong connection between employee engagement and employee turnover. Disengaged employees are naturally more likely to leave their spa compared with highly engaged employees.
Risking a huge investment of time and money in recruiting and training costs for just a few months of work is not necessary if you get it right the first time around. It is so important that companies invest in the right hires from the start, to avoid mismatches in skills and role responsibilities.
To accomplish this, the spa manager needs to communicate their expectations clearly and pay attention to possible misalignment in experience and culture. If you can get the right person in terms of work ethic and attitude, then you can fine-tune their skills and nurture their experience.
Choosing the most coveted and qualified applicant is not always the best fit for your spa, focus on personality as well as credentials as that is what clients will be looking for when they visit your facility.
How to calculate your employee retention rate
Calculating your employee retention rate is an important step in understanding the health of your organization. It can help you identify areas where you need to focus on improving employee satisfaction and loyalty. Here’s how to calculate your employee retention rate:
1. Calculate the number of employees who left during a given period of time. This could be a month, quarter, or year depending on the size of your organization.
2. Divide that number by the total number of employees at the beginning of that period.
3. Multiply the result by 100 to get your employee retention rate as a percentage.
Once you have your employee retention rate, you can compare it to industry benchmarks and use it to identify areas where you need to focus on improving job satisfaction and loyalty.
Final Thoughts
When properly planned, marketed, and managed, a spa should be a viable, marketable, and profitable business in and of itself.
However, how profitable it is as a business will depend on the type of spa that you have, and how you market your business. All of the above will prove to be irrelevant if you do not look after your employees.
The therapists and all spa workers are the core of the business, so utilizing the effective retention tools discussed will benefit you when it comes to keeping your best staff and in turn both building your spa’s reputation and your own bottom line.
You may be the brains and the brawn behind the decision-making, but they are the faces of the company and with essential customer relation responsibilities on them, your staff is the key to your fortune, treat them well to fully prosper.
