Keep stylists happy with a robust payment structure
Published
23rd Jan 2014
by bathamm
Salary structures play a huge part in everyday salon life, the way you pay can have a significant impact on your ability to attract, incentivise, reward and retain employees, says Ian Egerton.
Of course as business owners we want value for money from our team and certainly don’t want to lock ourselves into costly pay programs or high commissions. Flip that around and neither would we expect to work for a lower salary than we deserve! To be most efficient your salary program, reporting and communication structures, should be robust and include ways to alert when people are underperforming – and reward those who perform well.
The hairdressing industry relies heavily on employees’ technical ability, quality of service and team participation. But real success depends on an employees’ ability to mix these skills with their personal and social skills; which, as the employer, you must manage and pay for. This is why your pay system is not only the most influential business tool you have, but it is the by far, the most efficient way to manage costs.
Your second most influential tool is free! It’s the power of recognition; William James, psychologist and philosopher said “the deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated” and for our creative, emotive industry, that is certainly true.
Combining the power of your pay system with drivers (goals incentives and recognition) can really help focus your team and produce the best results. Here are a few tips you may wish to consider to turbo-charge your pay system:
- Before you even consider hiring a new employee or increasing someone’s salary, create several salary levels with pre calculated models of target income
- Assign a skill set for each salary level (to give you a fair and structured method to evaluate a team member for promotion or to position a candidate when recruiting).
- Give each level multiple opportunities for recognition, (eg. simple triggers that give general acknowledgment of a job well done – or bonuses to reward specific behaviours and/or levels of performance).
- Feed information directly to your team, motivating and rewarding all employees (post performance results each week or through brief team meetings etc.).
- Ensure (through your business modelling) that your salary structure will protect your business, motivate the right behaviours, give recognition and give you peace of mind.
