The crisis continues: so, here’s how to attract and retain talent at your spa & hospitality business in the coming year.

It’s old news at this point, but an issue that continues to plague the spa and hospitality industries, and therefore one we continue to address: as we head into 2024, are we any closer to solving the staff crisis? 

Here’s a sad metric:

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) Job Openings and Labor Turnover report (JOLTS), the hospitality industry has the highest turnover rates of any sector – by a lot. In 2021, the accommodation and food services industry had a turnover rate of 86.3%. That’s down from the 2020 pandemic high of 130%, but it’s still significantly more than the US national average of 47.2%. We need to reduce those numbers.

Companies are working on the issue. Like Marriott International, which launched its new people brand, “Be,” earlier this year with a plan to focus on attracting and retaining top talent around the world. And Hilton introduced a large-scale employer brand campaign called “Every Job Makes the Stay,” to increase attention to career opportunities available at the hotel, specifically for those considering front-line and hourly positions.

What can the rest of the industry do? Face facts, for one thing. Sometimes people refuse to see what’s right in front of us. We hide behind buzzwords like “company culture,” “mission and values,” and, somewhat ironically, “wellness” – while ignoring what people actually want and need when it comes to employment. A company’s “values” don’t mean anything to an employee who is burning themselves out to pay the bills. And what good are free gym memberships and yoga classes to a mom who can’t even find childcare to cover her work shifts?  

The pandemic saw a lot of hospitality employees get let go, and many of those people vowed never to return to the industry. This firsthand experience with feeling expendable was a wake up call for them. It should be for us too.

Here are some tips on how hospitality businesses can attract and retain talent in 2024. 

Be upfront about compensation  – You can save a lot of time and effort by being upfront in your job posting about compensation. People will only apply if the compensation is within their range, rather than waste your time and theirs only to learn that they’re not interested. Companies continue to push back hard against pay transparency because it might cost them by exposing unfair practices, but consider the notion that protecting your right to compensate your teams unevenly might not be fighting the good fight.

Pay people as much as you (really) can – Obviously compensation is a huge part of why people leave jobs. If they can’t make enough money to not just pay their bills but also live a life worth living, why do they want this job? They might need it – but they won’t want it. Meaning, they’ll apply for it and accept a lowball offer but the moment something better comes along, they’re going to take it and leave. And if you run your business this way, turnover will always be high. If you can’t afford to pay people what they’re worth, that’s not an excuse, it’s a problem to fix by looking at ways to increase revenue and decrease costs. Tiered, performance-based compensation systems are something to consider.

Keep time to hire short – Time to hire is a crucial metric in a talent crisis. Research has found that time to hire is increasing and is approximately 44 days across all industries. While hospitality is generally lower than the average, keep in mind that the faster people can move through the process without cutting corners, the better. When someone is actively seeking employment, they are not just applying with one company and they don’t want to wait six weeks to find out if they are going to be able to eat and pay the rent and will take another offer if it comes along. 

Don’t burn out your teams – Burnout is big in spa and hospitality as managers try to fill the gaps by demanding more of the people they do have. It’s understandable to a degree. Bookings can be unpredictable and you can’t hire a bunch of staff for busy times, only to have them sitting around with nothing to do the rest of the time. Again, however, it’s leadership’s responsibility to smooth this out by maximizing schedules and accepting that sometimes you have to turn away customers. Yield management can be a life saver in this area, as you can fill less in-demand time slots with dynamic pricing.

Provide growth and advancement opportunities – Advancement and growth opportunities are important to people. Nobody wants to feel like they have nowhere to go and upward momentum is key to many people’s happiness. Short sighted leaders keep people stuck in the same roles while prescient ones support their growth. This will mean that some people leave, but it also means they will be happy in their roles while they are in them, which reflects on your guest experience. And if you don’t let them grow, they’re going to leave you anyway, so you might as well nurture those careers and relationships. Tracking employees into management roles also means that, when the time comes, you have well-trained and experienced managers who know your brand.

Offer comprehensive training and onboarding – At no point should an employee not know what is expected of them or what they are supposed to be doing. Offering comprehensive training and onboarding builds employee confidence and gives people the tools and information that they need to perform at their best, and people feel good when they know they are doing a good job. It also streamlines processes and improves guest experience. Don’t skip this step. 

Optimize scheduling – Shift work can be frustratingly uneven and that is bad for staff morale. Again, your software’s yield management functionality can help fill less busy time slots. Turn-away tracking, meanwhile, can help you determine reasons for turning away customers so you can tweak schedules accordingly. Your software should also eliminate conflicts and be accessible from anywhere so your team can check their schedules from wherever they are and at whatever time.

Recognize and reward your people –  Recognition helps to build strong company cultures. Just like nobody likes to feel stuck, people don’t like feeling invisible and unappreciated either. Recognizing employees is also good for business. A study by Gallup and Workhuman found that by making recognition an important part of company culture, a 10,000-person organization with an already engaged workforce can save up to $16 million annually due to reduced employee turnover. Reward the big things, but also reward the little things, and don’t always focus on the stars. Your B players should be recognized too. They are an important part of your business.

