PULSE POINTS
BY JOSH CORMAN
THE COMPENSATION
SITUATION
MONEY, LIKE POLITICS AND RELIGION,
is one of those things that isn’t supposed to be discussed
at the dinner table. That said, we’re about to dive into the
dollars and cents of the spa industry, so if you happen to
be reading Pulse at a dinner table, now might be a good
time to relocate.
The 2019 ISPA U.S. Spa Industry Study Compensation
Supplement may not provide ideal mealtime conversation
fodder, but it does offer a clear breakdown of how spa em-
ployees are compensated, what they earn and what the
staffing picture looks like across the industry. A closer look
at the numbers reveals some notable recent trends.
First, it’s worth noting that compensation levels across
the spa industry have continued to trend upward over the
last five years. For example, in 2014, 86 percent of full-time
spa directors in resort/hotel spas and 45 percent of those
in day spas earned more than $60,000. In 2019, those
figures rose to 94 percent and 74 percent, respectively.
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MAY 2020
Similar gains 1 are evident among other positions as well:
l In 2014, 27 percent of spa managers earned more than
$50,000; in 2019, that figure rose to 38 percent.
l In 2014, 73 percent of estheticians 2 earned more than
$30,000; in 2019, that figure rose to 98 percent.
l In 2014, 70 percent of massage therapists earned more
than $30,000; in 2019, that figure rose to 96 percent.
l In 2014, 54 percent of nail technicians earned more
than $30,000; in 2019, that figure rose to 81 percent.
Rising wage levels aren’t the only notable change to
the industry’s compensation landscape since 2014. In ad-
dition to earning more, service providers are also earning
differently. In 2014, 45 percent of day spas reported paying
service provider employees a straight commission on serv-
ices, while only 26 percent used straight hourly pay plus a
commission on services. In 2019, however, the number of
day spas that reported using straight hourly pay plus a
commission on services rose to more than 60 percent.