As a clinic/spa owner, the therapists with whom I contract agree to availability for an approximate “set of shifts” during each week, but are free to block themselves off for errands/lunches or days at a time. They are free to trade around hours/days at will. The only stipulation is that therapists with seniority must have their schedules respected if room availability is compromised, since no has his/her “own room”. It is expected of them to attempt to get another therapist to cover the hours they have agreed to if they are unavailable, and generally that is followed. They are asked to inform me if no one is covering those hours, so that I may offer them to freelancers-or cover them myself!

I have seen therapists in my business become much more apt to seek clients independently since the economic downturn. Whereas I formerly had no problem keeping therapists as IC’s to fill the schedule, they now are hungrier for every dollar they can get-as we all are! I pay a commission of 40% to them during an initial 6 month contract, and then increase it to 50/50 once they are past the first 6 months. However, if they have the opportunity to collect 100% on their own, I understand that they need to do so. It does impact the availability, and when clients call or attempt to schedule online to no avail, they will try elsewhere. We may lose that client forever! This means that there are times when I try to cover hours, or at least must be available for phone calls or walk-ins. I have considered raising the %, but unless I am able to decrease overhead, there would not be enough left over at this time. I am currently seeking a space that is more energy-efficient, and without the premium price of being in the historic downtown district.

Thanks, also, Felicia, for your comments re: the need for IC’s to see it from the owner’s perspective! I have a cleaning person come in weekly to do the “big stuff”, and the therapists do smaller routine tasks as they see fit. As owner, tho, I will wind up changing the toilet paper or putting out fresh hand towels. I do get frustrated at times, and wish I was not seen as responsible for that part of “their business”. Clearly, the majority of the marketing is from my efforts. I continually remind them that they cannot wait for clients to walk in the door, and to keep active in their outreach.

Our local Massage Envy has provided my business with some great therapists who are very well-trained in customer service skills! They are appreciative of the flexibility they have as an IC, and the chance to really build a client base that they can call their own. They also appreciate the lack of a no-compete clause and the higher pay %!

I have tried renting to IC’s by the hour, so that they pay a fee of $5-10/hr and keep all the $ they bring in, but my experience has been that if their hours do not get filled, they may “disappear” when they are due to pay me the rent. It then becomes my choice to try to enforce a contract with someone whom I know is struggling and trying to build a business, and that I will inevitably encounter in this relatively small city.

Regardless of the economy, they all seem to think that I am “ok”, and not affected by any loss in overall income. It is difficult to raise their awareness of the massive costs of overhead and other fixed expenses. We had a sobering meeting early in the Summer when our college community leaves town and businesses virtually grind to a halt. This recession is wearing us thin, and our “meat & potatoes” clientele is barely enough to make it till Autumn. It underscores the need for all therapists to market themselves, no matter what form of work they contract to do!

This is a big topic for sure. In my work as a spa consultant I hear all kinds of stories about compensation issues, independent contractors vs. employees and so on. Before I worked as a consultant, I was also an independent contractor who later opened a business of my own and became a spa owner and employer of many others. As such I have a pretty broad view of the subject.

There are a lot of variables when it comes to deciding upon pay structures and employee vs. IC status. Every business is different and must look at the factors that affect it – area/location, price of services, target market, cost of the facility’s overhead, product costs, taxes, availability of workforce, and business model and goals. All of these must be considered, among many other things, before deciding upon how and what everyone gets paid.

Sadly, many business owners that I talk to did not take the time to think about any of these issues before they opened up and just decided to pay people “the going rate” or perhaps a little bit more so they could attract a good staff. Then after a few months or more into the business, they aren’t able to draw much of a salary let alone profit. Their debt is climbing as their own morale drops lower and lower.

So as much as I want all licensed therapists to make a ton of money through doing massage, I can’t agree with that happening if it is to the detriment of the owner and business. How I wish that all massage and spa professionals could get a clear picture of the costs, risks and stresses that their employers deal with! (Non-service provider spa/practice owners would do well to switch roles as well.) Having been on both sides of this issue, I know there would be a much greater understanding about the fees/commissions/salaries being paid out and less of a mind-set that most business owners are taking advantage of their practitioners.