Share business goals – When people feel like they are an integral part of  the success of something, they are more invested in that success. This is why sharing your goals with your team members so that everyone is aligned is a key strategy. This gives people something to work towards, gets them working together, and helps provide direction. We all need a target to work towards.

Employers need to start giving people what they want and need – and not just barely meeting these needs but exceeding them. Only then will people want to join our teams and stay.

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com. 

Image by rawpixel.com on Freepik

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Focus on sustainability to attract talent to your spa. Millennials and Gen Z in particular want to work for environmentally responsible companies. 

If you want to attract talent, particularly millennial talent, focus on sustainability. People want to work for companies that care about the planet and some will even take a pay cut to do so.  

In a 2021 global survey by IBM Institute for Business Value (IBV), 71% of employees and job seekers said that environmentally sustainable companies are “more attractive employers.” More than two thirds of respondents also said they are more likely to apply for and accept jobs with environmentally and socially responsible organizations, and nearly half would accept a lower salary to work for these companies (via the CSR Journal).

Think carefully about how to attract top talent this year and beyond

We already know that people are quitting their jobs, that this trend is expected to continue throughout 2022, and that spa and hospitality are among the hardest hit sectors by staff shortages. There is good reason for employers to think carefully about what they need to do to attract top talent this year and beyond.

Sustainability is not a trend but a powerful movement setting industry standards that is largely driven by millennials and Gen Z. Companies that fail to up their efforts risk losing top talent to greener competitors.

Workers would take a pay cut for a green employer

These findings echo similar ones from previous research. A 2019 survey of 1,000 employees at large U.S. companies found that a majority of millennials would prefer to work for an environmentally responsible company. More than 10% of respondents said they’d be willing to take a $5,000-$10,000 pay cut.

Fast Company reported that more than 70% of respondents said they were more likely to choose to work for a company with a strong environmental agenda, and that millennials were most likely to have already done so. Nearly 40% said they had chosen a job in the past because the company was more eco-conscious than a competitor. By contrast, less than a quarter of Gen X respondents and only 17% of baby boomers said the same.

Separate research conducted in 2016 reportedly found that three quarters of millennials consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where they want to work, and that nearly two thirds wouldn’t take a job if a potential employer didn’t have strong corporate social responsibility (CSR) practices.

More findings regarding millennials and the workforce include:

• 75% would take a pay cut to work for a responsible company (vs. 55% U.S. average).
• 88% say their job is more fulfilling when they are provided with opportunities to make a positive impact on social and environmental issues (vs. 74% U.S. average).
• 76% consider a company’s social and environmental commitments when deciding where to work (vs. 58% U.S. average). (via sustainablebrands.com)

Millennials will make up three quarters of the workforce by 2025 and Gen Z will comprise 30% of the workforce by 2030.

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com

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Looking for new talent? Beware these six hiring mistakes that scare job seekers away from your spa and attract more talent.

Attracting and retaining talent is an ongoing issue in spa and hospitality, and one that has been exacerbated since the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic. It’s a candidate’s market in many places, meaning employers need employees more than the other way around, and that means your candidate experience should be good.

A good candidate experience is one in which a job applicant feels that they are treated with kindness and respect throughout the process. Even if someone doesn’t get the job, a candidate who is well treated is more likely to have a positive opinion about your company. If the experience is a bad one, they probably won’t forget it, and they will also probably tell their friends. Never underestimate the power of word of mouth to turn people off wanting to work for you.

There are some common hiring mistakes managers across all industries make during the process. Avoid them to improve your candidate experience and your chances of attracting top talent.

Six hiring mistakes that scare job seekers away from your spa.

Not preparing for the interview.

One of the most common hiring mistakes. By the time you get to the job interview, you should know the candidate’s job history and experience, and have an idea of why they’re interested in the role. That information is in their resume and cover letter. While it’s true that some people say cover letters are no longer necessary to the application process, it’s smart to give priority to candidates who put in the effort and include one.

You want candidates to put effort into their job applications. On the flipside, that means that a hiring manager should demonstrate the same courtesy and show up to the interview knowing who they are and why they are there.

Asking more of the job candidate than you are willing to give yourself

Continuing on a theme, employers usually expect a lot of job candidates. They expect them to be prepared, qualified, and courteous. They expect them to be confident and poised under pressure and to answer questions thoroughly and competently.

But hiring managers themselves can sometimes behave in a completely discourteous manner. They show up late and keep candidates waiting, they talk over them, don’t listen to their answers and questions, or are distracted during the interview.

If we expect job seekers to be on their best behavior, so we should be when hiring.

If you set the interview time for 1:00 be there for 1:00, or a few minutes before. Listen when someone is speaking, ask good questions, and pay full attention. It’s the least that should be expected of us.

