Maternity is a wonderful time but can bring about new challenges to your salon. All employees are entitled to take 52 weeks of maternity – a length of time that’s daunting for everyone involved! Therefore, you need a plan to support your staff and make sure your salon keeps running smoothly. With that in mind, here are five tips to help you prepare your salon and staff for maternity.
Health and safety
Health and safety are super important to meet the changing needs of your pregnant staff member. Regular breaks are likely to help, or even more flexible shifts. Make sure you keep speaking with your staff to find out what they require, especially as they’ll need more support the closer they come to maternity leave.
Prepare clients for the absence
Match clients with alternative staff members prior to your staff’s maternity. Through matching client personalities to other suiting staff members, you make sure there’s a smooth transition for when your employee leaves on maternity and when they return. Most importantly, this keeps clients from leaving during the maternity period.
Keep-in-touch days
With maternity lasting up to a year, the return to work can be daunting! Keep-in-touch days are a great way for clients to stay in contact and make sure they’re up to date. With up to 10 of them to take advantage of, keep-in-touch days help prepare employees for their return, so they’re not swamped by a year’s worth of new processes to catch-up on.
Ask for a return date
Don’t keep in the dark about when your employee is returning from maternity leave – ask them for a date! Once you know their date of return, you can plan to make the most of your staff schedule or ease them back into the fold. This will also open the door to talk about if they don’t plan to return, helping avoid the unexpected announcement at the end of their leave.
Automated reports
What if you become pregnant and need to take maternity leave yourself? The easiest way to tackle your absence is by using a system that sends automated reports. That way, you can set-up weekly reports to track rebookings, retail sales and even staff commission to monitor productivity and help whoever’s left in charge spot any issues.
Salon by Premier Software® supports those due on maternity leave by helping set-up flexible shifts and run automated reports so you can keep an eye on staff productivity. To book a free webinar or presentation, call +44 (0)1543 466580 or visit: https://www.premiersoftware.uk/book-a-consultation/
