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Hair & Beauty Australia Industry Association

Low-Cost or FREE Team Building + Salon Social Activities

Posted April 14, 2022

After the last few weeks of public holidays, annual leave, and staff missing work due to COVID, we hope your whole team is now back on the salon floor and back together – but these periods of ‘never really together can be really challenging for your team culture.

As salon owners ourselves, we know that salon employers walk a fine line daily between managing the ever-increasing costs of owning and operating a successful salon, and keeping their staff happy, healthy, and productive in the workplace. Salon social activities are a huge part of building a culture in your team and creating a strong team environment, but these activities have fallen by the wayside with COVID-19 closures and the rise in the cost of running a salon (which is inextricably linked to the rise in the cost of living).

 

So how can you work on your team culture, create a strong collaborative team, and keep costs low? Read on for more.

 

  1. Training

Double-down on training with your team to work on building that truly cohesive team-led approach in your salon. “The dream doesn’t work unless the team works” – and there are few work environments where this is truer than in hair and beauty salons. Put on dedicated training days (on a day when you’re closed ideally!) where your team can BE together and learn, not be always ON like they need to be when working on the floor with clients. Salon suppliers will often work with you to create these days and with a little catering for everyone involved and a glass of bubbles at the end of the day, you have a cheap and easy way to get your team together and collaborate. Bonus, your team gets to level up their skills + all expenses are a tax deduction.

  1. FREE Social Activities

There are lots of ways to spend time with your team and work on building that culture that don’t cost anything. Have a picnic in the park where everyone builds a plate. Run a scavenger hunt across your city where the winning team gets an extra day of annual leave. Make a regular appointment to go out for breakfast with your team ahead of work, where everyone grabs their own meal, but the ritual is in doing it together. Get your team in on a charity challenge, like Push Up Challenges, Step Challenges, etc. to get them working together (and hopefully raising a little money for a good cause in the process). A little creativity and a bit of time is all it takes to get your team working well together and on the same page – not Thousands of Dollars.

  1. Top-down approach

Usually, your workplace culture begins from the top. Your personal approach to your business is the beginning of developing your team culture, and it is then led by and carried through by your senior staff. What you’re looking for is a clear set of characteristics that work well with this same team culture in each of your new hires – not people who don’t gel or aren’t on the same page. Part of it is about articulating your team culture to your senior staff, maybe it’s 5 words that you print out and put in your staff area – but it must be an approach you are all committed to. If you and your senior staff are on board, the rest of the salon will follow. Culture is a living, breathing part of the salon environment. It needs to be carefully curated, maintained, and treated as required.

Creating a strong team culture isn’t just about retreats, big nights out, and expensive experiences funded by salon owners. But it is key to creating retention in your staff, creating a collaborative working environment, and ensuring that everyone WANTS to turn up for work each day. In the current recruiting environment, we cannot afford to be losing good staff just because the culture has dropped away. Focus on low-cost and free ways to build your team up + keep them social and you will benefit from a more engaged workforce who are likely to stay with your salon for the long term.

 

FURTHER ADVICE

If you need further advice or information, contact the HABA Advice Line on 02 9221 9911.

 

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