Not being clear on what you need in a new employee

A job description should be clear and contain the details of what is expected from the person who will fill the role.

If you’re hiring front desk staff that will be expected to know about wellness, meditation, and nutrition, you need to know what that looks like in an employee. If you’re hoping that your entire team will participate in your social media marketing efforts by becoming brand ambassadors and micro-influencers, that needs to be communicated before hiring. If your massage therapists will also be expected to be salespeople, you need to communicate that.

Not knowing exactly what you want and need will prevent you from finding it.

Asking too much in exchange for too little

You might need someone to give massages, answer phones, run your social media, and sell retail, but is that actually the job of one person, or three jobs you’re trying to roll into one?

Be mindful of turning off potential talent with unrealistic job requirements. Nobody wants to work to the point of burnout or be regularly compelled to work evenings and weekends. This has been an ongoing complaint about how the hospitality and spa industries treat their employees, and recently, people have started saying “No, thank you.”

A recent survey of more than 30,000 job seekers found that 60% would not consider working in a restaurant, bar, hotel or other hospitality job. Of those, 70% said nothing would convince them to work in hospitality, and 38% of former hospitality workers said they are not even considering a hospitality job. Only 26% said higher pay would incentivize them to change their minds.

It’s a candidate’s market out there. A job has to be compelling.

Not asking the right questions.

There are common questions that are usually asked in every interview because they provide good insight into the candidate’s potential fit with your organization. These include but aren’t limited to:

Tell me about yourself.
Why do you want to work here?
Why are you leaving your current job/did you leave your last job?
Why should I hire you?
Do you have any questions for me?

Beyond these questions, there are others you need to ask that are specific to your industry, your organization, and the role in question. You also need to know your organization’s strategic goals and how the person in this role will help you achieve them, so you can ask questions pertaining to this.

Prepare your questions in advance and put some real thought and time into them. We’ve got a list of questions to ask in the job interview here.

Ghosting candidates

A vast majority of job seekers have been ghosted by a prospective employer during the hiring process. This has to stop.

Ghosting means ceasing communication with a person without explanation and it’s been happening to job seekers for years. Some hiring managers will even take a candidate as far as the interview stage and even then not let them know that they aren’t going to hire them. These hiring managers also complain of the same behavior from job seekers, but this whataboutism isn’t going to get anyone anywhere.

It’s cruel, and also just rude, to leave candidates waiting for a call that never comes, a call that affects their livelihood and ability to pay the bills.

Ideally, a job applicant is kept informed at each stage of the process. In an ideal world, they would be sent an automated message letting them know their application has been received, another when it is reviewed, and one when they are removed from consideration (“This message is to let you know that we will not be moving forward with your application,” for example).

This isn’t always possible. But, at the very least, a job applicant with whom you have directly communicated through email or by phone, or with whom you have conducted an interview, should be told if you are not going to hire them.

A good candidate experience reflects positively on your employer brand and a bad experience reflects negatively. Unhappy candidates who aren’t well treated can go on to become detractors and steer talent away.

Avoid these hiring mistakes and be mindful of your candidate experience and it will make a big difference.

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com.

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Assessing a potential hire for your spa, wellness, or hospitality business? We’ve got a list of great job interview questions to ask when hiring a new staff member.

By the time you get to the interview stage, you already know enough about the candidate from their resume and cover letter to think they might be a good fit for your company. Meeting them in person will tell you if your assessment is correct. You want to find out if their resume is an accurate representation of who they are, and whether they will be a good fit with the rest of your team. You also want to know if the candidate will help you and your business reach your goals, which probably include growing revenue through creating incomparable guest experiences.

This means asking the right questions. We’ve talked about this before. Now, let’s expand on the concept with some job interview questions to ask when hiring. 

Don’t waste time on the wrong questions. Your conduct in the interview matters as much as the interviewee’s. You should not show up knowing nothing about the candidate, without having read their resume, and ask questions like “Do you have experience working in a spa?” or “Where did you attend school?” You should already know the answer to this, because you have read their resume and cover letter. We expect job candidates to show up to the interview well prepared and we should show them the same courtesy.  

It’s important to prep your questions beforehand as well. Here are 21 job interview questions to ask when hiring a new staff member at your spa:

21 job interview questions to ask when hiring a new staff member at your spa:

Tell me about yourself.

A simple way to break the ice. Do they lead with their career history or the names of their cats? What the candidate focuses on will provide a lot of insight into who they are as a person and what is important to them.  

Tell me about your work experience.

You know what they do, how many years of experience they have, and where they have worked from their resume. You should also know, if they are a treatment provider, what areas they are proficient in. Hearing about it firsthand from the candidate should confirm what you’ve read and fill in any gaps.

How did you hear about this position?

You want to know if they were referred (which you might know already), for which you should thank the referrer, or found your job through a board or social media. It’s good to know how word is getting out there. 

What do you know about this company?

You want a candidate to have done their research and to come into the interview knowing what is unique about your company. This is a sign of enthusiasm, work ethic, and more good things. If they can’t tell you anything, that’s a red flag.

