PEOPLE POWER
With offering quality at the forefront, the onus is on spa leaders to establish strong and appealing career paths for spa staff, with training and motivation vital components of this.
Owner of International Spa Consultants Helen Merchant moderated a panel to address this very topic, with panelists including Lea Cordon Rouf, managing director, Spa Cordon, Sky Gardens DIFC; Michael Monsod, director of spa and recreation, Sofitel The Palm; Meara Dougherty, operations manager, The Product House; and Ghassan Amer, spa manager, Amara Spa, Park Hyatt Dubai.
With the absence of spa training schools in the Middle East, the panelists debated whether it was down to spa operators or product suppliers to train staff. Spas often recruit from abroad and need to up-skill staff once they arrive; how do they best do this?
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Cordon Rouf said that the responsibility for training lies with the spa: “Once you have your staff here you have to reassess their skills and deliver a training programme. Training is an investment; your staff performance is a reflection of what you’re teaching, it’s a reflection of what your spa is about. You have to take ownership and say ‘this team is mine and any of their actions, I’m held accountable for them”.
Monsod agreed, but admitted he also relied on product suppliers for support.
“We expect them to be able to perform things like facials, and that’s when the pressure goes to The Product House to be able to help us out. However, it’s our responsibility to ensure that our staff have the right basic skills to be able to perform advanced treatments so that we can fulfil the promise to our clients.”
Dougherty said there was sometimes disconnect between what spas sought and what The Product House was able to provide.
“When staff come into The Product House, our position is to train in specific treatments and products and the protocols of specific brands; it is not to train in basic skills sets. The expectations of spa directors can be quite high. We are there to provide training but to what extent are we there to provide training?” she asked.
Monsod added that it helped to recruit from within the region and urged spa managers to pool information more often.
“I think it’s important to reach out to other properties to get an idea of the qualifications of a potential employee. In the UAE, we don’t do enough of that mostly because we often need to recruit immediately. I think as a community we need to be in touch more and communicate to get good references.
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