085 Managing the Modern Salon: Addressing Employee Autonomy and Flexibility

I often get emails from listeners asking me questions and suggesting topics or even potential guests for the podcast. I decided on the topic for this week's podcast because of an email I was sent from a salon owner who wrote to me … and I am going to read the essence of what she said… “How does a traditional Salon transition to dealing with an ever-growing trend of team members who have been employees and who now drift to working from home, renting chairs and other forms of autonomy? How do you maintain the branding of your business, any kind of order and good management when your employees want to set their own schedule, choose the hours they work, who they serve, choose the clients that they want, choose the brands they use, and wear what they want, etc.” So that was her question and I know that this is how many salon owners feel, so first understand that you are not alone, it’s a real issue, and COVID has made it even more of an issue as the traditional ways of doing business have been put under even more pressure. In today’s podcast, I’m going to answer the question in two stages and then dig deeper into: The need to accept changes in business models. The need to look at the bigger picture and see how the industry is changing. Who is Gen Z? What are the needs and expectations of Gen Z? And lots more! In This Episode: [00:34] Welcome to the show! [02:29] Antony discusses the first stage of his answer to the listener's email. [05:23] The second stage is to look at the bigger picture and see how the industry is changing. [08:24] Who is Gen Z? [09:51] Antony talks about what makes Gen Z different from the generations that came before. [12:50] What are the typical character traits of Gen Z? What are their needs and expectations? [15:34] You need to think about it from the perspective of Gen Z employees and consumers that are Gen Z. [16:21] Gen Z values individual expression. [17:28] This generation values inclusivity and diversity. [20:08] The last of the five points is that Gen Z expects brands to take a stand. [22:45] People want to feel like they belong and are part of something bigger than themselves. [24:18] Thank you for listening! Links and Resources Grow My Salon Business Club House @antonywhitaker