What is happening to beauty industry??

[Lucyb123]

I’m writing this half ranting and half hoping that others feel the same way.
Recruitment for beauty therapists seems impossible at the moment. The standard of therapists who are finishing college is appalling. The attitude of young girls coming out of college is ‘can’t be bothered’ and their knowledge and skills is non existent - how do they pass their NVQ course?

We have been trying to recruit for nearly 2 years now. We offer a great rate of pay (above average), every other Saturday off, no Sunday working.
The demand for treatments is there but we just can’t get the staff.

Everyone seems to want more - more money, less hours, no evenings or weekends, doesn’t want to offer certain treatments, have a no can do attitude.
Even some of the therapists we have recruited didn’t work out - they turn up late, call in sick and the standard of treatments is not up to scratch - we are talking about an eyebrow shape and leaving half the hair there. It’s like they just don’t care.

I’m considering an apprentice, does anyone have experience of this. Im worried they’ll need a lot of time and training and at the moment because of how short staffed we are I haven’t got that to give.
Im working all the hours possible to try and cover but the reality is we need more staff and can’t find them!

Starting to feel is this industry sustainable anymore, with costs going up, we need to do more sales but without staff we can’t achieve this.

Thanks for listening

 

[TheDuchess]

Hi Lucyb123

Sadly your experience mirrors my own. I don’t have the answers I’m afraid. I have spent 10 years carefully recruiting, training, developing and nurturing my team and now feel that I won’t ever recruit staff again. I let my last two team members go last year. Lovely girls but just didn’t want to work profitably - pestering me for more hours in January then turning work down in May, asking for more and more time off during peak periods - their roles became non viable in the end. It’s been a great relief to be able to focus on my clients and business without the distraction of having to manage staff.

I have recruited apprentices in the past but only older girls delighted to save themselves the expense of a college course. They started well but I didn’t feel it was a successful venture. They became resentful that they were “underpaid” whilst the cost to me to take the time to train them was hugely expensive.

My feeling atm is that only second career trainees are worth recruiting and you’d need to have a business where you can pay them more than they’d earn elsewhere - I’d suggest offering a self employed contract when they finish. You might get luckier than me.

In the end I’ve reimagined my business to run without paid staff. I’m able to control my costs much better, my energy bills are a fraction of what they were previously, my product costs have dropped massively because I’m frugal and I’ve got my life back because I don’t create excessive amounts of laundry. No more sticky bottles, no more wax on floors, no more dried up products because lids weren’t screwed on. And everything is where it’s supposed to be. My days run like clockwork, I no longer spend hours on my knees cleaning, i no longer fall asleep the second I sit down on the sofa like a Tiny Tears doll. I’m really enjoying the change of pace even though I’m not making as much money as before. And my clients are happy.

 

[Faust Vega]

Hi Lucyb123

Sadly your experience mirrors my own. I don’t have the answers I’m afraid. I have spent 10 years carefully recruiting, training, developing and nurturing my team and now feel that I won’t ever recruit staff again. I let my last two team members go last year. Lovely girls but just didn’t want to work profitably - pestering me for more hours in January then turning work down in May, asking for more and more time off during peak periods - their roles became non viable in the end. It’s been a great relief to be able to focus on my clients and business without the distraction of having to manage staff.

I have recruited apprentices in the past but only older girls delighted to save themselves the expense of a college course. They started well but I didn’t feel it was a successful venture. They became resentful that they were “underpaid” whilst the cost to me to take the time to train them was hugely expensive.

My feeling atm is that only second career trainees are worth recruiting and you’d need to have a business where you can pay them more than they’d earn elsewhere - I’d suggest offering a self employed contract when they finish. You might get luckier than me.

