“Show them not only what this will cost, but how
much it will make us. I always tell people to go into
any program with a pros-cons list, and then have
your ROI clearly defined. If you don’t go in with it all
outlined, you’ll never get it approved.”
– CASSIE HERNANDEZ, Director of Spa/Salon and Fitness, The Broadmoor Hotel
be looking for a stopgap. The Broadmoor had to find a
way to incentivize them to stick around for a while, and
the time requirement of the program accomplishes that.
The Broadmoor Hotel is unique in that it is an indepentally
owned property, so it only needed two people to
approve its program. When it comes to applying this idea
to your own spa, you may have to navigate a trickier
approval process from a larger ownership group or board
of directors.
In addition, money is also a potential challenge. As the
Broadmoor’s spa director Cassie Hernandez says, “It’s a
hefty investment.” She believes that with time and effort
any spa director can institute a similarly successful program,
but it has to work financially for those to even be a
company, showing flexibility and being loyal to the property.
The employees are well aware of these standards
beforehand, and they ensure that the employee won’t
slack off upon getting hired.
To qualify, a candidate has to have graduated within
the last six months. In many cases, the Broadmoor is looking
to fill openings immediately, so the candidate must be
near graduation at the very least.
This program has allowed Broadmoor to get ahead in
two areas: hiring and retention. For the former, the Broadmoor
now has a waitlist of employees who would like to
be considered once it has openings. In regard to the latter,
younger therapists and estheticians aren’t necessarily
looking for longevity or sustainability; instead, they could
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