Could you give a brief introduction to how you help salons? (approx 60 words)
Wright & Wright have acted for hair salons since the early 90’s but in the last 7 years we realised that salons required a dedicated legal service and one that enabled our experiences to be shared amongst salon clients, be they new or established, franchised or independent.
Salon owners have become business managers and rightly demand more from their professional service suppliers. We want to meet this demand squarely.
At Wright & Wright we chose to design a service unique in the country. Hairlaw.co.uk and the SalonSupport service was born. This was launched at the Salon Smart event in 2008 before 350 salon owners and is already being extended across our existing client salons.
Questions from salons?
Q – Can you include performance criteria in the terms of a new team members probationary period? (approx 150 words)
It is important at every stage in an employee’s relationship with the salon to set goals and objectives. These help the salon identify areas of strength and weakness and become the groundwork for ongoing training. It is so important to bring these gauges into the employee’s mindset at an early stage and where better than during probation? So often a salon concentrates on whether the probationer is a good fit or not, but they also need to assess how valuable a staff member they will be when it comes to the bottom line. Performance criteria and regular appraisals are a part of this and should be developed within the salon’s training manual.
Legally such criteria are to be welcomed because they constitute measures by which a staff member can be judged and, short or long term, will enable an owner to bring poor performance to task. Any criteria should be well publicised, rather than random, and must be fair and attainable.
Q – What steps does a salon owner need to take to reduce the teams hours if the salon is not performing. (approx 150 words)
The salon owner must be very careful about any variation to contractual employment terms, no matter the reason. The salon owner must conduct a quick review of their employment contracts and length of service of the staff members concerned. Even before the staff have been approached the salon owner should consult with their advisers to ensure that, in the event of a dispute, the risk to the salon of litigation is reduced.
If a staff member has been employed for over a year they take on additional protections in the law and any reduction in hours would inevitably lead to a reduction in salary and potentially a claim if it has not been handled properly.
Ultimately such a reduction is as much about the management skills of the salon owner as what is right and wrong. If the salon’s financial problems can be discussed in an open manner then the staff are more likely to buy in to any proposals to help.
Q – What main areas should a salon owner be mindful of when needing to make redundancy. (approx 150 words)
Redundancies are incredibly difficult for both sides to deal with but a commercial reality at the moment. Plans for redundancies can differ on the size of the business but it is always prudent to discuss any proposals with a legal adviser or, for free, with a supportive organisation like ACAS.
The salon must consider all other viable options other than redundancy including the possibility of finding alternative positions within the business. A redundancy, by law, suggests that the place which is being lost has gone (because of economic reasons or because that position is no longer required- an example might be where a colourist is made redundant because colour is no longer being offered in the salon). It cannot simply be part of a hidden or re-named restructure. Many people use redundancy crudely as a way of removing poorly performing staff- this is not what should happen.
Q – Is it up to me which team members I make redundant in times of poor salon performance? (approx 150 words)
Ultimately the choice for redundancies rests squarely with management but the key is to conduct this fairly. If a team member is not performing properly then there may be other alternatives, of course, but these will also have their statutory rules and timelines to follow.
You may have heard about people being “consulted” on their redundancies. This is often undertaken in large organisations but is a useful tool in itself because it may well bring about voluntary leavers where you can negotiate their exit. Some people may wish to retire or move on and such a consultation could encourage them to act on those plans rather than force the issue on a staff member who genuinely wishes to stay.
If a redundancy programme is undertaken with empathy and professionalism, with advice, then the pain to all can be controlled very well.
Q – What is the legal requirement for the number of days a team member must give as a notice period? (approx 50 words)
The legal notice period (and this will work both ways) is typically contractual and will depend on the contents of each team member’s employment contract. The notice period could be short (as is often the case in probation) or lengthy (which may happen with a senior stylist or manager who will be difficult to replace). Any notice period is negotiable if all parties agree to a shorter or longer one, but the contract is the first port of call.
Q – Is there any way I can increase that length of time by putting it in their contract? (approx 50 words)
A contract can be varied with the consent of the parties but care has to be had in doing this. If everyone agrees then such time should be documented in a side letter which can be kept with the contract- alternatively new contracts should be issued if this is a salon wide change. The owner should be careful how the approach is made and should explain the business case and reasons- if they try to impose this change unilaterally the team member could walk out and bring a claim for either wrongful or constructive dismissal.