The bottom line is that there has to be a middle ground…a place where both owners AND employees/staff can both profit and succeed. That they can all be rewarded and respected for their hard work and investment in the business and industry. And that they all can work together to create massage and spa workplaces that are truly healthy and healing for everyone that comes through the door.

While it may not rock the boat to give an IC a gift of appreciation occasionally, my point with Tina’s story above is that she apparently has some therapists working for her who don’t appreciate the good situation they’re in–and as you and she pointed out–she’s already taken them on a cruise. I personally would not be giving out any more rewards of any kind for people who are only out for themselves and not helping my business as a team player.

As for paying for a therapist to go take continuing education, it is an inherent responsibility on therapists who want to remain Nationally Certified or professional members of AMTA, not to mention keeping their state licensure, to get continuing education. That therapist has to get continuing education whether you pay for it or not, if any of the above apply to her. Your offering to subsidize it is very generous, and not something I personally would take a chance on doing. Again, I think it’s a grey area of the IC law (and if there are any attorneys reading this, please let us know) Two, she may get into the class and find that she doesn’t enjoy doing it after all, or she may turn out to be not good at it. If I were the IC, I would feel funny about being obligated to stay somehere because the owner did me a favor. How would you place a value on the time? Say you pay 2000.00 towards the training. And let’s say for argument’s sake your therapist makes 40.00 per hour. That would only be 50 hours she’d have to work to pay you off–just a good week with a little overtime. Think it out carefully before jumping into such a deal.

Or even as part of our business plan — I want to offer lymph drainage. I have a therapist who is interested in studying lymph drainage. I agree to provide xx dollars towards the cost of the class. The therapist agrees to continue to work here for xx amount of time after the class(es)?

As a one-time thing (and not something offered routinely to every therapist) is it different from taking them on a cruise?

You are being taken advantage of, that’s for sure.

You’ve made me wonder how I would interview potential MTs to weed out those with a “week to week paycheck” mentality. I wonder if asking these kind of questions would work:

- How do you envision your massage practice growing over the next 5 years?
- What do you want to build as a massage therapist?
- What is your vision for your massage practice?
- How do you currently market your practice or how do you intend to market your practice?
- What are your long-term goals for yourself as a massage therapist?
- Why did you choose to become a self-employed business owner?
- What are your working towards with your work as a massage therapist?
- What are your plans for continuing education in the next few years?
- Why do you want to work here instead of working on your own and keeping all the income for yourself?

The owner of the practice where I work interviews for massage skills (as many practice owners do). How do we interview for business skills? I think that’s something we don’t always think about.

Do you think it would make a difference if you rewarded your therapists with massage-related gifts?

- Tuition support for continuing education (with an agreement to continue working for you for xx months after receiving the training).
- A gift certificate to Massage Warehouse, an equipment manufacturer, a subscription to a trade journal (Massage magazine obviously comes to mind!)
- A years membership in the professional society of the choice.
- Pay for them to attend a professional conference or convention
- Pay for them to receive bodywork from someone who is very skilled in a modality they are interested in
- Pay for their license renewal
- Send them to a business oriented class like “Taxes and Bookkeeping for Massage Therapists” with Margo Bowman
- Reference books (massage or business-oriented)

These help reinforce your message that you are a massage therapy business.

In addition, I find some schools don’t really turn out MTs with a long-range vision or a business mindset. Can you look at your employee base and draw any conclusions about the schools they came from and which ones seem to be doing a better job at that?

You may be doing all these things and I’m wasting my e-breath. Let me know if any of these things have worked for you if you have tried it because I’m curious. I’m thinking of teaching a workshop for local MTs who want to start group practices (and be the boss) and I’d love to know what does and doesn’t work in the field.

Kelly