A Reality Check for Employers
I was tempted to continue last week’s theme and title this “Employers Behaving Badly.”
I constantly hear from therapists about their unhappy work situations when they’re employed by someone else, whether that’s as a taxed employee or an independent contractor. Many feel they aren’t compensated fairly for the work they do.
In the case of ICs, I also hear many horror stories of the outright abuse of the definition of that term–employers who are falsely classifying people as ICs but treating them as if they are employees, and I’m here to say, it’s time for a wake-up call.
I have over a dozen practitioners of different disciplines in my clinic, all independent contractors, and in the past six years, I have lost one couple that worked here who moved out of state, and fired one person after only a couple of weeks for having a negative attitude. Other than that, I’ve never lost a staff member, just added more on as it became necessary. I am proud of the talented people I have assembled. There are two main reasons why my staff is happy and I have zero turnover:
1) They truly are independent contractors. I have no control over anyone’s schedule; everyone works as little or as much and at whatever time they want to, and I don’t interfere in that. If someone wants to book a group, like the sorority that’s coming in next weekend, of course I will ask if I can get some volunteers in order to be sure there are enough people here to handle it, and so far I’ve always been accommodated.
I don’t expect people to sit here–unpaid–waiting for a client or be “on call.” Control of schedule is one of the three main things the IRS looks at in determining whether a person is an employee or a contractor. I don’t expect them to clean the bathrooms and spend uncompensated time acting as the receptionist. And if you do, guess what–you’re wrongly classifying an employee as an IC.
2) I have gotten the best people I can get, and I pay them well. I think what many employers fail to realize, is that if you pay people what they deserve, it’s much cheaper in the long run than having a constant staff turnover. Depending on the service performed, the massage therapists here make from $30-45 an hour, plus gratuities.
The public appreciates the fact that the same friendly faces are here whenever they book an appointment. I appreciate the fact that I have dedicated people who are happy to come to work every day, and aren’t just waiting for the next best thing to come along. I’ve visited spas and salons and gone back a month later to find that the whole staff has turned over. That’s not a staff problem; that’s a management/owner problem.
I hear from a lot of therapists that they feel trapped in some unsatisfactory job, but can’t afford to quit because they don’t have another opportunity on the horizon. That’s bad, because it causes you to resent a job you would love if the circumstances were right. It was a similar circumstance that led me to leave my job working for someone else six years ago and strike out on my own.
To employers, I would say this: if you want to attract quality massage therapists to staff your clinic or your spa, get over thinking it’s all about you or your place. It isn’t. Unless you can do it all yourself, it needs to be about the people who are going to get you where you want to go–your staff members.
A happy staff is a productive staff. A staff that is treated fairly, and compensated fairly, will do a good job for you and make you a lot of money. My attitude has been that if I would facilitate my massage therapists making money, that would come back to me, and it has.
So I’ll take this opportunity to give a shout-out to my staff, because my business is not about me, it’s about them. They are the ones who make our clients feel welcome and cared for, and the reason word-of-mouth is our prevailing form of advertising. And if you’re an employer, ask yourself this question–would YOU want to work for you?
I love this article!! I have been reading this blog for quite sometime now, and this is my first comment. I would like to tell you that I enjoy reading this blog, and that I love thought provoking articles like this!
Dawn,We are located in Iowa. We also have a Massage Envy in town. Since it is a franchise, I believe the pay scale is universial. They do offer a starting point for some new therapists, but it should be just that. These are businesses that have been purchased by non massage professionals as investments. As an investment, the only option is to make the business as profitable as possible. The only way to make it profitable is to sell more memberships. The more memberships they sell, the more sessions the therapist must conduct, a therapist with down time is not profitable. I have heard it stated “herd clients in and herd them out”.
Does anyone want to talk about the Massage Envy situation? I realize they sponsor a lot of industry events and are often placement sites for our new massage school grads, but I would like to hear if other Massage Envy locations are treating therapists in the same manner that is reported to me. I am the director of education at a school in Albuquerque, NM. Our grads have only a few “entry level positions” to choose from and most choose to become employees of Massage Envy. They cap their compensation at $20 / hour + tips, but most therapists make $15 / hour + tips. Since 2009 was a “recession” year, no therapist at the Albuquerque locations got a raise, even though they are promised one after 6 months. I hear stories of therapists getting scheduled for four 1.5 hour appointments in a row without a break. Each appointment is scheduled on top of the next (i.e., 1:00 – 1:50, then 2:00 – 2:50, etc), so the therapist rarely has time to recover.I’ve been asked by one of our grads to form a massage therapists union! Anyone experiencing the same conditions in their area?
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This is so important, Laura. You’re raising great issues and I hope practitioners are starting to feel more empowered to take a stand. Just as Gandhi refused to wear the clothing & suits that were a symbol of how the British were oppressing his people through the textile industry, I hope we’re ready to turn down the jobs that prevent us from truly serving the public and doing our life’s work.
I spent a long time deciding what I wanted to do as a business owner… and a Therapist myself. I opted for employee / commission… with payment for hours working at the front desk, scheduling and retail area. This has worked out wonderfully for me and the therapists. They receive a generous % and gratuities, and a w-2 at the end of the year with options for Benefit hours based on length of service and hours worked and TSA’s. We visit the options each year and all are happy and prefer this arrangement. For this, we all do our own laundry (no room in our location for laundry facilities) and we all have a quota of ‘out-calls’ to promote our small clinic, massage, classroom and retail space. I am on the same plan as owner for sessions I provide. Increase % comes with # of massage session per pay period. A new 5th therapist was added this month after we increased the end-of-year total 2009 revenue for services by 27% over 2008. This also allows everyone to select their hours and how their sessions are scheduled for their own family needs and every one is happy as a clam! Hope this just gives some an idea for other options that work too. It sounds like you have a great practice and team too with your system!!!!! I always say… whatever works and simply stay legal!
Fantastic article, Laura! It seems like 99% of the spas I know about in my area (Indianapolis) all treat their team like employees but pay them as contractors, which is insulting and wrong. Thank you for speaking up and speaking the truth.