MEMBER PERSPECTIVES

BY RYAN 0 ‘ GARA

STAFFING HAS LONG BEEN AN ISSUE IN THE SPA INDUSTRY before the pandemic began : for years , data from the ISPA U . S . Spa Industry showed that there were more open positions than there were qualified applicants to fill them .

Once COVID-19 arrived , though , many spas closed and had to furlough or lay off employees , seemingly flooding the job market with spa professionals seeking employment . Despite this , some spas have had continued difficulty filling positions since reopening , indicating that the spa industry ’ s labor crunch remains , in spite of — or perhaps exacerbated by — COVID-19 .

For this month ’ s Member Perspectives , Pulse spoke with a spa that has been growing its staff during the pandemic and another that is getting creative to make up for pandemic-related staffing reductions .

Growing a new property during COVID-19

With four locations in the Northeast , Mirbeau Inn & Spa had a solid foundation in place when it opened up a new property in Rhinebeck , New York , in 2019 . When COVID-19 arrived in 2020 , Spa Director Pam Maes faced the unenviable task of growing a new property during a pandemic . While it was intimidating at first , Maes has helped the Rhinebeck location do quite well during the pandemic , as their staff of massage therapists has actually grown from 15 pre-pandemic to the 23 it has on staff now .

Rhinebeck itself is a small village located about 100 miles north of New York City in the Hudson Valley , and Maes understood the advantage her property had during a time when people were increasingly reluctant to work in heavily populated areas . It was already a growing area ,

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34 PULSE ^■ JANUARY / FEBRUARY 2021