Salon owners - rent a chair or employees?

[StaceyJade]

I have recently opened my own salon and have a couple of girls renting a chair just one day a week.
I really need someone in at the end of the week or full time and my concern is self employed stylists won't move salons if they already have a good rate because of the risk plus a lot of stylists choose to set themselves up at home now to not have to rent a chair etc (as I did before so I totally understand)
I am considering Employing for 3 days a week so I can advertise for the hours I want and ensure someone is always in the salon on those days/times.
My concern is the initial outlay of wages before their clientele build up, do you think it's worth it?
I was thinking of starting at £8 an hour with incentives such as commission on product sales etc.
I know i'd have to offer them a pension if they want one and I will have to pay my accountant to do wage slips but if there anything else I need to consider?
Thanks in advance for any advice anybody can give me.

 

[salonfrog]

Hi

A few other things I can think of below but making sure you have the cash to pay them during the first few months while they grow their clients is the key one as you say.

Register as an employer with HMRC

Employers liability insurance - you must have in place.

Paid holiday entitlement in place.

Employers NI (although you should be covered by employment allowance.

Minimum wage/ living wage to consider.

You might not need to offer a pension by the way since they could be below the auto enrolment level at £8/ 3 day week.

Work out how you’ll handle their tips (tax implications and I posted about this recently).

I’d also ask your accountant as well, as they’ll know your specific business circumstances.

Hope that helps?

Andrew | accountant

 

[AcidPerm]

Realistically, if you’re only offering the absolute minimum in terms of wages/hours, you’re not likely to get any competent and experienced hairdressers applying.
You will get a few recently qualified hairdressers who won’t know the first thing about colour correction work and will need plenty of ongoing training and support to build their clientele.

Have you tried offering a chair rental that just covers the 3 or 4 days you need someone there?

 

[StaceyJade]

Realistically, if you’re only offering the absolute minimum in terms of wages/hours, you’re not likely to get any competent and experienced hairdressers applying.
You will get a few recently qualified hairdressers who won’t know the first thing about colour correction work and will need plenty of ongoing training and support to build their clientele.

Have you tried offering a chair rental that just covers the 3 or 4 days you need someone there?

Yes I have offered chair rental part time and full time and have a couple of stylists doing 1-2 days a week at a really good rate, but the feedback i've been getting from others that were interested is they are comfortable where they are even paying a bit more and don't want to risk moving from where they've built up a clientele. It's lovely that they are loyal to their salon but i'm not really sure the best way to go about getting the people now.
Is there an hourly rate you'd suggest to get the right type of stylists interested? I'd be more than happy to pay £10 an hour for the right stylist plus commission. I haven't been employed in a salon since I was qualified and on minimum wage so I don't really know what the going rate is now a days.
Thanks for your help

 

[StaceyJade]

Hi

A few other things I can think of below but making sure you have the cash to pay them during the first few months while they grow their clients is the key one as you say.

Register as an employer with HMRC

Employers liability insurance - you must have in place.

Paid holiday entitlement in place.

Employers NI (although you should be covered by employment allowance.

Minimum wage/ living wage to consider.

You might not need to offer a pension by the way since they could be below the auto enrolment level at £8/ 3 day week.

Work out how you’ll handle their tips (tax implications and I posted about this recently).

I’d also ask your accountant as well, as they’ll know your specific business circumstances.

Hope that helps?

Andrew | accountant

Hi Andrew,
Thank you for taking your time to respond, i'm going to write it all down now and look into it all one step at a time.
I'm really keen to get it all right from the start to save myself any future problems that may arise otherwise.
Thanks for your help.

 

[claude91]

Rent a chair is dangerous... think about a client that had a bad experience, they will review badly your salon not the person who you rented the chair too. Client doesn't care if the stylist is employee or renting a chair, the sign outside the shop is your, clients walked through your door and they associate your salon to their bad experiences

 

[StaceyJade]

Rent a chair is dangerous... think about a client that had a bad experience, they will review badly your salon not the person who you rented the chair too. Client doesn't care if the stylist is employee or renting a chair, the sign outside the shop is your, clients walked through your door and they associate your salon to their bad experiences

Thank you for your comment, I have considered this and I do like things done a certain way which i'm aware I will loose most of my control over with renting a chair. I have decided to start with a much higher salary than i'd like on a part-time basis to start with to get the right kind of stylist in the salon and hopefully build up my staff from there. Wish me luck