Which is better...Staff employed or self employed?

[Chlo]

I am just wanting some opinions from people, i know there is probably a thread about this bt i wanted some fresh opinions.

I have experinenced problems with staff in the past due to them being self employed. I understand that they can choose there hours etc...but they dont seem to understand if they are not there they will never get clients etc etc.

Anyway im just trying to decide wether to go down this route again with getting a new hairdresser and do it on a 50:50 basis as usual or wether to actually employ?! I there any situations where you can pay a certain ammount to them each day and then commission when they that amount or will that mean they are employed?

Im really confused about wht to d and just need some advise please. How do other people work it in their salon? Or as a hairdresser how have you previously worked?

Many Thanks

 

[Aiden]

Hi
I really understand how you feel here. The problem with self employed is that you are kind of in competition with the self employed stylist so you never really get a team vibe in the salon. They are their own boss and it can be difficult to get them to work within your own ethos.
However, with employed staff you have more responsibility towards them, eg. holiday pay, sick pay, breaks etc. and I worry that they lack motivation. After all, you are paying them the same amount whether they make you £30 per day or £300.
I have found that offering a fair regular wage, with additional bonus incentives, is a good balance. The employee has the security of a regular wage and all of the rights that go with this status, plus they have the incentive of earning more for working harder, just like their self employed colleagues.

 

[Chlo]

yeh its so difficult isnt it :irked:. Thankyou very much for your reply x

 

[MinxyMoo]

You also have to remember that if you do decide to go down the self employed route that they cannot legally work for you full time a certain percentage of their work must come from somewhere else, ie mobile (what percentage this is you need to check with the tax office). As Aiden says if they are employed you are responsible for NI and tax deductions, sick pay, maternity pay etc etc. Unfortunately only you can decide on what your business needs at this moment in time. Having run businesses for some 20+ years I have experienced both and they both have there advantages and disadvantages. Remember if you go down the SE route who will be the 'owner' of their client contacts/database. Maybe you could rent them a chair, I know quite a few salons in my area do this. Good luck, let us know how you get on. x

 

[Rose143]

Hi Chlo,

I employ both, self employed and employed. If I could do it all over again, I'd stick with employed. You can manage their appointments, fix the odd holiday and also award with incentives as an added bonus. You can discipline should you need to and they have to give notice when they leave. I've had a self employed person just not turn up one day and left me with a column full of clients even though her notice period was a month and she didn't answer any of my calls, no reason, just left.

In my experience, Self employed people don't try as hard and act like they're too good to clean. They expect you to find all the business for them and don't rebook the clients like the employed girls do (this is a major problem for me). All salon clients should leave with a rebooking, these are my salon rules that the self employed girls feel they don't have to take part in and then blame me when no clients come back. They put this on me a few weeks ago and I challenged them on the quality of their treatments, if the client enjoyed the treatment, they should want to rebook. There is only so much marketing a salon can do, the Therapist has to do the rest.

I also have a contract with the self employed girls saying they must clean up after themselves. And when they don't my poor employed girls have to do it, staying later after work if I'm not there and it's not fair. This upsets my girls so much and I have to have words again on Wednesday about this.

I would definitely take employed any day and look after them as much as I have my other two hard working employees.

I hope this helps honey, but this is ONLY my experience of nearly 6 years in the industry.

All the best
xx

 

[Chlo]

Thankyou very much for your replys, i really appreciate it. Will sit and have a think about everything. x

 

[PEPSIMAX]

I much prefer self employed to employed staff. When I say self employed I mean 50/50.I have found that you will go through a few and eventually get good self employed staff who will abide by the salon rules and work hard to reap the benefits. If you put them on a self employed 3 month contract, if they are treating it like a hobby then get rid it's as simple as that. My staff work very hard and make a really good income for themselves and me as they are incentivised by the income they can make if they are busy. I had employees at the start and was not happy as I felt they were not that bothered if they had clients or not. A couple I changed over to self employed and they increased their clients by about 50% in 3-4 months.

 

[muddi]

Just to go over some things Rose143 said. Not all SE therapist treat the salons where they work badly - I always try to re-book clients (after all I wouldn't earn anything if they didn't rebook) and I always clear up after myself - I also help the other girls get their rooms ready both before and after clients and I put towels to wash and get things out of the dryer and fold and put away etc and sweep and mop up when its needed.. In fact I do practically the same as the employed girls..
I feel if we all make the effort then we gel better as a team and therefore work better and clients (hopefully) can sense this and feel comfortable and come back for more treatments.

I do go in to the salon on set days and always try to book any time off in advance of before the day(s) get booked into - I think its only fair and courteous.

Anyway - what ever you decide to do, I think you should draw up a contract with put in that they must keep up to your standards and do things your way in the salon etc ( I have bought the same colour uniform as the salon girls) and everyone must help each other regardless of employed or self employed and work as a team.

good luck - as has been said before, there are pros and cons to both.

 

[Chlo]

Yes thats what i would be doing, taking someone on a 50:50 basis. I have done this previously and to be fair the last girl i had was brilliant with regards to cleaning and helping out. Its just the money issue of it, they seem to think that the client base comes oer night and they never give it enough time to take off!

If i was to put an advertisement in the local magazine would i be the one expected to pay? i alway pay for flyer posters etc, but for an advertisment would we go halfs or does this seem unfair for them? xx

 

[PEPSIMAX]

To be honest even though I try and get staff 50/50 It really depends on an individual I am sure some employees do everything they can to help grow your buisness. I have had both excellent employed staff and self employed. If someone is messy, scruffy, late takes days off etc.. that is usually just them and it's hard/impossible to change these things. If you get good staff that work hard why would they not want to be self employed. They will earn a lot more money. As for advertising I provide cards and put my advert in the yellow pages every year. We don't advertise apart from that so I don't really know what I would do. I really hope it works out for you. One thing I will say is this, if you have a member of staff that is causing problems in the salon, letting clients down, bitching, not turning up for work, changing appointments etc... just let them go as soon as possible. One person can poison an enviorment and make going into work horrible for everyone. You will get every sob story going but be strong and get rid. In my experience they get worse and worse. Sounds a bit dramatic but I have been there. Good luck!