QUOTES FROM SIMON HILL, OWNER OF SESH HAIRDRESSING
At SESH Hairdressing, I have always placed a lot of focus on the wellbeing of the team. I am very conscious that mental health is just as important as physical health. Following some of the toughest of times we’ve experienced over the past eighteen months; it has been more important than ever to pay attention to this.
To care for our team’s wellbeing, we have held an annual ‘Wellbeing Week’ where we dedicate a whole week to our mental health and wellbeing. I have worked with Pilates experts, nutrition companies, exercise professionals, healing experts and many more to provide sessions for the team to explore their mental health and ensure we are all healthy in mind and in body. The team are very appreciative of this and we have discovered from the sessions that it not only encourages us to look inwards at our personal mental wellbeing but also to find compassion and empathy for team members who may be struggling a little. Actions like this coupled with open lines of communication help us to have a healthy attitude towards discussing mental health. Ensuring that your team know they have your full support and they can access you on a one-to-one basis to discuss anything at any time is important.
With the team’s wellbeing and work/life balance in mind, we took our stance even further and made the decision to close the salon completely during the festive period. We will be closed from 2pm on Christmas Eve until the 3rd of January. This extended period will of course impact our revenue for the month of December. This was something we had to take into consideration. However, when we weighed this up against the benefit it would have to our team, it was an easy decision. The team are grateful and in turn likely to work harder in the lead up to Christmas.
It is important to show your team that you appreciate them and their hard work. Gestures such as giving them that quality time at home with family during this time is a significant gesture. We further took this into consideration when looking at 2022 and our approach to helping the team achieve that work/life balance. For several years now we have opened both Saturday and Sunday with team members working alternating days. Going forward, post lockdown we felt a need to change this. We want to give our team more time at home with family. That is why, going forward we will be closing the salon on Sunday’s along with offering each team member one Saturday off per month. Again, this is a decision that could impact the revenue of the business. We have taken this into consideration and decided to put the wellbeing of our team first in this instance.
Have you changed how you do things post lockdown or heading into 2022?