Preparing Your Spa Staff Physically

Hi there, this is Lisa Starr with Wynne Business Consulting and Education. Thankfully, spas are getting back to work here in the US. We've seen a few states opening. And in order for us spas to be successful, we need something really important: our staff.  

So, I wanted to take a few minutes to talk about the aspect of staff related to physical preparation for return. I'm going to speak to mental preparation in a subsequent video.  

So from the physical perspective, obviously, we need to have PPE for them, meaning masks, which are mandated in most states, it's not up to you whether or not you'll have it, your state will tell you that you're required to wear masks. And that doesn't need to be the N95 just any mask which prevents them from breathing on someone else. They'll also want to have their own supply of hand sanitizer and/or wipes to keep their area clean and to make them feel safe. We're seeing the use of some plastic face shields and those seem to be particularly effective at front desk where the guests can't see if you're smiling when they walk in. So those are very helpful there. They seem to be okay to use in massage, we're having a few challenges with using them and facials, basically, if you're using steam or if you are trying to do extractions, they become a complicating factor.  Guests will generally be wearing a mask too, but we'll focus on staff for now.  

So, they need a good supply of that PPE. Now, know that wearing these masks all day is draining, it's dehydrating, they're going to need to have a supply of lip balm to keep their lips moist, they need to hydrate. Really, working a five-hour shift seems to be about right for the amount of time that they can do this. So, don't think you're going to bring everybody back for 40 hours a week or 35. I think you're going to ease back into it but given our distancing requirements, that's probably not a problem anyway. It may work out really well for you to have that.  

Think about the uniform aspect as well. What will they be wearing? There's been a lot of questions around this. Is it safe? Do I need disposable aprons? But we really have no evidence that the virus lives on fabric. If you have buttons or zippers on a uniform, perhaps it could fix on that. We have no evidence of that either. But the experts are saying that if you have soft fabric and you launder it with hot water, with detergent, and in normal drying above 133 degrees, the uniforms should be safe.  

The last thing I think you need to think about is how you deploy them. We're seeing many locations do sort of a team approach where certain people work together, maybe one massage therapist, one aesthetician one desk person and nail tech and they're always together and this is really helpful should there be an issue of exposure or contamination that you know what team you would need to take out of the rotation. So, shorter shifts and working in teams might just be the way to go.  

I wish great luck to everybody. I'm going to share my screen with my contact details, and I'd love to hear from you any time that you have questions about this or anything else. Thank you so much.