Managing a salon is all about juggling several responsibilities. No doubt that it is time-consuming and frustrating at times. However, the right beauty parlour software can literally be your knight in shining armour. It takes the stress out of salon management and ensures fewer errors. Staff management is an important part of salon management. It’s no surprise that a successful salon business depends on the clients as well as the staff. In order to provide exceptional services, you need a team that can spearhead every operation within your salon. If you’re an owner of a top-tier salon, you need a team that runs on smart scheduling, and is constantly motivated and engaged. You may have the best salon facilities in town. However, it will all go in vain if you’re having a hard time managing your team.
Ditch obsolete ways of staff management, and switch to new-age staff management software for your beauty business. It’s modern, upgraded and has the best-in-class technology.
Smart Staff Scheduling
In a salon or spa, scheduling conflicts occur quite frequently due to inefficient planning. Imagine this – a client has already scheduled an appointment for a nail extension service and a nail technician isn’t available when they come in. This isn’t just an embarrassing situation for your salon but can also result in revenue loss. The reason for this can be anything – scheduling gaps, miscommunication or shift swaps.
If you’re a smart salon owner, you can mitigate this. How? By simply switching to salon software that has a built-in staff scheduling tool.
To manually juggle schedules, time-off and breaks can be a headache. Software makes this entire process painless thereby giving salon owners time to breathe and concentrate on more important aspects of running a business.
Here’s how:
- Automated Scheduling: Salon management software comes with an automated scheduling feature. The drag and drop functionality makes staff scheduling a breeze. Errors too which are likely to occur with manual scheduling are considerably reduced. In a salon or spa, it is very important to ensure that the right staff members are available at the right time to perform a particular service. By automating scheduling, every employee be it a hairstylist or nail technician will know what is expected of them. Smart scheduling also helps create and manage staff shifts. It also reduces customer resentment, overworked staff and missed appointments.
- Cloud-access & Visual Calendar: Employees can access their schedule from anywhere and on any device. This means that they don’t have to login to a particular computer to view their schedule. Everything is cloud-based and the appointment information too is updated in real-time. Even if a client cancels or moves an appointment, staff members will be immediately notified. This also helps managers view which employees are busy on which day. The visual calendar too is easy on the eyes with every appointment earmarked accordingly.
- Shift Change Notifications: Employees receive instant notifications of changes. They too can swap their shifts in case of an emergency and a salon owner will be notified immediately. Shift swaps help adapt to any last-minute changes.
- Hours Clocked & Attendance: Attendance monitoring is important for payroll management. When an employee comes in, they need to log-in. The software will automatically record the clock-in/clock-out time. Employees have full control over their schedules. In case of too many appointments in a day, they can even set buffer times/time-off between bookings. If a schedule changes, everyone stays in the loop. In an event where an employee calls in sick, the software immediately gives a replacement and notifies that staff member for the same.
With smart staff scheduling, double bookings are eliminated, staff can access their schedules any time from their respective phones and front desk operations are streamlined.
If you thought salon software in India only takes care of employee scheduling and shifts, you’re mistaken. The capabilities are beyond that. It also helps with payroll and commission management.
Efficient Payroll Management
Managing staff payroll doesn’t have to be complicated. With the right software, payroll can be processed quicker than ever. From the number of hours clocked to automated payroll calculation and employee productivity, the software manages it all so that you can be stress-free. Most salon owners complain of payroll management since every employee’s pay structure varies. It’s time to get rid of tedious and untidy paperwork and go digital instead. It’s faster, easier and keeps all your bookkeeping tasks at place. This gives you more time to concentrate on business growth. When you’re making the switch, choose a beauty salon software that offers payroll assistance. Here are key features to look out for:
- Automated Payroll Calculation: As a salon owner, you’d agree that calculating every employee’s payroll can be a daunting task. It will not just take up too much time but also affect your other goals. Instead, utilise the power of automation and you’ll be able to view every employee’s payroll in seconds. Based on the number of hours clocked, working hours and holidays, the software calculates every employee’s salary at the end of the month. It uses a clock-in/clock-out system to track it.
- Employee Scheduling: If one hair stylist fills in for the other, the app also compensates him/her accordingly. Activity tracking is done so that payroll can be allocated accurately.
- Commission Management: The beauty business is a service-based industry. Besides the fixed payroll every employee receives, it also rides high on bonuses, tips and commissions. Staff rostering software helps you achieve streamlined commission tracking. You can also be rest assured of guaranteed compensation for your staff. The power to customise the commission structure is vested in your hands. A few commission structures you can add are – a fixed percentage, service-specific commissions and tiered rates. Every salon calculates commissions differently.
- Employee Commission Tracking: The auto-calculated payroll and commission dashboard is something even your employees can see. When your employees keep track of their work activities and commission received till date, they too feel motivated. When your staff can virtually monitor their work, they can give their best and this too brings out the best in them. With a transparent system, employees can track their earnings which helps them thrive even more.
- Data Export: Salon software also works with third-party systems. For payroll management, it integrates seamlessly with QuickBooks. All employee payroll and commission data can be exported directly, in a click of a button. This gives you an accurate record of services performed, product sales per employee and hours clocked plus overtime.
- Integrated Reporting Tools: Salon owners can also draw out employee reports any time they wish. Salon360’s analytical tools ensure salon owners are constantly up-to-date about retail sales per employee, top performers and sales metrics.
With smart payroll management, all complexities are gone, errors are reduced, and payments are accurate. There is no need to cross-check as every detail is to the tee.
Empower your Team with Performance Tracking
As a salon owner, you may have built a motivated, high-performing dream team. But is that enough? Well, not really. Even the best team can fall short if they’re not performing. To ensure your salon’s success, every employee’s performance has to be tracked. In the previous section, we’ve already mentioned how spa staff rostering software can be used to track and calculate commissions. To sustain business growth, optimise operational efficiency, and improve staff and client satisfaction, KPIs have to be monitored. KPIs refer to Key Performance Indicators. A few staff metrics you should be tracking as a salon owner are:
- Total Sales & Revenue: This includes the overall salon revenue, service sales, retail sales, and employee progress against monthly targets. Without salon software, you would have to manually track each of these KPIs. However, with software, you don’t have to lift a finger as it is all automated. You get a fair idea of every stylist or technician’s sales metrics, upsells and more. Managers can quickly identify top performers at the end of each month.
- Staff Productivity: Revenue generated per employee that evaluates efficiency and workload balance.
- Client Retention Rate: The performance of every staff determines how they are able to retain clients. A key metric every salon owner should be tracking is the client retention rate and the rebooking rate. If a client has a preferred stylist or technician and rebooks them on every visit, that means there is something they’re doing right to keep the business running.
- Review Ratings: Look at reviews on Google, Facebook and other social media pages to see what’s being said about your business. This will help you assess employee engagement and performance. Particularly look for reviews where staff member’s names have been mentioned. This helps you reward them accordingly.
Performance tracking is not just a growth driver but also a team motivator. Data from the reports generated should be used to identify rising stars, set monthly goals, and compensate fairly.
Salon management software ensures your team is rewarded with transparency and not guesswork.
Salon360App, All-in-One Staff Salon Software
Modern salon software like Salon360App aims to address all the pain points of salon owners. Whether it’s scheduling, payroll or performance, the powerful staff management tool completely changes the way your employees are managed, trained and commissioned. Daily operations are smoother and your overall bottom line improves considerably when your staff is managed better. Salon360App also offers free demos so that salons of all kinds and sizes can avail a free demo before committing. Ready to boost staff performance with Salon360? Request a demo!
