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Stacking The Odds By Lisa Conway
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“I can’t find Staff”, that’s a statement I hear way more than I’d like to. The truth is salon owners are faced with a severe shortage of both qualified and partially qualified team members and it’s a nation-wide challenge.
My belief is that this skill shortage is not going away or at least not anytime soon. The little overseas talent we did attract has also dried up, thanks to covid19, so we are all fishing in the same shallow pond.
Some facts.
The number of students entering in and graduating from full-time colleges has all but dried up, plus most of us complained about their ability anyway. An industry heavily weighted with females in the reproductive years means that as fast as we qualify them, we lose them. A large percentage of them don’t even return from baby number one.
The other challenge is that many hairdressers don’t have the drive or business knowledge, so working as a sole operator from a room in the family home is a choice many make when they have kids, as opposed to being an operator of a twelve-chair salon complete with a receptionist. Highschool students are encouraged to stay at school, to continue right through to university, even though when you ask “what do you want to do?”, they have no clue. Taking up a trade is out of favour in our current school system and has been for some 15 years. When students stay in school, this lowers the nation’s unemployment stats and that works in the governments favour. University also means everyone has a HEX bill to pay off, another plus for the government. Kids stay in school to have “year 12 to fall back on” like it’s a soft landing, I’d like to ask “what are we falling back from?
Last but no means least, Technology is a path that didn’t exist 30 years ago.
So, with all this stacked against us and an education system that is failing us as a trade, what can you do? We must flip our thinking and agree that what used to work doesn’t anymore. You will be looking at playing a big part in the training of your own hairdressers with the next generation. The first step is to stop saying the word Staff. It’s a very harsh word and bleating out the bleeding obvious “ I can’t find staff “ , just doesn’t change a single thing.
Think of it like his. You don’t go around saying “I can’t find a lover” why? Because that implies that perhaps nobody wants you, or you are simply not putting your back into it. That’s how I think when I hear “I can’t find staff” ask yourself this, what am I doing to stand out, to attract people to me? Some even go as far as to ask around and gather a pile of evidence that they are not the only one, another poor use of your time. I get that it’s a shit climate, I really do, and I also get that there is more you can be doing to start a chain of team coming up the ranks, in particular your ranks. Forget about what the
others are doing work out how you are going to solve this one. I think we as an industry, must come up with a different approach. Uber did it. Air bnb did it, so why can’t we? I bet when they proposed the idea at first, they would have been told “don’t be ridiculous!”.
In the meantime, the answer is to train our own. Train and graduate them in single tasks. Let me explain. Train a person 100% of your time to apply your tints. Graduate them and then train them to do your blow waves 100% of the time graduate them and so on. The one person one client relationship is wrought with challenges, it always was and it’s more so in this current skill shortage climate. Do the surgeons work and have great support for the less skilled work? Jamie Oliver still cooks with onions although I bet he stopped chopping them long ago. The other option is to find Salon assistants that stay in that role and don’t ever become a hairdresser. A front of house that is only ever a receptionist, not your junior stylist doing part hair, part front desk. Once you get help at the desk you won’t ever go back and it means you can focus more on team training.
Pillaroo based in Sydney, trains salon assistant’s and hires them to salons at short notice. It’s a brilliant way to solving the skill shortage. Although I have heard that the odd salon owner doesn’t want to pay the $26 an hour for an assistant, when they can pay $30 to a senior!! There is either a value disconnect here or just no pleasing some.
The only thing worse than training team members that leave is not training them and they stay. I am not surprised at people’s disappointment when a team member leaves, I agree it is disappointing. Although I am surprised that it is taken so personally. Often it has nothing to do with you, and everything to do with them. The choices people make deserve respect; the changing of plans is all part of the age group we are predominately working with. If you add in that we are an extremely creative lot, then it is understandable. It is what it is. Gone are the days of one person one career. People today readily change jobs, where they live, who they live with. It is just the norm and we need to accept it.
I lost one to the police force, another to become a school teacher, another a nurse and another an aged care worker and every one of them were or showed great potential as a hairdresser. I lost others to overseas travel. I had one go to lunch and never return, I am still waiting. It wasn’t until I realised, she took her handbag and jacket that I thought, she’s not coming back. So, I did what anyone would do and soldiered on to do her workload as well as mine for the rest of that day. Team members are like buses, there will always be another. Find one, train one, keep one isn’t realistic. I think you will agree with me on that. I think it’s more like this - Find three, train three, lose two and keep one then repeat the process. Maybe the answer is to spend a lot more time documenting/filming your interview process, your training process, your induction process. Put together a kick arse manual full of video content. Everything you want them to know about your business. Do the work now and get the ongoing rewards. Ask yourself this - How can I best train this next person and document that whole process to reduce the workload moving forward? What steps do I repeat that I can document reducing my future work, who else can support me on this? Over 12 years ago now I had myself on video, long before the I phone was so user friendly and I packed all of what I wanted to say in a ten minute You Tube. This message was to explain what I was looking for in a team member. What I was prepared to put in as the owner of the business, my commitment and I outlined the process that guaranteed I would have them succeed if they were passionate and committed. I would sit them down and show them this while I got on with other tasks. I could tell a lot by their body language while they watched it. It meant that everyone got the same level of excitement and energy from me and the exact same message. Let’s be honest it’s a challenge to have the same level of enthusiasm for each interview. I bet you are like me and have even had the odd no show. It is so disheartening when that happens. I fixed that problem with a ‘I am not going to let you down; my time and your time are both precious and I will show you respect by cancelling our meeting if for some reason I cannot attend. I am expecting the same from you.’ I learnt that the firmer and clearer I was the better the respect I got. Interesting that.
I am not saying it’s easy, however what I am saying is we need to change our thinking from a statement that starts with “ I can’t” to one starting with “ I’m going to”. At The ZING Project we have the privilege of working with salons from every corner of the country. City, rural and it fascinates me that it’s not a location that attracts a team member, it’s not a salon fit out that attracts a team and it isn’t a brand of tint that attracts a team. It’s the attitude of the salon owner. That energy of being a relentless problem solver, the core mindset of a true entrepreneur. There is a skill shortage I agree, work tirelessly on that problem and you will succeed.
Time Team and Money in that order. I say it over and over again. You MUST spend TIME with your TEAM and when you do the MONEY shows up. Some of you spend far too many hours working on the salon floor and not nearly enough time to develop your team. The sole job of a leader is to create leaders. I hear you when you say “I love working on the floor. Get that balance wrong and I can guarantee that you will always have a team shortage problem. Part of the problem is when things go pear shaped, you are quick to get back on the tools. Why? Mostly because it’s easy, it’s in the comfort zone, you can do with your eyes shut. You must be prepared to put the time in to other areas of your business, get out of your comfort zone, because that’s where magic is born. To explore the truth behind the biggest challenge of all, a team member shortage. Become the lighthouse that stands out from all the other salons. Like the lighthouse, attract the very few ships there are to sail directly to your business. Any port in a storm isn’t a good strategy. Someone has to be solving the skill shortage problem, so my question is, if not you then who? There is a brilliant book that is in audio version too called “Making money is killing your business”, author Chuck Blakeman. Well worth the read/listen.
I am always available to chat further. Only too happy to help you. You can do it!
