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BUSINESS
THE EMPLOYEE JOURNEY By Estelle Carroll
What are people who work for you saying about your Business? What are you doing to attract the right people? Let me share with you the Employee Journey so you can uncover why things may not be as you hoped. The Employee journey is a series of experiences that each employee will encounter during their time with you. It can begin with the first time an applicant responds to your job post and says - “That’s me! That is the place I want to work” - “they are talking to me”, “That sounds like my kind of place.” As an Industry right now, there is a lot of conversation about ‘Advertising for Team’ and ‘lack of Applicants’. If you were to know ‘Why’ employees are leaving the industry or their employment to work somewhere else wouldn’t that information be GOLD? Well thanks to a review from the Australian Hairdressing Council we do know. And these results I believe are relevant to all salons in the hair, and beauty industry. So, what does an Employee want? The three main pain points of a team member were. 1) Culture - bad 2) Communication - inconsistent, not feeling heard, not appreciated 3) Training - it’s over promised and not delivered, inconsistent So, as I go through the employee journey 64
Beauty Biz Year 15 Issue 3
this will give you insights to the areas of your business where your Culture, Communication and Training might have slipped and what you can do about it.
AWARENESS
The Timeline of their journey is first their awareness, It’s possible that when a team member looked at coming to work for you, they saw something on social media. They might have heard things also, from friends or on insta stories -things that have painted a picture of what it’s like to work in your business. The photos are telling them a story - is this place action packed, tranquil, busy, fun?
DECISION
They make a decision - that your salon is where they want to work - I can see myself working there and I want to be part of it. I want to be like them.
SECURITY/SATISFACTION
This is what I thought it would be like. I’m getting into the groove of things here.
LOYALTY
They are happy and stay. The relationship is built on honesty, trust, and commitment
ADVOCACY
When they are an advocate of the business they love to come to work, and they attract new team members too. Often, we take our team members though awareness, decision and stumble in security and satisfaction - often not getting loyal team members or advocates, There are three areas a team member will go through and whilst we want to ensure we are making this journey memorable in a good way for our team members, we also want to make sure it’s memorable for the team members who didn’t get the job. Why? Because they could be your next hire and they are also potential clients. Pre-Employment - Do you respond to all applicants with a letter to say ‘unfortunately you were not successful at this time? Do you acknowledge that they have put in the effort to apply for your job? How can we acknowledge them - thank them? Especially if no one else in your town does. These unsuccessful applicants might be a client, they are certainly a potential client, and what if they might be successful later on - but you left a bad taste in their mouth.
