For years, salon owners have been trying to help their stylists achieve the elusive work-life balance. Four-day work weeks, Saturdays off, double shifting, unlimited time off … owners have experimented with just about everything.

Now, Gen Z has entered the workforce and they’re shaking things up even more. They have a lust for life and a drive to make their dreams happen.

Simone Stolzoff, author of The Good Enough Job and 2024 Serious Business speaker, says “We are all more than just workers—we are friends, parents, neighbors, etc.—and each identity needs attention. If your job is your sole source of identity and you lose it, what’s left?”

To tap into their stylists’ desire to reclaim their own lives from work, owners have stopped fighting the generational disruption and found ways to embrace it with thoughtful solutions.

1. Scheduling: Let Them Lead the Way

“This generation doesn’t want to work.”
“Gen Z wants to make six figures their first year in the salon.”
“This generation has no work ethic.”

Sound familiar? Dig deeper, and you’ll find a generation of people who do, in fact, want to work hard. They just want to do it on their own terms.“They don’t believe in the hustle culture,” says Renee Billeaudeaux, owner of Gold Dust Hair Studio in New Braunfels, Texas. “They don’t want to be attached to their station all day—they want some flexibility.”

Instead of putting parameters on time off, Billeaudeaux allows unlimited time off (within reason) for her whole team.

“As long as they let us know ahead of time, we are flexible and let them be in charge of their own work schedules,” she says. “That’s what they want—they don’t want to be told what to do.”

The result? Working moms can be home in time to pick up their kids or leave early for soccer games. If someone needs a mental health day or has to go visit a sick grandparent, they can do it without worrying about repercussions at work.

“When you give them that flexibility, they work harder,” Billeaudeaux says. “It’s not looming over their heads that they can only take eight vacation days—it takes the pressure off to give them more freedom.”

Valencia Muñoz, salon manager, says Aurea stylists in Katy, Texas, are also in charge of their own schedules. 

“When you put the power in their hands to manage themselves, you’d be surprised what they do for you,” Muñoz says.

But what about those stylists who aren’t able to self regulate and create chaos in the salon when they never show up to work?

“Last year, we had a stylist call out more than 35 times when her son started daycare,” says Toni Jennings, co-owner (with husband Tyler Cochran) of Hair House in Austin, Texas. “We have to have individual conversations when something like that happens, because we want to continue to provide one week paid vacation and unlimited time off within reason.”

Jennings says they stagger time off requests during popular times like the Austin City Limits festival, but the team still enjoys flexibility throughout the year.

“Our stylists do feel the financial burn of taking too much time off and scale back,” she says. “A lot of them go on trips from Saturday through Tuesday and come back excited and refreshed.”

And all three women agree, this flexibility in scheduling isn’t optional for salons who want to recruit new talent.   

“People got cooped up in the house during Covid,” says Billeaudeaux. “They don’t want to be cooped up in their work—they want to take the reins of their life. They work harder when they’re at work and not bogged down by something so restraining.” 

As Billeaudeaux gears up to open a new location, she is applying this flexibility to hiring as well. 

“I’m open to hiring someone who just wants to work one day a week to get their foot back in the door or someone who works in a different salon,” she says. “Maybe they want to work in downtown Austin for another salon one day a week and then out here in New Braunfels—I’m open to anything.”

2. Teach Them How to Make Their Dreams Reality

Many young hairdressers are able to articulate their dreams. They want to buy their first car, save up for a mortgage or travel to Europe. But the path to reaching these goals feels unattainable.

“So we break it down with goal setting,” says Billeaudeaux. “For example, if they want a new car, we show them how much they need to make per month and equate it into services.” 

Billeaudeaux says they also invest in education, so stylists can raise prices or offer new services. 

“If they take an extension class, they can increase their sales and their bank account,” she says. “We want to help them fill their books and make more money.”

Muñoz says they break it down into pay periods and paychecks for Aurea stylists. 

“We look at every two weeks instead of annual salary,” she says. “And at the beginning of the year we talk about personal goals and create 9 grids we post in back for everyone to see.”

Muñoz also says it’s important to look at progress year over year, and pulls numbers so her stylists are competing against themselves, and seeing their improvement in black and white.

“I’m about small wins,” she says. “It keeps up momentum to see how they’re doing compared to the year before.” 

At Hair House, many of the stylists have more than 10 years experience and are making good salaries.

“They are able to take vacations, buy things and take time off without it affecting them financially,” says Jennings. “The younger team members see this and are inspired.”

Jennings also prioritizes education, encouraging team members to specialize and profit off their expertise.

“We take care of our staff and want to invest in them,” she says. 

3. Be An Open Book

Transparency equals trust in today’s work environment. Stylists want to feel like they’re not just employees, but also being informed about the business decisions that affect them. 

“Human nature is that the grass is always greener,” says Muñoz. “But the grass is green where you water it. If someone is considering leaving us to suite rent, I’ve cultivated a culture where they can come talk to me about it. I keep the lines of communication open between leadership and the team.” 

Jennings says conversation around salary and benefits also need to be open and honest.

“I tell them about my struggles first starting out and share the numbers of where some of our top producers started and where they are now,” she says.

“They can compare and see how quickly they can achieve the same and how to do it.” 

Jennings and her husband aren’t just owners, they are also employees of their own company, which they share with their team.

“We feel it when the salon is slow, too,” she says. “We show them how if they’re lagging in one area, they need to make up for it in another. We let them go at their own pace, but if they move slower, it will take longer to achieve the end goal—that goes for our apprentice program, too.” 

4. Meet Them Where They’re At

When new stylists join the team, Muñoz does a format assessment to see what kind of learners they are so she knows how to present information to them.

“I also ask what’s going to motivate them most and what their main focus is going to be and hone in on that,” she says.

Muñoz has found tailoring an individual plan leads to a better work environment for everyone.

“Narrowing their focus down to one thing like retail or prebooking makes them feel more successful because they are focusing 100 percent of their energy on that one thing and feeling like they’re getting a win,” she says. “Then we see the impact of that goal toward their paycheck, monthly and annually.” 

While young stylists often feel indestructible, Muñoz says she encourages them to take a peek into the future.

“I show them the  benefits we offer, and talk about what they’ll need in five or 10 years when they want to start a family versus what they need right now at age 21,” she says. 

5. Create the Right Environment

The salon is not a one-size-fits-all work environment, and owners are listening, learning and growing with their teams to cultivate a place everyone wants to be.

“One of our big pillars is education,” says Billeaudeaux. 

When a stylist hits an important work anniversary, rather than flowers or a gift card, Billeaudeaux asks them what kind of service they’d like.

“Self care is huge right now, so I like to offer them something for their own wellness, a massage or facial—whatever they want,” she says. 

Muñoz says she wants Aurea to be a place her stylists want to come every day.

“I ask them why they chose Aurea, if they feel welcome, do they enjoy the culture, are there any improvements we can make,” she says. “They can work anywhere and like being asked these questions.”

And when team members go through major life changes like having a baby or getting married, Muñoz works with them to figure out how their role in the salon may need to shift to accommodate their new role at home. 

“We work on something beneficial for both of us,” she says.

Jennings has created a slower-paced environment based on her own “churn and burn” experiences as a stylist.

“We stopped double booking during the pandemic and never went back,” she says. “If one client was five minutes late, the service would suffer. Now we focus on each client—they get 100 percent of our attention in the time they are booked.”