Why do you want to work here?

They should be able to tell you why they want to work for you, rather than for someone else. Of course, they want to work for you because they need to pay the bills, and that’s a good reason. But being able to point to why your spa or wellness business in particular is a good workplace shows, again, that they did their homework.

Why are you leaving your current job/did you leave your last job?

Most people are not going to tell you if they were fired for cause, but you can still gauge a lot here. Be wary of any person who speaks negatively about their former workplace, employer, or colleagues. This is a bad sign.

Why did you choose a career in hospitality, spa, or wellness?

Was it a desire to travel and see the world, a passion for customer service, a desire to help others? Do they light up when they talk about their career choice? The answer should tell you why they do what they do and how they tell the story will give you an idea of how they will communicate with guests.

How would you define and deliver exceptional guest service?

Exceptional guest service has a basic meaning for most people. Everybody knows to say something about going “above and beyond” when asked what excellent customer service means. Hopefully, you’ll get something a little more thoughtful out of your applicant, which is why you’re asking how they would go about it.

Can you give me a past example of how you have done something exceptional for a guest?

It’s one thing to be able to talk about it, another thing entirely to demonstrate that you have put it into practice. The answer to this can tell you a lot about a candidate’s work ethic, decision making skills, and creativity.

Tell me about a time you encountered a difficulty with a guest or colleague and how you handled it.

Customers can be demanding, and workplace conflicts can arise between staff members. Your employees need to have top notch interpersonal skills, embody the qualities of empathy and compassion, and be able to communicate effectively.

How would you handle a guest who behaved inappropriately?

Unfortunately, spa staff must know how to handle inappropriate guest behavior with confidence. That being said, you should also have a protocol in place to protect your team and that tells them exactly what to do when faced with a difficult situation.

Tell me about a time you had to make a big decision at work and how you came to that decision.

Decision making skills are valuable in people at all levels in a workplace. You don’t want team members running to you every time they have to make a decision about a guest or something else.

Tell me about a time you made a mistake.

The ability to own up to mistakes is valuable in a good employee. If a candidate can’t tell you about a real mistake, that’s a red flag. We’ve all made them. And the mistake shouldn’t be something that blames someone else or ultimately hides a brag, like, “I trusted a colleague and wound up having to do all the work myself!” or “I suffered burnout because I care too much and work too hard.” 

What would you do if you spotted a possible medical issue with a guest? Can you give me some examples of what this might look like?

A spa therapist may spot lumps, rashes, discoloration, or other skin conditions the client hasn’t noticed or can’t see, and they should know what to look for. You need to know  that they will handle this with tact, not make the guest uncomfortable, not make an armchair diagnosis, recommend the guest consult a doctor, and not scare them unnecessarily.

What do you enjoy most and least about what you do?

This will give you some insight into an applicant’s personality and identify areas where they may encounter difficulties or issues in the future and where you might need to offer support.

How would you make a stressed or anxious guest feel more comfortable?

Do they have a plan or protocol for this situation? Spa treatments can be emotionally fraught experiences and you need to know that a therapist has the ability to put anxious guests at ease.

What steps should a spa therapist take to ensure their own safety and that of the guest?

The answer should cover cleaning and sanitation, reviewing guest history, asking the right questions before treatment, and anything else that related to safety.

Would you be comfortable making additional treatment recommendations?

Therapists are often expected to recommend products, and even lifestyle changes. You want someone who is comfortable making these suggestions (but not pushy or overly salesy about it).

Do you think you will be successful making retail sales?

If you’re interviewing for a front desk position, on the other hand, the sales question should probably be more front and center. Ask about their success in this area and what they expect from themselves in future.

Why should I hire you?

You’re looking for an answer that focuses on your success, the guest, and what the candidate can offer and bring to the table. The candidate should not use this opportunity to talk about their own needs and wants. The answer to this question should be some variation on “you should hire me because I will help your business be successful in the following ways….”

Do you have any questions for me?

A job candidate who is enthusiastic about the role and who has done their research on your company will have questions pertaining to the workplace culture, the demands of the job, and what it will take for them to succeed in the role. If they don’t have questions, they might not be that interested.

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As spas continue to face staffing shortages, let’s try to find some creative and effective recruitment strategies for hospitality in 2021. 

Spas, wellness, and hospitality businesses continue to tackle a staffing shortage. They are among the hardest hit industries out of any in the past year.

On top of that, experts say we’re currently in a candidate’s market, meaning companies must compete more than ever to attract available talent. It’s not enough to offer a job. You have to be a place people want to work and a better place to work than your competitors’.

Competitive pay and benefits obviously help, but even beyond that, recruitment may take extra effort and creative thinking today.

Here are seven creative & effective recruiting strategies for spa, wellness, and hospitality in 2021.

