Dont be sorry its great to have such an in-depth debate to read about. There are always two sides to everything (cliche i know but true) and for what its worth, I think you all made valid points at times and we can take away what we want from all this. Thanks from me!

Well i have a couple of salons and pay £6.50 to a newly qualified therapist (i.e less than 2 yrs experience) with increases from there for more experience. I know that most salons pay around that mark unless you have a big client list to brong with you.

all that will happen from this is poor salon wages = more people going it alone!
i work a full time job and part time in my home salon i am hoping over the next few months i will be doing my home salon job full time give up the day job and stop paying 2 lots of tax for a start...but by doing it alone the money is there and if its your own business you look after your clients better...
paying minimum wage with no bonus or incentives will result it staff rushing thier work and not really caring for the clients! so many shops open and a few months later they close down?! why is this? the clients are out there theres by far more people on ratio to salons ....alot of salons imo (and in my area) that have closed down is more due to the lack of care for the clients yes the shops look great but employing a couple of young girls to work for nothing and expect them to basically run the shop is a disaster waiting to happen....

I agree with this 100%

Something to bear in mind salon owners that pay minimum wage, is that the girls you employ may bite your hand off to get the job initially but once they've gained some training, experience and clients they will be off to a better salon with better wages or will work for themselves.

I should know as myself & lots of other girls did it at the salon i first worked at !

I think there is some great advice on this thread and if stops just one salon owner exploiting their staff then thats fantastic !!

Depends how you define "better" if that's just a finacial thing then yeah, your going to loose those people if they are not willing to wait for the company to develop and develop with the company.
If the company is lucky enough to go big, but they bailed early, it's there loss.

As said by other members, 2 sides to every coin.

The employers side:
The employer would only want loyal and commited people in there business, your people are your company.
People who are willing to help build the foundations become part of the structure.

Now the employees side:
It's the point when your employer doesn't have a development plan for you and doesn't ask where you see yourself in the next 5 years, you have no visable career progression.
This is easy to do with KPI's and attainable incramental targets.
Doesn't give you a way forward this this is where you would start loosing what I would see as valued employees.
In this case, it's the companies loss.

The only problem with this is that the salon at the end of the day belongs to the owner not the therapist employed, she will be building up your business (which will take a good 3 years to become very established) with little gain and no assurance that when you are doing well that you will raise his/her pay or keep him/her on. The loyalty and commitment I am afraid comes with insentives and rewards not with promise of a £1.50 pay rise in 3 yrs time. I thought when you opened a business you put the budgeting for staff into your business plan before you open to assure you can pay your staff a fair wage.

This is just my opinion though everyone has the right to run their business with their own acumen.

No, 1st priority of the business is to breakeven.
Budgeting for staff is done on a forcast in your business plan very early stages of initial setup.
A fair wage to an employer is whatever the business can afford to pay, if there's no more money in the pot then you have to do the best with what you have got.

It probably would take 3 years to become very established but a 3 year target wouldn't be what I called...
... ^^^ shown on your KPI's.
You would start by assessing yourself (as a business entity) and see where you saw yourself in 5 years and set your own targets.
These would be rolled out to your staff so they know what your are aiming for.
You would tell them where they fit in as key people in your organisation who by meeting there realistic/attainable incremental targets would contribute to you reaching your own long term plan.

These incremental targets would give your employee time to display there loyalty and commitment.
If they are meeting the targets, then they would be helping develop your business and as such they would be developing with the business...
... meaning for them - career progression, promotion, finacial gain would naturally come along with this and the extra responsibility of the job.
And the revenue would be there to pay them because your business has grown.


In 3 years your company if it went exceptionally well, could have 3 salons open!!!
Career progression for the right people could be very fast.

This is what I don't understand, taking a wage but then using the business profits for personal expenses. Surely those profits would be better used for salon.

If you feel justified in only paying minnimum wage that is your choice & I'm not going to make judgement on that. My only point is that there is then no incentive for the therapist to give their all to your salon. As a therapist why would you go all out to promote a salon, do alot of retail & encourage return business, if there is nothing in it for you.

Although this is obviously the attitude of many employers, (I am not saying it is not the usual business practice) it just makes no sense to me. How someone gets their business up and running to a decent standard when they can only employ staff straight out of college with little experience to help run the salon (due to salary putting off the more experienced) and expect them to carry your business for you for 3 years on a pittance is beyond me.

If one can not afford to pay their staff a decent wage then as was suggested earlier it would be a good idea to build business up with the owners doing the hard graft as they will be the ones reaping the reward at the end of the day. Then when they can afford to pay someone more experienced who will enrich their business they can do so and then employ trainees e.t.c. as they expand. You would for example not buy in cr*ppy products or broken massage beds, or grubby second hand sunbeds because you couldn't budget for them. Why is the staff salary where the penny pinching comes in? it suggests that they are not such an important commodity. Without the staff the salon would stop making money completely!

You are earning minimum wage because you are making that sacrifice for the good of your business, knowing that you will eventually make much more and can take the profits when they are up. They are earning minimum wage because you want to use them as a means to an end.

Just wanted to add in JOMs defence that I know of quite a few salons that pay below the minimum wage, never mind above the minimum!

I know some sweat shops in China where staff are paid £6 a week...no JOM's not so bad (only kidding, I know this is not the same thing)

I don't want to attack JOM (honest I don't) as he is doing what he feels is best for his family which is understandable. I am just looking at the bigger picture. To be sucessful can mean different thing to different people.

x

I work in a salon on a 50% commission and I make about $40/hr (canadian). Although I started at the bottom, with jobs that paid only minimum wage and as I gained more experience and more clientele I made more money.

LOL it doesn't work like that.
You don't take a wage ... the business profits ARE your wage.
Your business and you are not seperate, they are the same legal entity (unless a ltd company) small salons are normally not limited.
They are known as sole traders, doesn't mean you work on your own, you have employees but it's just the legal term.

Your business is in debt, then you are in debt... your business goes under, the creditors can take your house, your kids playstation everything.

sorry but I will not carry on with this debate.
I have said if you grow they grow, if you earn more they earn more, as you develop they develop.
Doesn't get anymore clearer than that yet your still saying comment like expecting ppl to work on a pitance.

I have to agree with this.

I have found that in school, they told us we would be making all this great money, when in reality, we started out at the bottom. Unless you are lucky to get out of school and fall right into a full clientele, then you have to build up from scratch. So that means that when you are new and inexperienced you get paid less then someone who has a lot of experience and clientele. A new salon that cannot afford to pay more than min wage at the beginning is a great place for a newbie to start out at, and as they grow and their client list grow, then so should the pay.