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BUSINESS
BEAUTY INDUSTRY BULLYING; LET’S DO BETTER! By Tamara Reid, Founding Director of Beaute Industrie & Head of Brand for Timely The beauty industry is full of friendly, creative, caring professionals. Or so we all like to believe. Scratch the surface and you’d be surprised at how often bullying and harassment are the underlying cause of a disheartened team, a dwindling client base and a declining salon business. Understandably salon bullying is not a subject that’s often discussed in our industry media and on community forums. It’s an issue we all wish didn’t exist, and there’s a tendency to brush it under the carpet. Who wants to admit they have a bully in their work life? Sadly, bullying is responsible for 30 to 50% of all stress related illnesses in the workplace and nearly all people who I’ve spoken with in recent months said the industry was facing a bullying crisis but feared if they spoke up they would never work in it again. Asking the Beaute Industrie Community, I was met with an abundance of comments including this one from Bree Stevens; “‘(bullying) nearly broke me. I stopped my business and went into a spiral of self doubt and shame. It was unrelenting and soul destroying. It has taken almost 3 years to feel confident to put myself out there again.” So what behaviour amounts to salon bullying? It’s easy to overlook bullying as joking about or even as harmless salon banter, but bullying is far from innocent teasing. When talking about, and more importantly, being able to recognise bullying, you’ll see a persistent pattern of behaviour that humiliates, intimidates, undermines, embarrasses or negatively impacts someone’s emotional and psychological wellbeing. These can include: • Ignoring or excluding a team member from normal salon activities • Malicious gossip and spreading rumours • Throwing insults around • Constantly highlighting errors or mistakes made by others • Playing practical jokes on people you don’t like • Non-verbal acts such as pointing, smirking and staring • Constant criticism of a colleague’s work • Setting unreasonable salon tasks or deadlines • Sharing jokes, photos, emails online – cyber bullying • Making unreasonable demands on junior members of staff
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Beauty Biz Year 14 Issue 6
All pretty nasty stuff, and extremely hurtful and wounding if you’re on the receiving end.
Create an anti-bullying culture in your hair or beauty business
Robyn McAlpine, Owner of Skintifix shared that ‘any difference of opinion outside the general pack mentality is torn down and berated as wrong and some people will even rally their pack to lay the public heat on in the comments section of anyone with a different opinion.’ In the last year Robyn has withdrawn from a lot of online interaction and kept her content neutral as she ‘has not had the strength to defend herself’.
Internal communication is key to dealing with harassment and bullying:
How does bullying affect your spa or salon success? The effects of bullying can strike at the very heart of your salon or spa business: 1. Sick days increase, as does staff turnover 2. Productivity plumits, along with the quality of services performed 3. Poor morale becomes the norm and your business reputation can be damaged 4. Your business is vulnerable to employment claims and unwelcome industry perspective Who is going to deliver exceptional client care and outstanding service skills when they are feeling isolated, undervalued and low? Bullying doesn’t just make your salon employee feel despondent; it can lead to both physical and psychological problems. Medical research shows bullied employees suffer from increased chest pains, headaches, high blood pressure as well as depression, anger, helplessness, shame, low self-esteem and even suicidal thoughts. How to prevent bullying in the salon or spa workplace Telling someone to pull themselves together or to be thick-skinned is not going to help. Instead try these compassionate and culture boosting ideas to prevent bullying behaviour, and tackle it more quickly and effectively when it does arise:
Set the right example. Walk the talk and make it clear that your business culture won’t tolerate such behaviour and it is inconsistent with your salon, spa or clinic values. Being open and honest to the team about bullying goes a long way to reducing the likelihood of harassment. Talk about the problem openly in team meetings, give practical examples of unacceptable bullying behaviour, have a written policy on bullying in your staff room and include it in your induction processes. It’s not just the person who is being bullied who suffers. The situation creates an atmosphere in salon affecting colleagues who feel uncomfortable and demoralised at the behaviour they are forced to watch. An agitated mood takes over the whole team. To counter this, ensure your team understand they can approach you in confidence and ‘blow the whistle’ if they see persistent alarming behaviour towards a salon colleague. Have a clear disciplinary process for harassment and bullying and ensure you take grievances seriously and investigate them immediately. Don’t let bullying drag your salon or spa down Tackle the situation early and you’ll save yourself and your team considerable heartache. It can be hard – it’s a tricky topic to navigate, but when wrapped in support and reinforced from all levels, it can be pretty transformative. Everyone starts smiling again, client sense the happier mood, the vibe is positive.