In the end I’ve reimagined my business to run without paid staff. I’m able to control my costs much better, my energy bills are a fraction of what they were previously, my product costs have dropped massively because I’m frugal and I’ve got my life back because I don’t create excessive amounts of laundry. No more sticky bottles, no more wax on floors, no more dried up products because lids weren’t screwed on. And everything is where it’s supposed to be. My days run like clockwork, I no longer spend hours on my knees cleaning, i no longer fall asleep the second I sit down on the sofa like a Tiny Tears doll. I’m really enjoying the change of pace especially after I started using Priceva. And my clients are happy.

Read it in one breath

 

[Ashley Blakemore]

I think one problem is we are in an industry where we can all do the job on our own and once you get enough experience and confidence, working for someone else starts to drag you down and you realise the earning potential you can do by yourself, which leads to lack of interest in jobs in our industry.

I’ve been in the industry for nearly 20 years and I must admit I was shocked at the amount of girls I’ve come across who think beauty is easy, once they realise it isn’t they feel trapped and don’t have the heart for the job and end up doing an awful job…the amount of corrections I’ve had to do is insane. One girl even filed down a clients acrylic and through her nail plate to the bed

Your salon sounds like a great place to work though, every other Saturday off!? I would have snapped your hand off if I was a new beautician.

I’ve heard from lots of clients that are in other jobs such as advertising who have had the same problems with young, new employees so I think it’s also possibly a generation thing!? Especially with girls, they don’t want to work and want that instagram lifestyle that they’re brainwashed to look up to.

 

[BannerPenguin]

I think one problem is we are in an industry where we can all do the job on our own and once you get enough experience and confidence, working for someone else starts to drag you down and you realise the earning potential you can do by yourself, which leads to lack of interest in jobs in our industry.

I’ve been in the industry for nearly 20 years and I must admit I was shocked at the amount of girls I’ve come across who think beauty is easy, once they realise it isn’t they feel trapped and don’t have the heart for the job and end up doing an awful job…the amount of corrections I’ve had to do is insane. One girl even filed down a clients acrylic and through her nail plate to the bed

Your salon sounds like a great place to work though, every other Saturday off!? I would have snapped your hand off if I was a new beautician.

I’ve heard from lots of clients that are in other jobs such as advertising who have had the same problems with young, new employees so I think it’s also possibly a generation thing!? Especially with girls, they don’t want to work and want that instagram lifestyle that they’re brainwashed to look up to.

The only generational thing is perhaps realising their worth more. Sadly, as I'm sure you'll agree, Beauty is an underpaid industry so it can be hard to aspire to want a career in the industry.

We are hopefully finally switching from a live-to-work to a work-to-live attitude.

 

[Lilly1999]

Hi Lucyb123

Sadly your experience mirrors my own. I don’t have the answers I’m afraid. I have spent 10 years carefully recruiting, training, developing and nurturing my team and now feel that I won’t ever recruit staff again. I let my last two team members go last year. Lovely girls but just didn’t want to work profitably - pestering me for more hours in January then turning work down in May, asking for more and more time off during peak periods - their roles became non viable in the end. It’s been a great relief to be able to focus on my clients and business without the distraction of having to manage staff.

I have recruited apprentices in the past but only older girls delighted to save themselves the expense of a college course. They started well but I didn’t feel it was a successful venture. They became resentful that they were “underpaid” whilst the cost to me to take the time to train them was hugely expensive.

My feeling atm is that only second career trainees are worth recruiting and you’d need to have a business where you can pay them more than they’d earn elsewhere - I’d suggest offering a self employed contract when they finish. You might get luckier than me.

In the end I’ve reimagined my business to run without paid staff. I’m able to control my costs much better, my energy bills are a fraction of what they were previously, my product costs have dropped massively because I’m frugal and I’ve got my life back because I don’t create excessive amounts of laundry. No more sticky bottles, no more wax on floors, no more dried up products because lids weren’t screwed on. And everything is where it’s supposed to be. My days run like clockwork, I no longer spend hours on my knees cleaning, i no longer fall asleep the second I sit down on the sofa like a Tiny Tears doll. I’m really enjoying the change of pace even though I’m not making as much money as before. And my clients are happy.

