BY JAMISON STOIKE

Gen Z is ready to enter the spa workforce , both as service providers and as spa managers . What ’ s drawing them to the world of spa ? How can your spa business appeal to them ? And has COVID-19 shaken up interest in the spa industry ?

IT ’ S COMMON KNOWLEDGE in the spa industry that hiring remains an ever-present challenge for spa directors and operators around the globe . The 2019 ISPA U . S . Spa Industry Study found more than 32,000 unfilled positions at U . S . spas alone , a number that is surely greater now in the wake of COVID-19 . Now , though , at the beginning of the 2020s , ISPA members are observing a generational shift that is adding further complexity to the hir- ing process . Generation Z — generally defined as those born from 1997 to 2012 — are beginning to enter the spa workforce en masse , while Millennials ( born in the 1980s and early 1990s ) are already firmly entrenched in spas around the globe .

Despite this generational turnover , what draws Generation Z to the spa industry isn ’ t significantly different than what has drawn people to work in spa for decades , according to several sources in the spa education pipeline .

At Northern Arizona University ( NAU ) in Flagstaff , Frederick De Micco recently taught the university ’ s firstever course on spa , titled “ Spa and Well-Being Management .” Offered last fall , the class was fully enrolled with 30 students who spent the semester getting to know the world of spa . For many , the course represented their first engagement with the concept .

14 PULSE ^■ MARCH 2021