Hi geeks,

I'm looking for salon owners/managers who have had techs go on maternity leave or are about to encounter this problem for an article for Pro Nails.
Please can you either PM me, email on rachael_glazier@yahoo.co.uk or call me on my mobile 07939 258 172 if you would be willing to have a quick chat with me (must be UK-based).
Huge thanks as ever,
Rachael

Freelance journalist
www.rachaelglazier.co.uk

When a staff member goes on maternity leave it is the same in all industries.

Don't make me invent the word "nailist" or "nailtechnicianist" , maternity leave is maternity leave, pregnant is pregnant........ and i'm a man.

Perhaps I shouldn't have written 'problem', for which I apologise. I was just trying to get hold of a nail salon owner who has had techs go on maternity leave to see what their experience was. I appreciate that the rights are the same across all industries but it would be good to balance out the laws with firsthand experience from those in the nail industry. There are probably many managers who have never had techs go on mat leave and I'm hoping that this article will remove some of the mystery.
Sorry to cause offence - don't think I've ever been called anti-nails before!
Cheers,
Rachael

You weren't called anti-nails (just look at the post above), it just seemed you made pregnant nail techs different from any other pregnant woman. Hairdressers face the same predicament, as do almost every other vocation.

Fair point about the anti-nails bit.
I'm writing about it for a nails mag, so my first thought was to talk to people from that industry, the same as if I was writing for a trade mag for hairdressers. As I said, I just wanted to have some firsthand experiences from nail techs because it may just throw up something that people in other industries don't have to deal with, like reallocating clients, the ease of finding cover in an industry where temp agencies are pretty non-existent etc. In that instance, I would say that no, not all managers (I'm looking at it from their point of view) in all industries will necessarily be in exactly the same situation when a member of staff becomes pregnant. The laws are the same, but the day-to-day issues may be different.
Rachael

A temp agency with decent nail techs could make a fortune

The trouble is most decent nail techs are self employed, and most nail salons won't pay a decent salary.

I worked in a hair salon where the owner went on maternity leave and it was left to the other staff to take on her clients and run the salon. She didn't pay them any extra and could barely even say thank you. Nearly 3 years later she's still only part time and it's still down to the other staff to keep it going.

i am mobile and self employed.... i have just found out that i am pregnant and taking time off is a big worry for me beause of no income and no boss to pay me meternity pay... i would of thought that getting a nail tech just as good as the one on meterninty leave in a salon would be hard and clients may not like the chang...?? just my opinion xx but i do agree with you wanting to talk and see it from a nail tech/managers point of view ,,,... good reaserch !

I found I lost quite a few clients due to me being preggers a 5 years ago...I had my salon at the time and there was only me there so I took someone on who had a bit of experience to do clients...
but as you can imagine they werent happy and stopped getting them done till I got back but by the time I did get back a fair few of them got used to NOT having them...i
t wasnt devestating but I had to look at it from the clients point of view...why would they pay the same if the nails werent the same and were not lasting as well? just one of those things.

Must admit its also 1 of the reasons I havent had another child!!