“ When we ’ re having a recruitment conversation , we have to be able to explain our compensation structure in less than a sentence .”
— MEGAN JASPER , Director of Marketing and Operations , Gadabout SalonSpas
Gadabout SalonSpas has created collateral like this to highlight its new compensation structure .
THE STATE OF THE INDUSTRY “ There was a high expectation that there would be a cut in wages ,” says Michael Tompkins , partner at Hutchinson Consulting ,“ simply due to the fact that the pandemic ate through all of the profits in the hotel and hospitality industries .”
Tompkins ’ words summarize the general mood of a year ago — as spa directors , spa owners and hotel operators confronted the bleak bottom line of pandemic-era balance sheets , many resigned themselves to a commensurate long-term reduction in pay across the industry . When spas closed , many employees were laid off . These employees were predominantly service providers and desk staff , but many spas also shed their assistant spa directors or spa managers , sometimes leaving only the spa director on staff . Those who remained employed most likely had their salaries reduced to cope with the financial shock of the tap of spa-goers being turned off . The fear was that this decrease would become a new normal : There would be no way , the thinking went , to bring back staff at their previous salaries when spas finally reopened . The losses had simply been too great .
“ There was a natural assumption that there would be a ten , twenty or thirty percent cut in the long-term like there was when the pandemic first started , yet what we ’ re seeing is exactly the opposite ,” Tompkins adds .
Instead , compensation has been up for several months now , at least for service providers . Indeed , throughout the hospitality industry , the lower you go , the faster salaries are climbing . Generally , executive level positions ( such as vice presidents , executive directors , etc .) have been making less than they were before the pandemic . Management positions ( spa directors , spa managers ) have been making the same amount . Meanwhile , service providers and linelevel positions are seeing salary increases of double-digit percentages . Looking forward , Tompkins expects salaries to continue increasing and that those increases will climb the ladder : that is , the coming onslaught of domestic travel will likely drive up salaries not just for service providers , but also for spa director positions . The pandemic delayed the construction and opening of many new spas ; this fall , many of these projects are expected to finally open and , in turn , hire spa directors . The coming wave of management-level movement will , says Tompkins , increase salaries for spa directors and managers “ more towards the end of the year .”
The root cause of any industry-wide compensation increase is an increase in demand ; this is certainly the case for 2021 . MMGY Travel Intelligence ’ s 2021 Portrait of American Travelers recently published some exciting ( or frightening ) statistics . Among them : 81 percent of U . S . adults intend to travel for leisure in the next twelve months . Sixty-two percent plan to do so within six months . Travel for sustainability and wellness , according to their survey , is more popular than ever . And the top states of interest to U . S . domestic travelers over the next two years are states that are well-known bastions of spa : Hawaii , Florida and California . The coming travel boom will likely turn the current flow of spa-goers into a torrent as excited travelers flock to spa destinations . If your spa is located in one of these hot markets , securing the labor necessary to make the most of the boom will require participating in a fiercely competitive market for service providers and spa managers .
PERCEPTION IS EVERYTHING How will your spa cope with the demands of the day , then ? For several ISPA members , a big piece of the puzzle is simply making how you compensate employees clearer to prospective hires .
Gadabout SalonSpas , a 40-year-old salon and spa with five locations in Tucson , Arizona , recently overhauled its compensation structure . The first goal was to , quite literally , make it simpler . “ We have to make our team feel like they ’ re earning more and getting more ,” says Megan Jasper , director of marketing and operations ,“ and when we ’ re having a recruitment conversation , we have to be able to explain our compensation structure in less than a sentence . We couldn ’ t do that before .” The issue , it seems , was a 10 percent operational charge . Before Gad-
JULY 2021 ■ PULSE 25