Leading The Way By Clive Allwright

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LEADING THE WAY

BY CLIVE ALLWRIGHT

I can recall a number of years ago listening to the ever so glamorous session stylist Sarah Laidlaw, giving her acceptance speech at an industry awards night. I remember her telling the story of how when attending university, she decided to seek some part time work at the infamous Tognini’s salon in Brisbane.

This decision changed the course of Sarah’s life forever. Changing direction on her university Law degree then eventually becoming one of Australia’s most talented and successful and celebrated session stylists.

I can remember my business partner Kelly Grant saying to me at the time “This is exactly what Piloroo needs to focus on, getting the right people to join us.” (www.piloroo.com)

Our biggest competitor in attracting young people into the industry is the hospitality industry. Sydney’s ever powering “Merivale Group” comes to mind. I wonder how many young people at university take up part time work within the Merivale group. With a choice of 90+ unique locations in and around the Sydney metro area.

Then sometimes decide to pivot and embark on a new and exciting career in hospitality. Whether it be discovering the exciting new world of the wine sommelier or front of house manager, bar manager, or restaurant manager, or even being a celebrity chef. Then proceed to have very successful careers in a very different industry, rather than the one they originally once thought.

I recently heard this exact story from one of our long-time clients. How her son Henry had years earlier taken a job as a glass collector at a Merivale location while studying for a career in real estate. He had progressed through the ranks over many years and had recently opened his own very successful Italian restaurant called Sofia’s Broadbeach QLD.

His Mum Theresa beamed with pride as she explained “It changed the course of his life forever; he has never been so happy, and we are so proud of him” Over the past few years we are all aware that our industry has faced some serious struggles. Especially in regard to attracting young people into our industry. Both Kelly and I have heard it all over the past 3 years on our journey with Piloroo. We have been told “They just don’t look the part” “They don’t have the right attitude” “They don’t have the right work ethic, or don’t wear the right clothes or have the right hair”

Let’s be clear! They don’t have many of these attributes when they start day on day one at a Merivale location either! Merivale’s employment customer training is world class or they are trained to become the right fit for their brand, at numerous opportunities across their locations.

Imagine the impact it would have on your business if you and your team could radically improve the on-boarding and training system for new team members?

For decades our industry has targeted the people that dropped out of school, and then complain why they leave or fail. We have also been told “They don’t really want to pursue a career in hairdressing, in fact they don’t really show an interest in anything” As a father of 3 children, 15-16 years of age is a very challenging time for most kids. There are obviously a few exceptions to this rule. But most are struggling with their own self-confidence, let alone massage a complete strangers head to the salon owners’ satisfaction.

My friend’s daughter is 14 years old and working after school at McDonalds and earning $16.60 per hour.

My eldest daughter’s ex-boyfriend took a part time job at our local golf club behind the bar. On a Sunday he is being paid over $50 per hour… This is what we are up against on the pay scale. Imagine if we could pay wages like this, just imagine who would possibly join us.

The minimum we should be paying assistants is $28 an hour. Just like in the hospitality industry.

That’s a big leap especially compared to the wages in other countries like USA where the minimum wage is $6- $9 dollars per hour. Or sometimes £5£8 per hour in the UK.

Remember this is a global skills shortage, it’s not just an Australian problem. Maybe it’s time we lead the way, just like Australia & NZ has done with the global pandemic!

A few years ago, Piloroo conducted a survey on how people became involved in our industry “Did you grow up always wanting to be hairdresser?” Or “Did you just fall into the industry by chance?”

The data came back - 45% fell into it. That’s nearly half our industry had no idea they wanted to be hairdressers. We need to keep chasing the lost 45+%. Just like we chase our KPI’s with retail & rebooking’s etc.

We need to continue to find new and exciting ways to attract the right people into our industry, just like the hospitality industry.

You can’t change the entire industry on your own, but you can change your salon. What are the top 3 three things that you and your team could consider doing to make a hairdressing career in your salon more attractive to potential employees?

Maybe attracting people looking for work while studying at university is one, just like Sarah Laidlaw?