Keeping your staff happy

Staff are the backbone of any business. But if you’re not treating them as you should, a high turnover and bad customer service can be the unwanted result.

Waitakere salon owner Margaret Walsh knows how important it is to be a good employer – and she has the awards to prove it. As well as twice winning the Best Small Business Award at the Waitakere Business Awards, in 2009 she entered and won the Employer of Choice award. She has since gone on to mentor other businesses wanting to improve their employee relations.

Walsh owns two salons, doing both hairdressing and beauty treatments from her Titirangi and Blockhouse Bay sites. She’s been in the beauty industry for almost 30 years, and has owned the Face and Body salon in Titirangi for the last 20 years. In an industry that has an average staff turnover of around two years, Walsh keeps her staff for an average of six years.

For Walsh, values and culture play a big part in keeping staff happy. “When someone comes to an interview for a job, I always say to them to go away and think about us for three days before making a decision, because if they say yes, then this is what they’re committing to: a salon that’s committed to educational growth, and salon that’s committed to a family-based culture, with values of professionalism and ethics and customer service.”

And she takes those values seriously.

When she does consulting work in other businesses, she says it’s often the lack of clear values that causes the problems. “It’s usually around communication, and because they don’t have clarity around their values. So I ask them: ‘What are your values? As a team what are you trying to achieve? How would you sell your team to someone who doesn’t know you? What do you value about your job, what’s so special about your business?’ The answers to those questions help them start to generate their values as a business.”

Having come from an education background – Walsh was a teacher before she trained in beauty therapy – she knows the value of learning. She says that as a leader you have to love learning and encourage your staff to love it too. “For example, tonight I’m off to the Wella training with the girls. I believe that if I go to all the professional training, I’m setting the right example as a leader. I’ve also done many of the short business courses through the Auckland University. They’re wonderful. Essentially I think you should invest in yourself as well as your staff.”

Which means that every year, each member of staff is expected to take part in at least two courses related to professional development. “It’s really important that they grow as a staff member, that they don’t stagnate. We have to always be looking for the latest and greatest,” she says.

Not only that; staff members must research and find the courses themselves, and then discuss with Walsh the benefits to the business if they do the course. She believes that making sure her staff think for themselves, and take responsibility within the workplace encourages them not only to grow, but also to feel part of the business.

And by feeling part of the business, they are keen to make it a success.

As well as her educational programmes, Walsh also keeps her staff motivated by ensuring she has a strong reward and recognition system in place. For example she rewards length of service, with staff who have been with her for more than two years seeing the tangible benefits.

Regular staff meetings are another communication method that she says helps staff feel connected to the business. In the winter months, the staff meetings include guest speakers who have been requested by different staff members, and a personal development section from Walsh.

Flexibility is also important for her staff members, says Walsh. “They’re all family people. For example, my staff only have to work every second Saturday. When I first started that it was almost unheard of, because it was such a big trading day. But I want them to be fresh and love coming to work, not burnt out.”

She also recognises the achievements of her staff, and encourages them to set goals for the future. At the yearly one-on-one review she does with all 18 of her staff members, she discusses what they’ve achieved in the last year, and how they could improve in the coming year. By encouraging her staff to set and achieve their goals, she’s giving them more confidence in their own abilities.

“I tell them the stats,” says Walsh. “For example, 96% of people never write their goals down, they just say they’re going to do it and never do. Only 4% write them down. Of those 4% only 2% put an action to it, and put a date on it. I ask them, ‘Who are you going to be, which of those categories?’”

But at the end of the day, it’s the environment that Walsh has set up in the salon that encourages her staff to feel comfortable, and to love coming to work. “We celebrate birthdays, with cards and a cake or flowers,” she says. “Every year we have a Christmas party with partners, and at least a couple of other events during the year. We talk and a have a laugh.

"Essentially we have a real focus on creating a family environment at work.”