Guest blog: how to empower and reward staff

Stefania Rossi (pictured centre with her team) is the director of Utopia Beauty & Advanced Skincare in Essex, which won the Professional Beauty Employer of the Year 2016 award. She shares her top tips on how to empower and reward a salon team
One of the critical success factors that I really believe in is empowering my team. But in order to do this I need to understand what makes them tick, both as individuals and as a team. I need to know what they value the most in order to get the best out of them.
To me, empowering staff means allowing them to use their skills and talents. At Utopia we have a shared vision and I lead the team to understand the importance of working together. This gets them fully involved in the success of the salon so that they feel inspired and motivated. And once I have empowered them, I reward them. My tops tips for making staff feel both empowered and rewarded are:
Deliver continuous training and development. Investing in staff through training will build your team’s confidence. Provide clear, individual progression routes and update and review these regularly.
As a manager and leader, you need to give staff your time through individual meetings and daily catch ups. Allow time in your diary to speak to your members of staff. Listen to their ideas and feedback, then implement some of the ideas and let them lead on those.
I feel it is important to spend time away from the salon too and have meals out together, weekends away and off-site team-building activities
Take financial rewards seriously. As well as a comprehensive commission structure, at Utopia we have implemented various additional financial rewards including gift vouchers on a monthly basis and tickets to attend industry events as well as smaller “thank yous” such as flowers, cards and chocolates.