Improve your employee experience

Ask yourself why people would want to work for you. Do you have a list of reasons why talent would choose to work at your company over any other – beyond just needing a job? If not, well there’s your first issue right there and you need to fix it. Start working on your employee experience. Put some thought, time, and effort into it. Learn what makes a workplace attractive to employees and what makes a great manager in spa and wellness, and become that.

Become a student of how to become a great leader and apply what you learn. Until you do this, you may always have staffing problems, turnover, and recruitment issues.

Work on your employer brand

Just being a great place to work isn’t enough. You also need to communicate this to the world through your employer brand, which is the image you present to candidates as an employer.

“An employer brand is an important part of the employee value proposition and is essentially what the organization communicates as its identity to both potential and current employees. It encompasses an organization’s mission, values, culture and personality. A positive employer brand communicates that the organization is a good employer and a great place to work. Employer brand affects recruitment of new employees, retention and engagement of current employees, and the overall perception of the organization in the market.” – SHRM

A great employer brand is what makes people say “That looks like a great place to work! I want to work there.”

Your employer brand doesn’t just happen. It’s something you have to work on. In the same way that you put a lot of thought into what sort of clients you want to attract, and effort into creating the public facing image that attracts those customers, you need to put the same thought and effort into the public facing image that you create to attract employees.

Get serious about social media

Social media is the most cost effective way to reach a broad range of people and it’s free to use most platforms (monetarily, anyway). If you don’t have social media accounts, create them. You can reach potential employees on LinkedIn, Facebook, TikTok, Instagram, and Twitter. If you have them, use them. An unused social media account looks worse than a non-existent one. According to Sprout Social, research conducted prior to 2019 found that:

• 73% of 18-34 year-olds found their last job through social media. 
• 59% of recruiters rated candidates sourced through social media as “highest quality.” 
• While 94% of recruiters use social media for their jobs, only 39% of all employers use social media for recruiting and hiring. 
• 83% of job seekers prefer Facebook over any other social network. 

Don’t just post about your team when you’re hiring and need staff. That’s like only calling someone when you need a favor. Your regular posts should showcase not just your products and services but also your workplace, team, and employer brand.

Get your team members involved

If your team loves their jobs they should be willing to participate in your recruiting efforts. Before getting to that point, also consider how you make your team feel invested in the success of your company. This means communicating goals and involving them in the decision making process. If someone feels like they are an integral part of the success of something, they are more likely to actively work towards contributing to that success.

Ask your staff to post about their jobs on their personal accounts. If they love where they work, they are your employer brand’s greatest assets, and they should be more than willing to make the effort to post some creative content in their pages. These might be pictures or videos in which they talk about or show how much they enjoy their jobs, or maybe they want to do a TikTok dance about it.

Take advantage of social media groups

Go beyond just posting jobs on your company page or personal profile. Facebook and LinkedIn groups are great places to communicate with people in your industry and recruit team members. There are groups for just about any industry or niche where you can discuss issues with peers and meet new talent online.

Joining groups allows you to reach a large number of people (depending on the size of the group) without having to take the time to build your own audience. It’s a good idea to actively engage with others in the group before starting to recruit rather than just jumping in and posting jobs. If you become a known presence, people will be more likely to look at your job, share it, or apply to it.

Get out there

Sometimes even a fantastic employer brand and a high level of awareness isn’t enough. For example, resort spas in remote locations may have small candidate pools unless they bring in staff to live onsite.  

In that case, you may have to get out and find new team members at schools and events. Attend job fairs and conferences, visit massage and esthetician schools, and consider looking into creating an apprenticeship program. Visit schools and partner with those that offer placement programs.  

Some spas have partnered with schools to recruit and train staff, or even create their own school. In a recent interview with Spa Executive, Pat Makozak, Spa Director at Four Seasons Resort Maui at Wailea, talked about a time Four Seasons did just that. She said, “One property I manage is in a very isolated small community. It’s a challenge to find employees and we were always trying to import people to work at the hotel and spa without a lot of success. So, we connected with a massage school here on Maui, and they very creatively found some space to set up a massage school at the property.

“There’s not a lot of opportunity on that island except for the tourist industry and most of the young people were leaving. This gave those getting out of high school an opportunity to stay. It was a good idea but it took the right spa director to really commit to it and she was able to graduate 10 people in her first year of overseeing the program. At least seven of those ended up working as massage therapists in the spa.”

Build a good referral program

Offer referral bonuses to your team. These may include monetary bonuses, time off, or gifts. The findings of one study suggest that the thought of a gift of something one wouldn’t necessarily buy themselves may generate more excitement and enjoyment than the promise of cash, which would just go towards bills or living expenses.

Another suggestion is that the gift of an experience (restaurant dinner, wine tasting, skydiving session, or tickets to a sporting event, for example) may prompt employees to associate the act of referring a friend with a good memory.

Consider offering small rewards leading up to hiring. Most employee referral programs only reward after the new person is hired. If you want people to keep referring their connections, start sooner, and divide the reward up over the first year of employment. For example, offer a smaller sum or reward when the referred person makes it to the interview stage. Offer something when they are hired, and then at three, six, and 12 month intervals, for a total of $1,000 when the new employee has been with you for a year. Or offer small gifts at these markers with a large one at the end of the year.

