God there are some shocking attitudes about.
No one is suggesting that staff should be paid an extra 15 mins for a job that takes 2 minutes. What I was saying was IF you need someone in 15 mins early to set up the room and workstation, and IF that work takes approx 15 mins then the therapist should be paid for this, because it is WORK. If you want someone in at 8.45 to turn the wax pots on but then they dont have any work until the first client turns up, I would suggest that work should be found for them to do until the first client arrives (cleaning, folding towels, whatever really), because they have made themselves available for work from a certain time, therefore should be paid from that time. What do you do inbetween clients? Stop paying your staff until the next client sits in the chair? Of course there are going to be times in the day when staff are not actively working on clients, but the staff are still at work and available to provide their services to the business so should be paid for their time that they are giving up for the business. Many of you have even said that you would not be amused if your therapist turned up at 9 on the dot, taking their coat off in front of the client, well if you dont want that then its not unreasonable to pay the therapist for sacrificing their time in order to turn up and be prepared for the first client at 9am. I AGREE that a simple 2 minute job such as taking your coat off and putting your bag away should be unpaid, but this discussion was started in relation to time taken to prepare the salon and set up the work area, and this task is WORK.
Some of you have made amusing comments about expecting the client to pay you for your travelling time, or paying yourself for late night sessions doing the company books or whatever, but I would point out that if you are a salon owner you are self employed and NMW law is not applicable. When you set up your own business you go into it with your eyes open, and accept that you will work long hours, sometimes for little pay, but that is what happens when you work for yourself, because the flip side of that coin is that when the business is doing well you have no upper limit to what you can earn, and you reap the benefits of the hard work you have put in. You put these long hours of hard and unpaid work in because it is YOUR business, and you cannot expect your staff who are on a fixed hourly rate and who, in this profession, are very often on low pay, to have the same level of commitment to a business which is not theirs.
Look. What it boils down to is that there are some salon owners who expect 8 hours of time and commitment out of their staff but only want to pay for 7 1/2. I realise that there is some give and take, and that girls get free treatments etc, but the give and take thing works both ways. Sometimes girls might go home early, but likewise sometimes girls work late if appointments run over etc, so you can hardly expect a daily task to be performed for free on this basis. I have to highlight that, if I had a member of staff who worked to the absolute rule of law I would take issue with this. I would expect staff to stay until the last client had been attended to even if that meant staying past hometime, but would be happy to let staff go early at quiet times. The important thing here is that I would make this absolutely clear at interview so that the staff were clear about what is expected of them. If then, I had staff who were insisting on going home bang on time I would take this up with them, but this is an entirely different issue to expecting them to provide daily unpaid work.
I too would not respond very well to a member of staff who was not a team player and didnt show commitment, but there are far too many employers who expect cheap labour and dress this up as "showing commitment to the job". You then end up with girls who are too frightened to stand up for their employment rights because they are passionate about the job they do and want to succeed. This does not give employers the right to take the p**s and expect something for nothing.
I worked in employment law for many years before I came into business for myself and have seen some shocking treatment of staff. Of course not all salon owners are like this, but actually, the fact that many salon owners seem to feel quite justified in asking for unpaid work just shows me how far behind the times this industry is in terms of acknowledging employment law. You have to remember that whether we like it or not, employment law applies to this industry. Its also worth remembering that from the moment an employee arrives and starts work, they are at work and have made their time and skills available to the business. This is what you are paying for.
