Advice needed on wages for a nail tech working in salon

[Crystal colleen]

Hi geeks I'm in discussions at the moment about working for a lady in her salon now I fined out if I have got the job tonight.

The lady has asked me what wage I would be wanting.I'm newly qualified but am confident in the nails I produce.what is the going rate of pay I'm nearly 28 to.the lady has said basic pay and comission on top of that.is basic pay minimum wage for my age or is basic pay something else.

I obviously understand I've only just qualified bit want to bring home enough to cover my bills.

What rate of pay would you suggest is fair for all parties as she will ring me later to fined out.

Any advice much needed xxxx

 

[Crystal colleen]

Anyone xx

 

[izzidoll]

I doubt very much if you will get more than minimum wage working in a Salon.
What will you be getting commision on? Retail sales?

 

[Crystal colleen]

By commission I think she meant money off of every client I have does that sound right

 

[izzidoll]

Hopefully someone else will help you out with that one,I have never worked on a commission basis.

There will be a few threads on the pro's and cons of working in a salon or self employed though, which may be of interest to you, whilst you await your answer lol!

 

[andrea27]

Hi, unfortunately there is no other minimum wage for your age than the NMW. I just turned 29 and I am on minimum wage in the salon (6.08) .That is the most common going rate in salons for therapists and nail technicians. I never worked on commission basis so can't advise on that.

 

[laurakate]

Hi geeks I'm in discussions at the moment about working for a lady in her salon now I fined out if I have got the job tonight.

The lady has asked me what wage I would be wanting.I'm newly qualified but am confident in the nails I produce.what is the going rate of pay I'm nearly 28 to.the lady has said basic pay and comission on top of that.is basic pay minimum wage for my age or is basic pay something else.

I obviously understand I've only just qualified bit want to bring home enough to cover my bills.

What rate of pay would you suggest is fair for all parties as she will ring me later to fined out.

Any advice much needed xxxx

Congratulations

My understanding of it is that a lot of jobs I see advertised offer national minimum wage or just a bit more than that an hour, even where they say they seek a really experienced therapist.

As a recently qualified person, I would accept minimum wage as long as it was paid to me with a wage slip and my tax and national insurance were declared by the employer (i find being offered jobs where I am to be paid through legal means the biggest obstical to be honest...i would jump at the chance to be on minimum wage if it was all being done above board)

I'm 23 by the way.

I hope this is helpful and best of luck with it

 

[Posh bird]

Hello, ask her to explain commission? I.e is it on retail you will sell to clients or is it commission per client? If you were working on national minimum wage with no incentive, it doesn't matter if you have 1 client or 8 clients a day, your still paid. However if you suggest that for every hour you spend on a clients nails you get an extra pound! It will boost your income and as an owner she knows that you will work hard to rebook those clients. Win win . She may negotiate and say 50 p per hour on a client in the chair, but it's up to you, if you don't ask, you don't get!

 

[totalbirdbrain]

I have a girl that works for me and she used to get an hourly rate plus 15% of every treatment she did so the salon owner might mean that?

Sent from my Transformer TF101 using SalonGeek

 

[lilacm]

You may as well as for slightly more than minimum wage even if you then accept it. We normally pay £6.20-£6.30 for newly qualified plus 10% of any treatments once monthly target is achieved plus 10% retail commission.

Once you have proven yourself your salary will rise anyway so a foot in the door is the most important thing.

 

[MissJo]

I pay my staff £7.25 - no targets to achieve and they get free treatments as long as they're outside their working hours. My team are loyal and happy - I value them & they often go the extra mile for me if necessary by staying slightly over their time to accomodate clients. I believe my girls have trained long & hard and deserve a decent wage - so do you xx

 

[xsammi82x]

Didn't the minimum wage go up to £6.20 in October? I might be wrong as I haven't had an hourly rate for a long time.

It's sometimes a low basic with targets to reach and then 10-15% on top. I hope you got it! And if you did, good luck honey xx

 

[iconic]

Didn't the minimum wage go up to £6.20 in October? I might be wrong as I haven't had an hourly rate for a long time.

It's sometimes a low basic with targets to reach and then 10-15% on top. I hope you got it! And if you did, good luck honey xx

No, you're right that the national minimum wage did go up in October, but it went up to £6.08 from about £5.97 I think? X

 

[LauraLush]

I pay my staff £7.25 - no targets to achieve and they get free treatments as long as they're outside their working hours. My team are loyal and happy - I value them & they often go the extra mile for me if necessary by staying slightly over their time to accomodate clients. I believe my girls have trained long & hard and deserve a decent wage - so do you xx

This is exactly what I think. I pay my nail techs £7/hr. I think if you treat your staff right they'll treat you right and want to work well for you.. Not just money oriented all the time by targets.
Just don't b scared to ask her what the commission set up is that she's taking about.. sounds good though that you've got thisopportunity.. Good luck x

 

[Becki2003]

