Retaining Your Salon Employees

Building an incredible salon team takes time and care – from attracting top talent to training stylists in your brand culture. But staff turnover disrupts operations and client loyalty. Prioritising salon employee retention saves you continually recruiting and onboarding new hires.

Use strategies around compensation, work environment, training and internal growth opportunities to keep your staff happily employed long-term.

Offer Competitive Compensation Packages

Money motivates. Salon pay often lags other industries vying for creative talent, so evaluate if your current wage and benefits structure remains above-average for similar local salons. Things to benchmark include:

Hourly pay rate or commission split percentage
Performance bonuses
Tips policy
Paid time off
Retirement savings contributions
Insurance plans

Regularly research current industry salary norms and adjust accordingly. Publicly communicate when raising pay and perks so employees feel valued.

Cultivate Community Through Workplace Culture

Fostering connections amongst internal teams and welcoming clients boosts employee satisfaction and retention. Tactics for encouraging a sense of community include:

Promote collaboration between stylists – Incentivise peer mentorships allowing newer hires to shadow and learn from experienced staff rather than siloing experts protectively.
Host team building activities – Plan quarterly offsite activities bringing everyone together informally for meals, volunteering events or recreational outings to bond.
Celebrate staff publicly – Spotlight employee achievements like advanced training completions or raving client reviews on social media or your website to recognise excellence.

Invest In Ongoing Training and Growth

Ambitious salon staff thirst for continuous skills development to elevate expertise over time. Satisfy their drive through:

Formal education subsidies

Allocate annual funding per employee for attending conferences, workshops and classes. Handle logistics like registration and travel.

In-house education

Devise monthly hands-on training sessions led by staff, outside experts or product brand education. Consider making attendance mandatory.

Career development planning

Schedule sit downs assessing individual stylist interests around specialities like precision cutting or colour correction. Create plans guiding their growth through shadowing, custom training and revised responsibilities.

By prioritising professional advancement, employees feel invested in versus needing to change jobs to reach career goals.

Offer Internal Advancement Opportunities

Skilled staffers will eventually seek managerial duties or master stylist designations only available by moving salons when such roles don’t exist internally. Satisfy their drive for more by:

Creating junior management tracks

Develop a program allowing standout staff to gradually undertake leadership tasks like inventory management, new hire orientation and appointment coordination to train them for official management.

Building master stylist tiers

Designate criteria around years expertise, training accomplishments and client requests for earning senior level titles. Attach expanded booking privileges, higher pay and mentoring duties.

Assigning special projects

Tap enthusiastic employees to spearhead initiatives like revamping social media, planning a bridal showcase or researching expansion opportunities.

Plan Thoughtful Exits

Despite best efforts, some degree of attrition remains inevitable. When valued team members do leave, ensure positive lasting impressions.

Conduct thorough offboarding

Align departing staff with replacement stylist, facilitating introductions and sharing insights to enable smooth client handoffs limiting disruption.

Celebrate contributions

Communicate the news organisation-wide, praising the employee’s accomplishments. Consider hosting a farewell lunch or happy hour.

Protect Your Livelihood with Salon Insurance from Salon Saver

At Salon Saver, we understand the dedication of converting empty space into a beloved salon. Our specialty salon insurance protects what you’ve built. Our policies shield against risks like accidents, injuries, fires, floods, lawsuits and more so you can pour focus into amazing client experiences and rewarding employee opportunities without worrying over potential disasters.

Learn more about comprehensive cover for hair, beauty and barber salons by contacting us today.

Dean Laming

Dean Laming is a Chartered Insurance Broker with more than 25 years insurance experience. Through various underwriting, operational and management roles, Dean has built up extensive knowledge of the hair and beauty sector and is now Managing Director of Salon Saver, part of the wider Henry Seymour Group.

All articles by Dean Laming