Uplifting Women Series - 1 Handling Inappropriate Behaviour in the Treatment Room
Inappropriate behaviour comes in many forms, a racist comment, a body shaming slur, sexual harassment. The list is not exhaustive, and we need to be clear in calling it what it is. Unacceptable.
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We aim to be very concise in this post, having experienced inappropriate behaviour first hand in the treatment room, dealt with it as managers and experienced the lack of affirmation on our decisions by our senior management. We aim to deliver with this information clear guidelines on what is inappropriate behaviour and the correct way to handle it.
What is inappropriate in a treatment room?
As a rule, any behaviour which makes the therapist uncomfortable is inappropriate. Whether that is a misogynistic stance, a cloaked remark about a therapist’s heritage or rude and unreasonable behaviour. This also includes any kind of sexual advances or harassment, suggested, or acted upon.
Many suggest that inappropriate behaviour can be nuanced, and some easily handled by a confident rebuttal by the therapist, however most therapists are not provided clear guidelines as to how to manage this and in addition often lack the confidence in standing up for themselves. Not because they are unable to, but a fear of losing their job or being reprimanded for misconstruing a situation. Let us be honest, it is our job as managers to make those calls, to understand the countless nuances, to protect our team.
Step 1 is to always ensure, before you send any therapist into a treatment room, that you have a robust policy, made clear to your HR, about how you will handle inappropriate behaviours.
How to approach the issue and handle the situation appropriately, for the guest.
· Once it has been established that the guest has not behaved appropriately it’s important to offer clear guidelines to the guest. Explain the spa’s policy and clearly concisely and calmly highlight that the specific comments/behaviours by the guest are not acceptable.
· If needed, explain the treatment will end and no further treatment will take place.
· It is best practise to provide the guest a full refund at this stage. This is to avoid guest retaliation. Keep the parameters clear and doing this says to the guest ‘your behaviour is not welcome in our spa, therefor we will not have a financial transaction with you’. No ethical grey area.
· Record the guest’s behaviour in your booking system to ensure any future enquiries by the guest can be red flagged
How to approach the issue and handle the situation appropriately for the therapist.
· Listen to the therapist. Focus on their issue and believe their experience. No one wants to have this happen to them so if your therapist is brave enough to come to you and trusts your reaction, be thankful for that.
· Explain the next steps to your therapist in terms of recording the incident.
· If the therapist works on a commission-based pay structure reassure the therapist this will not impact her commission.
· Thank the therapist for bringing it to your attention.
How to approach the issue and handle the situation appropriately with your Senior Management.
· Ensure you have a clear policy in place which details how you handle such situations with guests and your HR department has a clear understanding of this.
· Detail each incident in a report, providing back ground and total clarity to all.
· Be decisive and uncompromising in your commitment to zero tolerance for such behaviours.
As a Spa Leader, we are tasked with achieving the absolute best. From hitting our financial targets to delivering exceptional guest experiences. We also have a duty of care to our employees, without whom, spa achievements would be impossible. There is no grey area, there is no forgiveness or turning a blind eye if the guest is a high spender or a vocal member. Protecting our team and retaining their trust is fundamental to not only business success, but also in ensuring that we future proof our industry, growing its reputation and delivering a safe space for all.