Acknowledge those who do well like you would with any other employee rewards program, to drive other employees to participate and create friendly competition.

Ideas?

These are just some of the more effective recruitment ideas we know about. Do you have your own creative and effective recruitment solutions that have worked for you? We’d love to hear about them and maybe we will feature you and your ideas in future issues.

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Wondering why employees are leaving? Take a look at these three common reasons spa employees quit  and what to do about them.

Staffing is an ongoing issue in hospitality and spa, more so now than ever. People are leaving their jobs and looking for other lines of work. Or they’re stepping away to work for themselves and start their own businesses.

According to the BBC, UK, industry bodies say one in five workers has left the sector during the coronavirus pandemic, and separate reports suggest that hotels and resorts everywhere are dealing with a similar situation.

Omni Hotels & Resorts President Peter Strebel reportedly said that, for the first time in his career, he can’t sell out hotels because there isn’t enough staff to meet demand. Strebel said Omni has tried sign-on bonuses, retention bonuses, and more paid time off to attract and keep employees.

In Ottawa, the company raised housekeeper wages from $14 to $20 per hour – and Strebel said, “We filled all our positions.”

Obviously, one of the easiest ways to fix this issue is to pay people more. There are other factors to consider as well.

Once you manage to hire someone, you want to keep them. Recruiting and onboarding is expensive and constant turnover has a negative impact on operations. While the pandemic has demonstrated that we can’t predict the future, we can still take measures to retain team members and safeguard against employee attrition.

Here are three common reasons spa employees quit and what you can do about them.

Lack of advancement opportunities

A lack of advancement opportunities consistently ranks across all industries as the top reason employees quit their jobs, even before money.

A 2020 CareerAddict survey and a 2017 Gallup survey found that lack of advancement opportunities was the top reason people quit their jobs, beating out pay in both cases. Regardless of job or sector, people get tired of doing the same thing day in and day out with no future growth opportunities. No matter how enthusiastic someone is about the company or job when they join a team, the novelty will eventually wear off. They will become demoralized and demotivated, which negatively impacts their performance and your success.

In any company, however, there are only so many management positions. What can you do? Some options include implementing performance-based pay incentives (beyond commissions), and involving your team in the decision making process.

A Forbes article titled “3 Ways To Keep Employees Motivated When A Promotion Isn’t An Option And A Raise Isn’t In The Budget” suggests empowering employees with exposure to executive responsibilities:

“Raise the bar by giving them more responsibility and challenging tasks that are still achievable with their skillset. Start by giving them more control over tasks and take a step back allowing them a chance to derive their own solutions and make their own decisions.

“While the upper management is the one to implement processes, the employees are the one in the trenches feeling the impact of their decisions.”

This might mean involving people in creating new treatment menu items and marketing campaigns, for example.

Burnout

Burnout is a long-standing issue in the spa industry and it happens when employees are worked too hard.

In a 2019 interview with Spa Executive , Sonal Uberoi addressed this issue and said,  “[Burnout] becomes more evident in spas within hotels and resorts where staff scheduling is heavily dependent on hotel occupancy. Spa staff suddenly find that their days off have been pushed back, so they have to work seven or eight days in a row — or more! — and management have to be at the hotel from morning to when the VIP client leaves his or her treatment at the end of the day, which can mean a 10-12 hour shift. These small ‘one offs’ slowly become the norm, which over time eventually lead to burnout.”

And this may be more of an issue two years later. We recently spoke to Benjamin Donat at St. Regis Deer Valley, who said he’s been understaffed through the 2021 season. Donat said, “This affects both the guests and the existing team; guests because sometimes they need a wellness or spa experience, and we can’t provide it at the time they want because we’re overbooked, and staff because I have to be careful not to overwork them and cause burnout.”

Combatting burnout can take some doing but it’s something spa directors should take seriously, because what might seem profitable in the short term will cost you in the long term, when employees are not at their best and when they quit.

Ways of combatting burnout include creating wellness programs for staff and making staff wellbeing a priority, which might mean accepting fewer appointments in a day. Revisiting staff schedules can also be helpful. There are tools to help with this, including software to optimize staff scheduling.

Bad management

A recent survey of workers across sectors reportedly found that most people are pretty happy with their managers, but of those who rated their managers badly, 63% were planning to quit in the next 12 months and 70% said their team members were also planning to move out of the team or company.

It would be easy to argue that employee attrition comes down to bad management more often than not, however, because so many other cited reasons are actually due to bad management, including the aforementioned burnout.

Gallup found that only 17% of people cite bad management as a reason for quitting, but also noted that almost every other reason on the list was something that management could influence. Among these factors are company culture, pay and benefits, flexibility and scheduling, and job security. These are all things that are governed, at least in part, by management who should be doing their best to create great work environments.

How can we be great managers? By constantly working to do better.

