How many massages per day
- Thread starter LC86
- Start date
Help Support SalonGeek:
Massage is a very tiring treatment to give and hard on the joints and muscles. 4.5 hours is plenty if not too much if the client is very muscular or overweight. Both of these make it harder work.
I would book no more than 2 full body massages a day ( 3 hours ) to ensure that I aren't taxing my body too much. However I could add say another back massage or reflexology to the day. I am self employed and if you are the masseur yourself you would absolutely understand what I am saying. RSI starts at a very young age and leads to the therapist needing intense physiotherapy, rest from massage and wrist splints etc - I have been there and it quite frankly is not worth it.
Too late for me even with the use of elbows, forearms and wrist savers, which weren't introduced when I trained many years ago. Thumbs are ruined and my neck too. So ease up on the girls otherwise they will be off on the sick.
Introduce hot stones or make far more use of them. Get a G5 massager, Reflexology is an easier holistic treatment. Just put your thinking cap on and vary the menu a bit more. Hope that helps.
I would book no more than 2 full body massages a day ( 3 hours ) to ensure that I aren't taxing my body too much. However I could add say another back massage or reflexology to the day. I am self employed and if you are the masseur yourself you would absolutely understand what I am saying. RSI starts at a very young age and leads to the therapist needing intense physiotherapy, rest from massage and wrist splints etc - I have been there and it quite frankly is not worth it.
Too late for me even with the use of elbows, forearms and wrist savers, which weren't introduced when I trained many years ago. Thumbs are ruined and my neck too. So ease up on the girls otherwise they will be off on the sick.
Introduce hot stones or make far more use of them. Get a G5 massager, Reflexology is an easier holistic treatment. Just put your thinking cap on and vary the menu a bit more. Hope that helps.
I gather from your post you do not do massage. I think the days of back to back massages 8hours a day are gone, and rightly so. 4.5hours is the max in most spas, it is up to reception or front desk to push other treatments if you need to make money. Look after your therapists the rate of injuries and burnout happens a lot in that job.
It sounds like there’s a lot to unpack here! Balancing workload and well-being is crucial in this industry. If the team feels overwhelmed, it’s important to listen to their concerns. Maybe finding ways to optimize shifts or offering more breaks could help? How do you feel about the current setup?
Ok maybe you need to talk to your team on a one to one basis and explain that for the 2 busy days a week that more than 4.5hours of massage may happen and you will do your best to try and push other treatments on clients to cut down on this? Maybe if you and your team can meet halfway, they would may be wore willing and understand that there is busy times of the week and it is part of their job to provide massage treatments. When you say they do nothing else, are they not booked in with other treatments and just sitting around?
Wow that is crazy. There is a staff problem there that needs to be sorted
Your team has said they do not want to do more than 4.5hr of massage per day.
All replies here have said that's quite realistic. Many have asked about what other treatments they can offer and you've basically said they're too busy weekends and nothing during the week and ignored the question.
The problem seems to be you cannot provide enough bookings during the week for your staff to keep them busy.
All replies here have said that's quite realistic. Many have asked about what other treatments they can offer and you've basically said they're too busy weekends and nothing during the week and ignored the question.
The problem seems to be you cannot provide enough bookings during the week for your staff to keep them busy.
It seems like blame the therapists for the problem, when I gather there is other issues going on in the spa? There isn't enough information just they are not busy sitting on their phones
What about creating promotions during weekdays or off-peak hours for first time customers to your spa?
Offer something crazy like 50% off if it's during the weekdays (you can choose to keep it only for new customers or regulars as well based on your flow) .. If it's a premium spa then I suggest only providing it to First-timers. This should even out the hours for your therapists and give you a more consistent flow to your spa during the week.
Offer something crazy like 50% off if it's during the weekdays (you can choose to keep it only for new customers or regulars as well based on your flow) .. If it's a premium spa then I suggest only providing it to First-timers. This should even out the hours for your therapists and give you a more consistent flow to your spa during the week.
Read the menus of other Spas you’ll see that often clients are booked in for a 120 minute session but only get a treatment for 60 minutes with the rest of the time being spent with meet and greet, refreshments, foot soaks/steam/lounging time, consultation and product discovery. There are ways to reduce the loading on your therapists on busy days. For example you can offer combine body scrub or facial and massage treatments that offer luxury experience to your clients whilst reducing the massage requirements in each hour.
You can also offer hot stones which are much easier on a therapist’s physicality and again offer an enhanced experience.
