Fair Pay for Spa Teams Must Come from the Spa Industry

The spa industry is facing a recruitment crisis. Young people and their advisors undervalue the career of a spa therapist. In response to this, we look externally. It’s easy to suggest that our industry is not understood, and the career trajectory is underreported. However, it’s really about time we looked internally.

We have heard many times, in and out of our specific industry that there is a generational shift in job expectations. Millennials and Generation Z are criticised for unrealistic salary expectations, demanding to fast track to senior positions, unprepared to put in the hard graft required to ‘make it’.

Let us pause and unpack this. The average junior therapist in the UK according to glass door has an average yearly salary of £17,580. This is offered after at least one year of study. Compare this to the starting salary of an entry level junior chef of £21,000 who has undertaken similar further education training time.

The first hurdle in engaging future therapists is combatting the fact that the industry itself does not offer fair salaries. Instead of blaming the new generation of would-be therapist, maybe we should be congratulating them. A spa therapist salary, with at least 3 years’ experience and fully qualified, should surely equate to the same as other comparably qualified positions? Why do we refuse to acknowledge that the reason we have a recruitment crisis is because we are no longer offering adequate financial reward nor long term career goals and development within the workplace.

Of course, there are many things to consider when building out your recruitment process and employee benefits and there are undoubtedly countless budget restrictions. However, one of the things that must be front, and centre is a spa is not a spa without being able to deliver a good treatment, by a good therapist, worth every penny you are charging for it. Before you consider products, amenities, or anything else, consider your team, how to get them and more importantly how to keep them. Its starts with us, the spa industry.

Put your money into your people:

Yes, overheads are higher in a spa or salon, than say a restaurant or coffee shop but success has a far greater dependency on your treatment delivery and guest service. The value in your offering is virtually entirely based on the quality of the treatments you offer. The knowledge of the therapist, their confidence in retailing. Understaffing and high labour turnover not only damages your revenue but impacts your reputation and longevity. If guests cannot expect consistency and stability in your spa, you are fighting a losing battle anyway. Pay more than everyone else, offer better benefits than everyone else, treat your team like the superstars they are with money and opportunity and whilst everyone else is on a constant recruitment cycle, you can start bedding in your spa and doing the fun stuff.

Ensure that from the outset a clear development path is in place:

Often advanced training qualifications can be used as salary ladders. The more advanced the treatment, the more the spa can charge, the greater financial reward for the therapist. Therefor your reputation and client base are rewarded, your therapist is rewarded and further developed and your bottom line and guest loyalty is positively impacted.

Acknowledge the unsociable hours and lack of work/life balance and find compromises for your team:

Use a rolling rota and lieu time to allow therapist to enjoy some balance in their lives. Offer shift request forms and shift swap options so the team have some power over their choices. If you have clear parameters set as to how many therapists need to be on shift, the team can understand the ebbs and flows of business.

Be an employer of choice:

Your reputation as an employer is one of the best recruitment tools you have. If you want the best candidates, prepared to deliver on your goals then show that you will be the one to deliver on theirs.

At The Spa Collaborative, we remember very clearly the early days of our careers. Underpaid, overworked, and doing it all because we loved the job, but also because that is what we believed was required to get approval and be recognised. Looking back and reflecting on those times, we realise that this is not necessary. We do not want the next generation of spa professionals to feel overwhelmed by the guest expectation, working unsociable hours and still struggle to pay their rent.

 We want to shift the conversation to encourage people into the industry because it is great career, respected, filled with opportunities, secure and rewarding. That will only happen if we, as industry professionals, make the change. Refocus our efforts, not on trying to sell in an antiquated job to a generation but innovating a new career pathway for young people and matching the salary with the job expectation.