I recently responded to yet another question from a frustrated salon owner in one of our coaching sessions on a subject that is very much on every Salon owners mind.

Lately it seems like I have to answer the question of Stylist turnover every week and my answer is usually the same.” Are you working the systems I taught you and what is the reason they are leaving?” Is it wages, or is it the Millennial Gen Z reasons? “You know those employees I just described, don’t you? The employees I am describing are the ones that usually are not after wages, they are the employees usually wanting time off and lifestyle changes.

The fact is that lifestyle (not hourly rate) is fast becoming something we as an industry need to wrap our heads around. I was at a conference this year and it was about identifying your client and guess what. The client was identified as wanting convenience and life style experience over price of service. This same focus is what you need to consider when dealing with staff. Financial incentives are becoming less important in the decisions of whether or not your staff will stay.

Salons should realize that they need to think outside the old way of employing stylists. There are ways of extending the life cycle of your employees but the days of old are over and employees will come and go. Think and focus on keeping clients more than focusing on an employee who is thinking about leaving over issues other than wages. You may have some team members that have been with you for a long time and I applaud you for that and I applaud them for their loyalty. The problem comes with how to deal with today’s tech driven generation who literally have a attention span that was created from technology. Research says that their attention span is literally 8 seconds or less and that is why they also lose interest in their employment so quickly.

For us to survive the future, we will have to change the way we set up recruitment, training and retention of both managers and staff. You need to realize that the average lifespan of employment is now 3 to 5 years within a salon. How will you change your systems knowing this fact?

I personally coach that knowing this fact, you must always be training from the bottom up. I believe if you can afford one Junior or Assistant full time than you need to hire 3 part-time. Find the wolf of the bunch to fill the shoes of the stylist who will be leaving, and I guaranty there will be one leaving soon! Remember Proper Planning Prevents Poor Performance.

Please, Please, Please, implement assistant programs Stylists will be leaving and if you don’t prepare you are setting your salon up for failure and shoveling you know what against the tide.

Your Prosperity Goal must be to create an environment in which clients are happy, and when a stylist loses their attention span to the business, you will have a replacement ready to step in and then begin training their replacement – again and again.

This type of planning is what sets business owners apart from stylists who own a chair. Prosperity is hard work and you must be able to Adapt, Improvise and Overcome.

Remember there are systems that work if worked. Why don’t you think outside the box and work these systems!