You can change the protocol to end massages with some calming head holding or feet compressions or an energy balancing ritual to give the therapists a wind down 5 minutes (these feel amazing for clients) and there are other “tricks” such as using feather fans, or sound therapy chimes of one type or another, or laying on of crystals or lavender eye pillows.
You also need to check whether your therapists are adequately trained for their work. For instance after I’ve given a massage I feel like I’ve just had a great yoga session. If I felt a bit tired or a achey at the start of a treatment I finish feeling great. If your therapists are worn out then they are
1) bending over the couch instead of opening their legs in a wide legged lunge to reduce their height
2) holding tension in their wrists and forearms instead of allowing the tension to drain from their massaging arms
3) holding their wrists at an angle to their arms
4) using their thumbs as tools instead of using a two handed “hand over hand” movement
5) holding their thumbs at an angle to their arms instead of continuing the line of the arm
6) not lowering the couch sufficiently
7) not using their body weight to do the work and instead trying to do the work with their arms.
A good massage therapist will have super toned thighs, great posture and core strength and will be naturally doing a few bends and stretches during the day. She will also invest time in body conditioning exercise to maintain her body in good shape.
If your girls are hunched over their phones and generally being toxic, pay more for highly experienced staff and get rid of the dead weight, and hire a head therapist who can lead training sessions and set up protocols. You are liable for your staff wellbeing and you should be identifying health and safety risks as part of managing workflow and demand.
And ask yourself if you could garden all day for two days in a row if you only had light physical work the rest of the week. Bodies don’t really work like that. A day of Hard physical work is exhausting whether it’s 1-2 days a week or 5 days out of 7 and it’s easier to get an overuse injury as the body isn’t acclimated to the work.
You can also offer hot stones which are much easier on a therapist’s physicality and again offer an enhanced experience.
You can change the protocol to end massages with some calming head holding or feet compressions or an energy balancing ritual to give the therapists a wind down 5 minutes (these feel amazing for clients) and there are other “tricks” such as using feather fans, or sound therapy chimes of one type or another, or laying on of crystals or lavender eye pillows.
You also need to check whether your therapists are adequately trained for their work. For instance after I’ve given a massage I feel like I’ve just had a great yoga session. If I felt a bit tired or a achey at the start of a treatment I finish feeling great. If your therapists are worn out then they are
1) bending over the couch instead of opening their legs in a wide legged lunge to reduce their height
2) holding tension in their wrists and forearms instead of allowing the tension to drain from their massaging arms
3) holding their wrists at an angle to their arms
4) using their thumbs as tools instead of using a two handed “hand over hand” movement
5) holding their thumbs at an angle to their arms instead of continuing the line of the arm
6) not lowering the couch sufficiently
7) not using their body weight to do the work and instead trying to do the work with their arms.
A good massage therapist will have super toned thighs, great posture and core strength and will be naturally doing a few bends and stretches during the day. She will also invest time in body conditioning exercise to maintain her body in good shape.
If your girls are hunched over their phones and generally being toxic, pay more for highly experienced staff and get rid of the dead weight, and hire a head therapist who can lead training sessions and set up protocols. You are liable for your staff wellbeing and you should be identifying health and safety risks as part of managing workflow and demand.
And ask yourself if you could garden all day for two days in a row if you only had light physical work the rest of the week. Bodies don’t really work like that. A day of Hard physical work is exhausting whether it’s 1-2 days a week or 5 days out of 7 and it’s easier to get an overuse injury as the body isn’t acclimated to the work.
lol no there isn’t issues going on. It’s a small spa busy on weekends not busy in the week. The pay is fine they get hourly pay and commission on the treatments performed.
Thank you for the constructive advice.
Thank you for the constructive advice.
Thats is great to know! If your staff seems happy during the week and are getting paid properly i am sure if weekends are busy, you can let them know 4.5 hours of massage is normal in a spa setting (years ago it was definitely 8hours a day of massage), where most spa bigger than yours would do this 5days per week! Maybe the staff you have aren't used of this type of work. If your staff are speaking up about this problem, definitely listen to them. It is very hard to get good therapists nowadays. Ask them what treatments they love to do or would they like to decide what type of monthly special they would do maybe a weekend special treatment of advertising 90minute treatments of body scrub,back massage and facial or someting where it wouldnt be all massage? Or a type of treatment with a mani/pedi in that? Speak to your staff and let them think of ideas and they would be more than happen to perform the treatments then
