The travel bug

Allowing team members to take time out of the business to travel can be beneficial for both parties but it’s important to set parameters, writes Hellen Ward

When I left school in the ’80s, I did a YTS scheme, then a hairdressing apprenticeship. In those days, after qualifying, lots of my colleagues worked in salons on the cruise ships. It was quite a career path – several friends travelled the world for years working for one of the largest operators, Steiner. It essentially became the equivalent of the gap year for people who had completed apprenticeships.

I always say I will have the gap year that I never had then when I’m in my 60s. Like the poem Warning by Jenny Joseph (the one that starts “When I am an old woman I shall wear purple”), I aim to have my adventures when I no longer have the salon keys in my hands. But dealing with team members that want to take sabbaticals can be tricky for employers.

I understand that young people want to travel. After Covid, who can blame them? I also understand that you have to get the timing right. My son chose to go straight to university and will go travelling when he finishes. My daughter studied a four-year university course with Spanish, so she had her year abroad working and studying in Madrid. Consequently, she was keen to crack on with her working life when she graduated and returned to London, happy to work with a global company and see where her career path took her.

I’ve always been really flexible on letting people go travelling. Interestingly, some of our older team members like to take a month off here or there when the salon is quiet and have an extended break – recently, Thomas had a month-long trip to Australia, for example. I’m all for it. Do what makes you happy – live and let live.

Among younger team members, many join us straight from school and, once they are qualified, want to take their profession with them and go off. I understand. They’ve yet to build up a clientele and know that when they do they’ll be less likely to leave the relative security of their nine-to-five working life.

Flexible approach

However, I have recently learnt a lesson. Whereas before I was happy HR-wise to keep staff on the payroll and let them have their time off unpaid, now I will insist that if they want to travel they must leave and then reapply for their position when they come back.

I thought it would be a really nice thing to do to let them go off enjoying their time out with the relative security of knowing their job would be open for them to return to, but psychologically it doesn’t work. I’ve figured out that it’s far better for them and for me to jeopardise job and really appreciate it when they return, instead of just coming back and almost acting like they are doing the company a favour when they do.

I took off to Mallorca back in the day and although I only lasted two weeks and went straight back into my job, my boss told me I had to start again and my employment couldn’t be considered continuous. I lost all the holiday I had spent years accruing, all for what ended up being effectively a fortnight’s holiday. It really taught me a lesson and I ended up working my way up within that company until I left many years later to start my own business.

"People have become far more inclined to recognise that LIFE IS SHORT and TIME IS PRECIOUS…but we all still have BILLS TO PAY and FOOD TO PUT ON THE TABLE"

The right time

Covid has changed our industry beyond recognition. It’s also changed out mentalities. People have become far more inclined to recognise that life is short and time is precious. They’re not willing to “settle” – for a job that doesn’t make them happy, a relationship that has run its course, bad behaviour, disrespect, poor service – anything where they are compromising their happiness. It’s affected all of us in that regard. But we all still have bills to pay and food to put on the table and, perhaps since Covid, an over-idealised concept of what the ups and downs of everyday life consist of. In any client-facing business, taking a sabbatical is a bit of a gamble. Is there ever a good time to go?

If you wait until you qualify, you can take your newly acquired skills and gain valuable experience as well as earning money while you see the world. But in any customer-facing business, the value of the turnover-producing operator is directly akin to their clientele and building one (as we well know) takes time and patience.

It’s a journey of discovery for the individual too, perfecting their craft and excelling in areas that will, in time, become their particular field of expertise. I’ve had team members who have left after some time on the floor only to find that when they returned, their revenue and success never quite matched up to their performance pre-travelling. Out of sight is out of mind when it comes to customers and nobody is so good that once they return they’ll not suffer any financial consequences. One thing is for sure, businesses in our sector are struggling and nobody can afford to let a team member take advantage of them, however much the wanderlust is biting.

Hellen Ward is managing director of Richard Ward Hair & Metrospa in London, vice president of The Hair & Beauty Charity and co-founder of Salon Employers Association (SEA).