Welcome to a New Year filled with opportunities to grow your spa business, enrich the guest experience, and engage your team. I urge you to do all three by instilling a focus on wellness. Wellness is a buzzword in the spa industry and has rightfully been so for a few years. At Carillon Miami Wellness Resort, we function as a spa and health-focused property that takes a realistic and individualized approach in helping each guest get on the right path to a balanced wellness lifestyle.
In an ideal world, if you want employees to deliver wellness to guests, leadership needs to encourage a wellness-based workplace. Research supports employee wellness:
A study published in the International Journal of Workplace Health Management found that employees who received a weekly two-hour training course on mindfulness over an eight-week period showed improvement in satisfaction of life & hope, along with reduced anxiety. These employees also displayed higher levels of concentration on work and improved interpersonal relationships. (1)
Eighty-five percent of new professionals/soon-to-be college graduates said employee treatment and welfare were what they look for in future employers. (2)
Less than one-third of Americans are engaged in their jobs in any given year. (3) However, 91 percent of workers say they feel motivated to do their best when they have leadership support. (4)
Furthermore, a Gallup study of more than 7,000 adults revealed that, at some point in their career, one in two had left their job to get away from their manager. Most of the complaints about managers were related to communication. (5)
In overseeing six departments and more than 130 employees, I know communication takes time, effort and scheduling. Effective communication is not just getting the information out, it’s a two-way street. In order to be an effective manager, it’s important to have ways for employees to communicate back to you.
When I started at The Carillon, my goal was to personally meet with every employee in each department. As a manager, it’s normal to start with good intentions that are, unfortunately, often taken off course when fires pop up. I’ve learned that unless there’s a concentrated effort to meet regularly with employees, effective communication will often dissipate and the manager will pay the price.
To stay in touch, I’ve made a huge effort to talk with employees and have a presence on a regular basis. This practice goes a long way toward boosting wellbeing within the entire team. The Carillon’s leadership team supports workplace wellness in many other ways including:
Weekly operations meetings that are led by, for example, a member of the fitness team doing a guided meditation or stretching exercise.
The Carillon’s 40 fitness classes are open to all employees, except during season and on the weekends.
Yoga classes on the beach are open to employees and their friends & family.
Spa & salon products and treatments are available to employees at cost. We also make it possible for therapists to buy personal products direct through the vendors.
Media training is offered to team leaders along with opportunities to be quoted as an expert in the press.
The high standard for treatment delivery at The Spa at Carillon opens up opportunities for complimentary services. Before a therapist delivers a treatment, they are required to watch the treatment, receive it and practice it three times before working on paying guests. We offer these testing opportunities to the entire staff and pay therapists for their time in delivering the treatments.
We also put a big emphasis mental and emotional wellness. When a therapist is not trained correctly, they are being put into an anxious position. To prevent this from happening, training and ongoing education at The Spa at Carillon is a priority. Our therapists feel confident with delivering the type of experience our guests expect and they have the tools to do so.
About the Author – Mindy Terry is the Vice President, Spa & Wellness for Carillon Miami Wellness Resort. Terry has more than two decades in spa & hospitality and has consulted on award-winning projects around the world. Terry has an extensive background in spa menu creation, logistics and management. More on Terry and Carillon Miami Wellness Resort on www.CarillonHotel.com.
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