 

[Lilly1999]

I am beauty therapist and I felt you. The young therapist now a days does bare minimum and when other does something to make the client feel special they just complain”oh I don’t do that, why is she doing it.etc

 

[jlsdds]

No more sticky bottles, no more wax on floors, no more dried up products because lids weren’t screwed on. And everything is where it’s supposed to be. My days run like clockwork, I no longer spend hours on my knees cleaning, i no longer fall asleep the second I sit down on the sofa like a Tiny Tears doll. I’m really enjoying the change of pace even though I’m not making as much money as before. And my clients are happy.

Absolutely. My employees hated cleaning up after themselves. I’m now working for myself and love the control. The only drawback for me is what to do with mani/pedi clients while I’m on vacation. Not having backup is hard.

 

[RosieR]

Hi There,

Even when I was in college there were always the "lazy" students that did nothing other than think they were too good to keep things neat and orderly, preferring to "preen" themselves like they were entitled princesses.
Roll on 40 years and it doesn't seem like there has been much change apart from more picture perfect pouting opportunities making newbies even less interested in their clients' experiences.
Luckily for those of us on this forum with expertise , care and consistent nurturing of our clients we still have a business to call our own.
Get rid of rubbish staff, be self reliant and yes that means you will maybe earn less, but you will be happier once you are removed from the negative impact of idle staff. Can't stand laziness it is not something any salon owners should have to put up with. They have taken huge risks, expense and time to help nurture their staff and then to get nothing in return.
Best of luck to everyone!

 

[Lucyb123]

Thank you everyone for your responses. Although its heart breaking seeing your business declining because of staffing issues, its reassuring to know that others feel the same and its not just me.

I am currently in the process of looking to move premises, down size and that way the pressure of doing more sales to cover the overheads will be be reduced.

I do think that us hard working therapists with years of expertise should start charging more.... surely once we all retire the industry will crash as the newbies just don't seem to cut it!

 

[Scissors]

Absolutely. My employees hated cleaning up after themselves. I’m now working for myself and love the control. The only drawback for me is what to do with mani/pedi clients while I’m on vacation. Not having backup is hard.

Would it be possible to have a relationship with another self employed so each of you could cover a few days here and there for each other?

 

[WeltZumerr]

Hi Lucyb123

Sadly your experience mirrors my own. I don’t have the answers I’m afraid. I have spent 10 years carefully recruiting, training, developing and nurturing my team and now feel that Spotify Playlist Pitching | Viberate.com I won’t ever recruit staff again. I let my last two team members go last year. Japanese Kitchen Knives Lovely girls but just didn’t want to work profitably - pestering me for more hours in January then turning work down in May, asking for more and more time off during peak periods - their roles became non viable in the end. It’s been a great relief to be able to focus on my clients and business without the distraction of having to manage staff.

I have recruited apprentices in the past but only older girls delighted to save themselves the expense of a college course. They started well but I didn’t feel it was a successful venture. They became resentful that they were “underpaid” whilst the cost to me to take the time to train them was hugely expensive.

My feeling atm is that only second career trainees are worth recruiting and you’d need to have a business where you can pay them more than they’d earn elsewhere - I’d suggest offering a self employed contract when they finish. You might get luckier than me.

In the end I’ve reimagined my business to run without paid staff. I’m able to control my costs much better, my energy bills are a fraction of what they were previously, my product costs have dropped massively because I’m frugal and I’ve got my life back because I don’t create excessive amounts of laundry. No more sticky bottles, no more wax on floors, no more dried up products because lids weren’t screwed on. And everything is where it’s supposed to be. My days run like clockwork, I no longer spend hours on my knees cleaning, i no longer fall asleep the second I sit down on the sofa like a Tiny Tears doll. I’m really enjoying the change of pace even though I’m not making as much money as before. And my clients are happy.

Ultimately, the most important thing is that you're finding satisfaction and success in your new approach. Kudos to you for taking charge of your business and making it work in a way that brings you happiness and reduces stress!