Some things great leaders do include:

• Listening: The ability to listen is what makes the difference between bad leaders and great leaders.
• Being supportive: Working in a spa can be physically taxing and tiring – and repetitive. A team needs a supportive manager who has their backs.
• Leading by example: Take responsibility for your failures as well as your successes, and inspire your team to go above and beyond the call of duty by doing so yourself.
• Effectively communicating goals: Set goals, communicate them to your team, and outline the tactics for achieving them. When employees feel that they are instrumental to the success of an organization, they are more inclined to work towards achieving it.
• Being open to feedback and suggestions: You are not infallible and you might sometimes be wrong, or have ideas that could use improvement.

Employee retention takes work. But the work is worth it and will have big benefits.

Is finding and retaining talent a challenge at your spa? Get insights from industry leaders, including Nigel Franklyn, Lynne McNees, Verena Lasvigne-Fox, and Daisy Tepper when you download our report: What will it take to fix the spa industry’s staffing shortage? .

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com.

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It’s hard to find top talent. Here are five qualities to look for in a spa employee.

When hiring a new team member for your spa or wellness business, you, ideally, want to find someone who will work hard, focus on the guest experience, and not just pick up and leave you after a few months on the job. You want someone who can relate to guests and coworkers, who is invested in the outcome of their work, and who clearly understands the purpose of what they do.

How do you find those people? It’s not easy. But there are qualities to look for in a spa employee that will help you find someone ideal.

Here are five qualities to look for in a spa employee and the questions you can ask that will help you identify them.  

Empathy

Though it’s often confused with sympathy and compassion, empathy is actually defined as “the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.” Empathy is less about kindness and more about the ability to relate. And it’s one of the most important qualities to look for in a spa employee.

You want an employee to be empathetic because you want them to intuit and understand the customer’s wants and needs and respond accordingly. A spa service provider without empathy is a potential nightmare, no matter how technically skilled they are.

Sample interview question to test for empathy: “If you were in my position, what skills and qualities would you be looking for in a candidate?”

This question tests whether the candidate can put themselves in your shoes and see things from your point of view. That is empathy.

Compassion

Though empathy and compassion are related, and someone who is empathetic is also likely to be kind and compassionate, they are not the same.  A spa employee must, for obvious reasons, also be kind and compassionate. Massage therapists, manicurists, and facialists are often regarded by guests as talk therapists. A compassionate ear is important. And it’s important for creating good guest interactions and experiences on all levels. 

Sample interview question to test for compassion: “Tell me about a recent act of kindness you performed?”

A compassionate person will have a list from which to draw any number of examples – but might be a little bewildered at being asked to list them. Overt bragging about kindness is, of course, counterintuitive. So, watch for it.

Conscientiousness

Conscientiousness can be defined as the desire to do what is right as guided by one’s conscience. In a spa employee, this manifests itself as someone who cares deeply about customer experience, providing the best service they can, and keeping things clean. They don’t do these things because it’s their job, they do them because it’s their nature to care. 

It takes conscientiousness to be a good problem solver. Conscientious people work well autonomously and don’t need to be reminded to do their jobs. And giving employees autonomy and allowing them to make decisions is key to good leadership and business success.

Sample interview question to test for conscientiousness: “You come into the reception area and have a treatment to give in less than five minutes. There are several customers (not yours) waiting at reception, nobody to help them, and a mess in the welcome area. What do you do?”

The solution the candidate comes up with will tell you something about how their mind works and their level of conscientiousness. Do they come up with a plan to take care of everything or does their thinking fall flat?

Creativity

Creative people make brilliant employees in all kinds of ways. They may help create new spa menu items and come up with marketing and promotion and package ideas. They can be good conversationalists and good problem solvers. Along with conscientiousness, it takes creativity to be a good problem solver. You need the combination of the two. Conscientiousness without creativity, and vice versa, do not a problem solver make. Creativity and conscientiousness go hand in hand in many other ways too. These two traits combined help people find new ways to go above and beyond to enhance and elevate the guest experience. A creative spa employee can be extremely valuable.

Sample interview question to test for creativity: “Tell me about a time when you went out of your way to create a special experience for a guest, how you went about it, and why.”

Ideally, the candidate will have an example of an experience showcasing their creative thinking.

Another sample is: “Tell me about a time you had to come up with a creative solution to a problem.”

Integrity

Integrity is defined as “the quality of being honest and having strong moral principles; moral uprightness.” This is obviously an important quality in someone entrusted with any part of your business. You need to be able to trust that person to do the right thing, with customers and behind the scenes, and, ideally, never have to wonder whether they are going to take a morally questionable direction.

Sample interview question to test for integrity:  “Can you tell me about a time you experienced failure at work?”

Everyone has failed and a candidate with integrity will give a concrete example. They won’t say “I can’t think of a time I failed,” or something like, “I wanted to do better and I felt like a failure because I’m a perfectionist.” They will be forthcoming about a real failure.

