How to retain and grow your team as well as your business

By Kirsty MacCormick, The Spa Consultancy

It is still very much the case that at some destinations the spa team can be treated as an afterthought and expected to run without synergy or support from hotel management. But these days spa and wellness will attract higher spending leisure guests who stay longer and are more likely to have a greater ancillary spend that will benefit all departments. So the best hotel operations should be encouraged to use their sales and marketing teams to target this demographic and place spa and wellness more prominently in their overall strategy.

A proactive approach is crucial. Spa managers need to know their figures, what needs to be achieved and how they are going to deliver. This is not just about achieving your spa budget, but also what benefit you can bring to the overall hotel revenue.

Hotel management may find spa operations a bit of a mystery, but if figures and strategies are presented using familiar hotel terms, like REVPAR and occupancy, they will find it easier to understand and the spa will be taken more seriously. Regular meetings with other departments can also bring spa operations closer to the hotel, bridging gaps, solving problems and improving overall communication.

Making spa careers attractive

Even after investing time and energy in their education, spa therapists are required to work unsociable hours and weekends, often with unattractive salary packages. This is starting to make a career in spa unappealing. We are now seeing a high turnover of staff and many more career changes within and outside of the industry.

For example, the average entry level salary for a full-time therapist in the UK is around £20k (v23k) with the potential to increase with experience and training to a head therapist’s salary of £28k. Many would question whether this is sufficient for a job that is physically and sometimes mentally demanding. In some places, therapists are worked at a 100% occupancy to accommodate guest requirements. When not performing treatments they are often asked to fill in elsewhere, such as on reception or delivering refreshments, but this is simply not a sustainable practice.

The Exclusive Collection, which runs leading UK spa destinations Penny Hill Park and South Lodge, has a 125-strong spa team

In the last few years, we’ve seen an increase in therapists going freelance to benefit from a higher hourly rate of up to £24 per hour. While the hours may not be guaranteed this allows them more flexibility over when they want to work in order to achieve a better work-life balance.

However, employing freelancers can add considerable costs to a spa’s payroll and cause issues within the team with core therapists on full-time contracts sometimes earning half of the freelance hourly rate.

Finding the right balance

Around the world some hotel operators are considering a variety of interesting solutions to this monetary issue. At The Swan Hotel & Spa in Newby Bridge, Cumbria, UK, performance related pay (PRP) will be introduced this summer, with KPIs to be set for each staff member. If their targets are met then a higher hourly rate can be achieved, currently forecast to be around £14 per hour for therapists.

Another way to raise earnings is through discretionary service charges, which in the USA enable some therapists to earn as much as their managers. In the UK, Pennyhill Park in Surrey, part of the Exclusive Collection, which also owns South Lodge in West Sussex, has introduced an optional service charge of 7.5% onto treatment services, which is passed on to staff.

When it is clearly communicated to guests that this fee is for their convenience and at their discretion, it can allow a spa to offer a higher compensation package without increasing payroll costs or prices. With the introduction of PRP and a service charge in the UK, a contracted spa therapist who achieves the set KPIs could be earning up to £18 per hour – 44% more than they earn on average now.

Keeping therapists healthy and motivated

Apart from being paid more, spa therapists also want to feel appreciated, respected and satisfied in their work. Here are some tips for retaining your precious team members

1. Limit the number of massages that each person must perform a day.

2. Get creative with spa packages and treatment promotions. Maybe include combined facials and massages or promote facials as services that can offer relaxation and stress release.

3. Ensure you are onboarding your staff from day one. Make sure that they feel they are being respected and have all the tools and information they need to do their job well.

4. Training is an absolute necessity from before your staff are put on the rota, including regular updates and refresher courses to maintain treatment and service standards.

5. Conduct regular audits and trade tests. This is not just to check what therapists are delivering but also show that you actually care about what is being delivered in your treatment rooms. n

6. One-to-one appraisals are essential. As well as receiving feedback on performance, these are also a chance for staff to explain how they feel and how they would like to progress.

7. Regular team meetings are vital to share positives as well as address challenges and they are also a great opportunity to celebrate good results and achievements.

8. Leverage some of the many benefits within hotel operations that can be used as team-building initiatives, such as overnight stays, activities, dinners and spa days, not to mention spa products and treatments.

About our expert contributor

With over 30 years’ experience in the spa and wellness industry, Kirsty MacCormick is the founder of The Spa Consultancy. Her expertise includes development, pre-opening project management and operational set up of a range of spas from commercial hotel and day spas to luxury five-star hotels and wellness destinations.

www.thespaconsultancy.com