Source: Neill Instagram

When COVID-19 shut down salons in 2020, nobody knew just how long the shock waves from the shutdown would reverberate.

Now, more than two years later, the dust has settled, and salon owners find themselves navigating a new world. Clients who work from home can come into the salon anytime. Stylists who stayed home for two months now want more flexibility in their schedules to be with their families. Flaws in the system have been revealed, and owners are taking action.

Edwin Neill, CEO of Neill, the largest distributor of Aveda and parent company to Paris Parker Salons in the New Orleans area and Aveda Arts and Sciences Institutes in 10 states, recently talked to Hairbrained CEO Gordon Miller in the Hairbrained Conversations podcast about the new landscape of salons.

Salon owners Holly Thalman, Rachel Smith and Nicola Duffin weigh in with their first-hand experiences as well.

Wednesday is the New Saturday

“Saturdays used to be a non-negotiable workday,” Neill says. “But people are out doing stuff with their kids on the weekends and have more flexibility during the work week.”

Duffin, who owns Organics Salon in Pflugerville, Texas,  says, “Clients can come in during the week now. So a Monday is very similar to a Saturday. Saturday still brings in more revenue, but the gap is much smaller between it and a weekday.”

At the three K. Charles & Co. locations in the San Antonio, Texas, area, Wednesday is the new Saturday.

“We’re open late on Wednesday and Thursday, and those are our busiest days,” owner Thalman says. “Tuesdays are picking up, too. Both stylists and clients would rather get the appointment done during the week.”

“We have a diverse group of people who work in salons,” Neill says. “It’s a wide age range and some want to work full time, others part-time—”

And working fewer days doesn’t mean making less money. Edwin says some of their most successful stylists at Paris Parker Salons aren’t working 40 hours per week.

“We have one stylist who works about 24 hours a week and makes well over six figures,” he says. “Everything, including her tips, is documented on her W2, so when she wants to make a big purchase like a house or car, she has proof of income and she’s building her credit history.”

Thalman says, “Our stylists have to work 30 hours to maintain health insurance, but we realized once a stylist is master or master elite, their guests don’t care when they are in the salon—they will come in no matter what schedule that stylist has.”

At Razmataz Salon in Georgetown, Texas, Smith found her staff no longer wanted to work Saturdays after spending time with their families during COVID. Priorities shifted and values were different.

After seeing Jen Baudier, owner of Bella Style Salon, at Serious Business in January, Smith was inspired to shake up her own salon’s scheduling.

“We gave our staff of 14 the option of three different schedules, and they chose the one that gave them a five-day weekend (F, Sa, Su, M and T),” Smith says. “That meant they had to work two 12-hour days. The younger team members love it, but some of our more seasoned team members discovered they preferred a traditional 9-5 schedule, five days per week.”

The Razmataz team has three months of the new schedule under their belts, and Smith says monthly revenue has stayed the same or increased.

“There is a lot of flexibility with the new scheduling system,” she says. “People can pick up a day if they need to or cover more hours in a longer day.”

In 2022, Duffin reevaluated the way she was structuring her stylists’ schedule and did something she never thought she’d do—gave three of her senior stylists Saturdays off.

“I shifted the money from Saturday to a work day and put new stylists on the floor on Saturday. That was big for me,” she says.

“I also had to start offering part-time hours,” she adds. “So I created four-day schedules, and some people didn’t even want to work that many days. I just went with it. Revenue dipped for them, but new stylists grew and it all evened out—we had the most growth ever in 2021.”

Duffin has found her team is more loyal because of the flexibility she offers them, but the best part is she is shifting revenue, not losing it.

“I also eliminated vacation requirements, too,” she says. “I just tell them to put in their request and I’ll give it to you if I can.”

The Suite Life?

More than ever, stylists can enjoy flexibility in their schedule and make a healthy salary with benefits in a commission-based salon. But there are some who still crave the independence of a suite.

“For some people, suites are the right place,” Edwin says. “But there are a lot of misconceptions that you will work less and make more money. A lot of work gets done for you in a commission salon—collecting payments, appointment reminders, taxes, inventory, etc.

“When you no longer have that support, you have to count those administrative hours when you’re figuring out your total compensation per hour,” he adds. “Even though you get a bigger slice of the service revenue, you aren’t necessarily making more per hour.”

When Thalman has a stylist who expresses interest in moving to a suite, she asks them one question: Have you done the numbers?

“I had a stylist who thought she was going to make 100 percent of what she brought in,” she says. “She didn’t understand taxes or any of the other expenses she would need to pay.”

One stylist who left K. Charles for suite rental returned to the salon and is now one of Thalman’s biggest cheerleaders for the traditional salon environment.

A Bigger Piece of the Pie

This year, Duffin got creative with her pay structure. Stylists can now make up to 48 percent commission (it was previously capped at 47 percent) once they make $5,800 in services during a pay period (commission starts at 45 percent). But there’s a catch.

“They have to hit their retail, too,” she says. “When stylists make up to $600 in retail, they get 10 percent commission. If they make over that, they make 15 percent. To get their 48% commission in retail, they need to make $650 in retail per pay period.”

Duffin also added a mid-year bonus to further incentive the team.

“If they’ve made their goal by June 30, they get a $300 bonus. If they do it again at the end of the year, they get another $300,” she says. “And I’ve made goals more reachable this year so they can hit their bonuses and price increases.”

Thalman has also made her benchmarks a little easier to reach.

“We looked at what they could actually control and it seemed a little off, so we eased benchmark parameters,” she says. “We’re also raising prices twice this year, which we have never done before.”

Due to the high inflation of goods like foils and gloves, Thalman said the price hikes are necessary.

But while price increases are necessary, Thalman has found restrictions on time off are not.

“In 2022, we started offering unlimited time off,” she says. “And our stylists aren’t taking an exorbitant amount of time off—they need a certain amount of money to function.”

This unlimited time off only applies to senior, established stylists, and Thalman says they get it.

“They have to pay mortgages and make money, so the time off controls itself. If they’re taking a week off, they often add days onto their four-day work with the weeks beforehand so they don’t take a hit in salary.

“There’s no decline in income—revenue has stayed steady,” she says.

Stylists are enjoying more flexibility in their schedules and ability to control their income than they ever have, and owners are seeing growth and enjoying happier team members—a win-win for the whole industry.