I pay my staff £7.25 - no targets to achieve and they get free treatments as long as they're outside their working hours. My team are loyal and happy - I value them & they often go the extra mile for me if necessary by staying slightly over their time to accomodate clients. I believe my girls have trained long & hard and deserve a decent wage - so do you xx

Hi, I pay my staff £7 per hour and did offer free treatments but they were beginning to abuse it. One staff had £800 of treatments in 4 months. So now my staff get 50% off treatments. Offering what I did hasn't produced any commitment or loyalty though. As if she stayed late for a client it was in her time sheet and charged for. She only cleans when nagged to etc. I've had to really clap down. Sorry I do digress - to OP, minimum wages is £6.08 and it is illegal to be paid any less than that. Have you done a trade test? But to be honest after the problems I have had (my girl is nvq level 3 qualified and has 3 years experience plus other quals too) I would only offer minimum wage, to be negotiated after a probationary period. As I don't feel from her I'm getting my "money's worth" so to speak. I don't think as a newly qualified tech you are going to get £7 per hour straight away. Its a bit of a catch 22 situation though. NMW doesn't inspire you to work hard but from the other side proof you're worth £7 and hour is also needed. My advice - get your head down and work hard, don't let your boss take advantage but be flexible too. Clean your area and help out with other areas when quiet. Keep a record or your work and clients (so you can see repeat business) then in 6/23 months use it all as evidence as to why you feel a pay rise would be an advantage to both of you.
If I haven't babbled on too much and you're still reading - well done lol
Hope this helps. As a newly qualified tech it is hard to get a job, so fingers crossed for you hun. Any experience is good experience really, even if it shows us what not to do next time. Lots of love xxxx

 

[laurakate]

This is a really interesting debate in that on the one hand, I can see why people want more than nmw in how they've invested a lot of time and money into their training. As a comparison, I'll refer to retail as an example...you need no/minimal qualifications to get an entry level job in a shop and you start on nmw in many cases. However, you'd think that with 2 years training in beauty/nails your labour would be worth more than nmw because of that.

On the other hand, based on the fact that many (if not most) employers offer nmw then I accept that this is a norm and if this is the general going rate then so be it. I was aware of this when I decided to train in beauty and I don't have a problem with it because a lot of the motivation to do beauty for me is job satisfaction and you can't put a price on that. Obviously people have bills to pay but there are the higher paid jobs in beauty to go for when you're more experienced.

So from where i stand, I see the nmw as something that is necessary to accept as part of getting my foot in the door in the beauty industry. I hope when I do find work that being on nmw won't feel like a problem for me but I'm sure it won't. I have friends and family who seem bemused that i am aspiring to work in an industry that pays nmw but I see it as the only way to get a foot in the door so that it can lead to better things (teaching, management, working for a product training company etc).

 

[LadyNyx]

Don't forget there is scope for your wage to increase quickly depending on your skills. Ask your new boss if you can have a meeting about it every six months for example, so you can assess how much your skills have grown and your client base etc and see if you can get your wage bumped a bit.

In retail work I always managed to get jobs that paid above the minimum wage (at 16 I was paid £5.32, then at 18 I was paid £6.29 etc) so found hairdressing a bit gutting at first myself, but then I love it and I know there's scope to improve the salary.

Also, remember that you'll get tips. Tips can be really useful in boosting your income. In my bar job we're paid £6.08 an hour and average about £1.30 an hour in tips .. our tips are taxed and stuff, so I look it as £7.38 an hour and not wage plus tips if that makes sense.


I've never done comission in hairdressing yet, but when I worked in a large electrical store, we had comission targets. If we hit 30% cover every month and had a profit margic above a certain percentage then we got a monthly bonus that was worked out by how well we'd done. I imagine comission on yours will either be a % if you sell products or a certain % per customer?

Good luck, hope you get the job!!!

 

[Crystal colleen]

Hi Geeks ive sent pics to her of the nails I have done and she seems impressed the salon will be up and running in 8 weeks as she is in the throws of setting it up as we speak.

The lady emailed me last night to say that if I can bear with her for the 8 weeks she would like to meet up and discuss the rate of pay and hours as she asked me what hours I would want to work so I said full time from 9.30 till 6 and I was prepared to do late nights and every Saturday and even a Sunday if nessisary.

I emailed her back and said I was prepared to wait 8 weeks as long as I have got a place with her for the job.I think I was right to say that as I may wait 8 weeks and not have a Job if she dosnt want me and in that 8 weeks I could have found another job.

I'm willing to work my butt off minimum wage is fine by me as I need to build trust with her and show I am totally committed and I'm capable I totally understand that.

I'm waiting for her to email me today to let me know if I've got a job with her.I really want this job as I have been looking for ages and applying and it's hard when you first qualify.

I've been praying every night lol that I get it.xxx

 

[Cheshire_Gal]

I doubt very much if you will get more than minimum wage working in a Salon.

Why? I pay my nail tech £9 p/h. I cant believe people pay and wrok for min wage!

 

[Crystal colleen]

Why? I pay my nail tech £9 p/h. I cant believe people pay and wrok for min wage!

I will work for min wage because I have no choice