Meeting manpower challenge

CASE 1

The trendiest of treadmills and the most expensive of all exercise gadgets in a gym prove to be utterly useless and (even dangerous at times) without proper guidance from a trainer on how to go about them.

CASE 2

The most exotic and aromatic herbal oils of the world fail to relax you if there's no magic in the fingers that apply it & massage it into your body.

CASE 3

The M.A.C.S and Loreals' would adorn just your dressing table and not you; if no one tells you the right stroke of brush for your facial features.

BOTTOM LINE

No matter how advanced the technology is and superior the products are; there is no replacement of human touch.

Recruitment and retention of talented and skilled manpower is posing a big challenge to the fitness, wellness and beauty industry. Various brands in the industry acknowledge this problem to be a major hurdle in the comprehensive growth story.

“There are only a few institutions or academies offering certified training courses in beauty and wellness. Most freshers are given in-house training when they start out with a spa or salon. The starting salaries are low and within a few months they become "experienced" and move on to new jobs with higher salaries. There is no requirement of any certification in training from industry operators or government and so there is free movement of uncertified but semi-skilled staff”, cites Jatin Walia, MD, Body Spa International Pvt. Ltd.

“Poaching is the key issue. Once a skilled person is available in a salon and gets noted in the industry, he/she is approached by the competitor and offered a better pay packet. Since they are young and fragile they get attracted towards the money without looking at the credibility of the salon that they are joining. After a few months, he/she is again approached by some other salon. This needs to stop for this industry to stabilise”, opines Chackochen Mathai, General Manager- Business Development, Trends In Vogue. So far, each brand has been trying to tackle this problem in its own way. Most of them have responded by opening their own training institutes or entering into a contract with its employees to retain them.

“We have our own Spa Training Academy established in Siliguri. We are thinking of rolling out a franchise model for it soon”, says Dr G D Singh, Director- Marketing, Ganga Spa.

“We take only freshers and train them intensively (Our Director Training - a Thai national is the Master Trainer). We do not charge any training fee; instead we ask them to be with us for a minimum contract period”, informs Deepak Mittal, MD, Gold Leaf Spa.

“We have a training brand named “Trends Academy” which has affiliations with CIBTAC UK and CITY and GUILDS- UK. We get all our stylists trained in our academy and get them certified”, says Mathai of Trends in Vogue. While these efforts are being taken at the micro/individual level by various brands, measures need to be taken at the macro/industry level as well.

“The industry leaders or government department of trade/education should institute a certified program for training staff and fix minimum salaries for different levels of training acquired. This would ensure pride in receiving professional and qualified training and a standard pay scale for skilled manpower”, suggests Walia of Body Spa International.

Pushkaraj Shenai, CEO, Lakme Lever shares his point of view, saying, “By 2017 there is going to be a tremendous shortage of talent as the industry is growing at a fast pace. Leading players in industry should collaborate under the 'Sector Skills Council of the National Skill Development Corporation (NSDC)' to radically improve the supply of high quality skilled talent. Apart from training, all the leading chains should work to improve the perception about careers in beauty services and position the profession as an attractive and remunerative field.”

It is the need of the hour that the industry gets more organised. Proper HR policies, clear connection between efforts and rewards, structured pay packages, regular trainings and upgradations should become a norm for every brand operating in the industry.

Wellness services in India are projected to generate more than three million jobs by 2015. To achieve these targets and maintain a healthy growth rate, there needs to be more stability in the industry. As the need for skill development, training centers, certified courses and consistency in quality of products and services becomes more vital for the fitness, beauty and wellness industry, steps need to be taken at the industry level to meet the growth projections.