“ People have been talking about how unsustainable work is for a long time , and it took a pandemic for us to say , ‘ Yes , things are pretty unsustainable .’”
keep getting .’ So being transformational and being in that opportunity space at this point in time in our industry is huge because why do we have to keep continuing to do things [ the way we always have ]? We have to talk about flexibility for our team members and we have to be creative [ to see ] what ’ s working .”
As the conversation shifted toward outward-facing recruitment , Radhika Papandreaou stressed the importance of being steadfast in our approach to strategies such as referral bonuses : “ We ’ re seeing a lot of [ the referral bonus ] idea . I think the question there is , how long will that last ? I worry that we will go back to bad habits and when things settle down — because they will , right ? Everything evens out . Are we going to continue to [ offer referral bonuses ]? I think we should ; I hope we take those into perpetuity .”
Justifying this employee-first mindset may bring a bit of a pause to senior management , whose main focus and priority is typically the profitability of the spa as a whole . For Smiley Poswolsky , the key to convincing senior management to place a higher value on employee well-being is all in the data : “ You know what private equity people like . You know people that run multinational , multi-million , multi-billion-dollar businesses like money — the bottom line — and there is a business case for culture , there is a business case for belonging . There is a great [ Harvard Business Review ] article on the business case for belonging , which talks about when employees feel valued and part of a culture , [ they take ] fewer sick days [ and there is ] less turnover , saving large companies $ 52 million a year . So this isn ’ t ‘ fluff ’— it ’ s actually contributing to the bottom line , and that speaks volumes .”
In addition to ensuring each employee ’ s voice is heard , there is undeniable space for spas to offer clear advancement and leadership development opportunities to employees at all different levels within the spa . Andrea Zemel thoughtfully described the key to offering the right opportunities to the right people : “ Another opportunity that our spas [ have ] is really trying to reach within your own teams and becoming that emotionally connected person with each and every one of your team members . [ Asking ] ‘ Well , what do you like to do ? Do you like to do just basic Swedish massage ? Or do you like to do deep tissue ? Okay , if you ’ d like to do deep tissue , let ’ s get you some more training , what else would you like to do ?’ They will not come to you — you need to go to them and ask them these questions and create those relationships with your employees [ to find out ] more about what they do and what makes them tick .”
To wrap up the session , which eventually opened the floor to audience members to ask questions , Jean Kolb let everyone in on what ISPA is currently doing to help this dire situation in the spa world : “ As an industry , we understand that you need something . We are diligently working on a Talent Toolkit , just like we did with the Reopening Toolkit , so that we can have tangible tools for you to go out and be able to recruit in all different areas . That ’ s something that you ’ re going to be seeing in the future .” n
JULY 2022 n PULSE 39