If you’re reading this article, it’s likely because you’re having to make a lot of difficult, unpleasant decisions after learning some uncomfortable truths about your financial situation, so let’s talk about how to announce necessary pay cuts, layoffs, and price increases professionally and what steps to take to ensure you do so correctly.
The pandemic has made evident existing imbalances in compensation and pricing that long went unnoticed.
Many salon owners are realizing that to survive a pandemic and a recession they’ll need to both raise prices and lower employee pay—while having to contend with an extended downturn due to the world economy.
Is it legal to reduce employee wages?
So long as the reason for the wage reduction doesn’t constitute unlawful discrimination (a violation of the Civil Rights Act of 1964) or violate an existing contract that expressly prohibits wage reductions, it is legal to reduce employee pay, but there are some caveats.
For pay cuts to be legal, they must be announced in advance of any work being performed during that pay period. The earlier you communicate the effective date of the pay reduction, the better. Employees deserve the time to consider whether they can afford to continue to work for you. If they can’t, they deserve the time to seek other employment. I recommend making announcements at least two weeks in advance.
How do I announce pay cuts?
The reason for the reduction will affect how you communicate it, but generally, it’s best to have these conversations one-on-one, rather than in a group setting, as each employee deserves the privacy to process the information and ask questions.
Unless you’re choosing to reduce the employee’s wages due to poor performance, the conversation often won’t be an easy one, but sticking to the facts that resulted in the pay cut can make it a more straightforward process. Take a “cause and affect” approach.
During the ongoing recession (and the increase in egg prices), I urge you to show compassion and empathy. As gut-wrenching as this will be for you, it will be exceptionally stressful for your salon and shot teams, who may react emotionally. However, when given a choice between pay cuts and layoffs, most employees facing the wealth of uncertainties we’re all sharing will be grateful to stay employed.
How can I avoid laying people off?
There are alternatives to letting employees go entirely. You could furlough them, cut their hours, reduce all employee pay, and/or freeze hiring as employees leave voluntarily.
How do I decide who to lay off?
Start by establishing what the salon or barbershop needs and identifying your key staff members. From there, you can decide which objective metrics to use when evaluating each professional.
Objective metrics are solid numbers gleaned from your internal reports, like productivity, client retention rate, and sales.
Try to keep your focus on verifiable, performance-based data, not subjective qualities or personal affection. It can be difficult but try to strip the person from the metrics. You should be looking at positions and what each person brings to the salon, not their merits as individuals or the history you share. If you don’t think you can do that, have someone else provide the information to you with the employee’s identifying details blacked out.
If you’re ever asked to explain your reasoning for laying off certain workers and not others (for instance, by an attorney representing an aggrieved ex-employee), you should be able to show your work by explaining which metrics you used and why. These metrics and any other factors you consider are referred to as your “selection criteria.” Essentially, they form the guidelines you use to determine who stays and who goes.
Because we’re living in a freakish Bizarro world right now, you may want to consider handing the decision over to your employees first with a voluntary separation (or voluntary reduction in force), allowing employees to volunteer to be laid off in exchange for termination incentives.
Whatever you choose to do, be sure to check your state laws and layoff protections first.
Layoffs aren’t the same as terminations. Under normal circumstances, you’d be expected to stay professional, stuff your feelings, keep your composure, and cry it out in your car later, but don’t do that now. You’re allowed to be a human person through this. You don’t have to hold it all together right now. Nobody does.
How should I announce price increases?
Typically, I don’t believe it’s necessary to inform a salon’s entire client list of a price increase, as it gives them the impression that they’re entitled to comment about or debate it. Salon owners dread making pricing adjustments specifically because a fraction of clients will complain that they should be “grandfathered in” as compensation for their loyalty, but our costs are increasing as our dollars depreciate in value, so we can’t allow that loud minority to influence our business decisions. These clients act in their own best interests, not the salon’s or shop’s.
Price increases are a necessary part of doing business that customers seem to understand and accept from nearly every establishment they patronize. . .aside from ours.
Normally, I prefer for salon owners to make their new pricing clear in their marketing materials and Web sites in advance of the effective date and allow their customers to decide for themselves whether it’s worth complaining about. Should they decide it is worth complaining about, employees should direct them to speak with the salon owner personally in a private meeting, so that customer will be forced to explain to that owner why they think they know what’s best for a business they don’t work at and aren’t legally or financially obligated to.
While you certainly could take that approach, I wouldn’t recommend it at this time. Plan to include a brief notice of the price increase in your usual client communications. When I say “brief,” I mean it. Don’t fall into the trap of explaining yourself. Nobody is due a thorough explanation of your reasoning.
Only in this circumstance is it acceptable to express remorse for a price increase.
During times of economic strife, we all suffer. Clients who find they will no longer be able to afford to come to your salon may be genuinely saddened at this additional disruption to their normal lives. This sucks for everyone and it’s okay to say as much, but math doesn’t lie. If the math tells you that an immediate price increase will be necessary to keep the business operational, the decision is out of your control and has already been made for you. Don’t add to your anguish by lamenting the inevitable.
“[X event] has necessitated an update to our pricing lists. You can see our new prices here [LINK]. We sincerely thank you for your understanding and support during this stressful time.”
Should problematic clients challenge your decision, keep to this response: “The price increases were unfortunately necessary and aren’t open to debate, but let’s come up with a new care regimen that will fit into your budget.”
Often, retaining these clients is as simple as presenting alternatives. Those of us who were behind the chair during the recession, for example, know all too well what that means, but if you weren’t, here’s what that looks like:
Sculpting haircuts that maintain their shape for 6-8 weeks instead of 4-6.
Performing partial root retouches instead of full root retouches.
Customizing removable hair extensions instead of installing and maintaining traditional extensions.
You get the picture: faster, more affordable services delivered less frequently. If your menu doesn’t currently have items like this on it, now would be the time to add them.
Will I lose clients after raising prices?
Absolutely. Everyone loses a small percentage of their clientele when they increase prices, but we’re all going to be losing clients through this—with or without a price increase.
Don’t feel pressured to maintain unsustainable pricing just to avoid upsetting some of the clients, especially since the alternative could result in the disappointment of every client and every employee when your salon ultimately closes for good.
As we’re all learning to navigate our new normal, I urge everyone to remember that this won’t last forever. There will be an “after.” One day, the 2023 recession will be a dark memory, but you can be one of the bright spots in it by going the extra mile for others, volunteering to help wherever you can, accepting help when it’s offered, and rediscovering what it means to truly be part of a supportive industry community. In doing so, you’ll be caring for yourself, as well.