Focus on these qualities to look for in a spa employee and you will find the right candidates to help your business thrive. 

Is finding and retaining talent a challenge at your spa? Get insights from industry leaders, including Nigel Franklyn, Lynne McNees, Verena Lasvigne-Fox, and Daisy Tepper when you download our report: What will it take to fix the spa industry’s staffing shortage? .

Spa Executive is published by Book4Time, the leader in guest management, revenue and mobile solutions for the most exclusive spas, hotels, and resorts around the globe. Learn more at book4time.com.

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Having a hard time recruiting team members? Try these 11 strategies for attracting top talent. 

Are you looking for top talent for your spa and having trouble finding and attracting the right people?  You’re not alone.

We all know that recruiting can be difficult in spa and wellness. It’s a candidate’s market in many places, with more jobs than people available to fill them. Massage therapist is a job that is growing faster than average in the US, according to the BSL. And in the US alone, at this time last year, there were nearly 40,000 unfilled spa industry positions.

But that doesn’t mean it’s impossible to attract the people you need.  There are surely tactics you haven’t tried, or even considered.

Here are 11 strategies for attracting top talent to your spa or wellness business.

Identify the person, or people, you want to recruit. Yes, you know you want an aesthetician or a massage therapist. But what else do you need in a team member? What does “fit with your team” look like? What level of experience do you require? How many languages do they need to speak? Be very clear on what you’re looking for before you go looking for it.

Be realistic. But be realistic. It’s common for companies to list “nice to haves” in job posts and when recruiting. Keep those to a separate list, and treat them as bonuses if you find them. If you set your bar too high you’ll miss out on all kinds of great people. Remember what we said above about it being a candidate’s market out there.

Find talent where it hangs out. One you know who you’re looking for, you can figure out where to find them. What social networks are they most likely to use, and in what groups on those networks are they most active? What connections do you have to them? Go and find them. Can you partner with a local school for placement? There are a lot of ways to reach people beyond just posting a job online and waiting for the applications to come in.

Build your employer brand. You know what this means, right? It’s the image you present to candidates as an employer. It’s how you appear on social media and it’s in the stories you tell. It’s the thing that makes people say “That looks like a great place to work! I want to work there. Let’s make it happen.” Your employer brand should be relevant and consistent.

Fix issues in your workplace. Before you can present your amazing employer brand, you have to create one. A lot of businesses out there are trying to present the image of being a great place to work – it helps if you actually are one. This means doing some digging to find out if your current employees are genuinely happy with their lot and, if not, why not and what you can do to fix it.

Identify the reasons people should want to work for you. Continuing with the above, if your employees are happy, why is that? What makes them happy about working for you? Those are the things you want to highlight. There are a lot of spas out there, and many of them need team members a lot more than team members need them. So, why should someone want to work for you over anyone else? Is it your incredible benefits program, your amazing workplace culture, your mission and values? Your wildly empathetic and communicative management team? If you can’t think of anything, well, there’s one of your problems right there.

Tap your network and team for referrals. According to the 2018 ISPA Workforce study, “word-of-mouth and/or peer referral” was the method that had been most commonly employed by spa management and service providers to find their current jobs. Just like job seekers should be tapping their networks for jobs, so should employers be doing the same for team members.

Offer referral incentives. Offer referral incentives to your team. If you want them to do the work, which will ultimately benefit your company, they should be rewarded for it.

Use social media. Beyond just posting a job on LinkedIn, use your social channels to find the talent you seek. They are most definitely out there, since almost everyone uses some form of social media. Use social to promote your employer brand, to get engaged in industry related conversations, to join relevant groups, and to connect with people who can connect you to new talent.

Offer opportunities for advancement. Research has shown that one of the main reasons people quit any job is a lack of opportunity for advancement, and also that more than 80% of people have to leave one company for another in order to advance their careers. Nobody wants to feel like their life is going nowhere and live the same experience day in and day out. How can you create pathways to advancement or at least the feeling of upward mobility at your place of work? (We have some ideas here).

Provide a good candidate experience. Job hunting is hard and can be demoralizing, and this is compounded by potential employers who offer a bad candidate experience. They’re late for their own interviews and can be rude and dismissive. Worst of all are the employers who ghost candidates, even after several rounds of interviews, and don’t even follow up to let them know they didn’t get the job. People often wait for an update, literally for weeks or months, and meanwhile the employer in question has hired someone else and totally forgotten about them. It’s cruel to put people through this, and it does not make you look good. They will not forget, and they will not say nice things about their experience, which is damaging to that employer brand.

In spa, we’re looking for team members who are empathetic, hard working and have integrity. We can start by being those people ourselves. Just that will go along way towards bringing in the people we want as team members.

We’ve released our spa and wellness trends to watch for 2020. Sign up for Spa Executive’s newsletter and download the free report! CLICK HERE >>

Spa Executive magazine is published by Book4Time, the world’s most innovative spa, salon, wellness, and activity management software. Learn more at Book4Time.com.

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