Reasonable on call hours

[Rebecca A]

Maybe this should be under boundry issues. But I would love a little input from those of you who are experience with on call situations. As an employee at the spa I am on call Tue, Thur Fri 9-8 (9-6 Fridays). So far I never no more then an hour before a client. Being a new place there is not a cliental built yet. Its tough for me to justify that as I have only had 4 clients in 2.5 months. (oh how sad to see that in black and white!!) And now they are asking for every other Sat. I got a call yesterday on my day off while working at my other job that someone had walked in and wanted a massage. Theres way to much free time that I could be putting to use somewhere somehow. I have taken on another spa job on Wed and Sun that is pretty busy. There I just go in and usually have a least 3 clients in my 5 -6 hour shift. Oh and did I mention I work at Peir One on Mondays, Yikes! I want to have a sit down with the owner in Jan and have a more limited on call schedule. Limiting it to 5 or 6 hours per day. They have sold a lot of gift certs I guess so hopefully Jan will be busier. But I just don't want 2 massages spread over 10 hours. I really want it to work out caz its close to home, the people are nice there, and I see great potential in my little community as there is nothing else like it around. Thats what I want, but is that reasonable? Is it the norm to have a on call shift that long? I already know I don't feel this is the best use of time for me, but I am interested in hearing what you guys have to say about it. It will help me with my next move if I determine that I should make a move. I admitt I am a control freak over my time and like to organize and won't be to surprised to hear that this is the way it is in the begenning. All advice and opinions are appreciated.
Oh and Happy Holidays and if you all have been watching the news you know we have had a doozy of a storm. Lucky me the power is on, but some folks are still in the dark after 6 days.

 

[Me Fornever]

Seattlesunshine,
I'm going through the same exact thing with the new spa location I'm currently working at. Though I am one of four Massage Therapists. My problem is that they were going to start me at part time and move me up to full time... it's been nearly a month and I'm actually getting only a tiny bit of work. Given they've sold over 100 Gift Certificates in the past month... so things could look better after the holidays, but it's been extremely slow so far.
Of course I have some clients that I do privately (outcall), but... with this varying schedule they give me it's hard to predict what days I could be available! :? Maybe all day spas are like this?

 

[alcor69_69]

I think being on call that many hours for such a low return is an unreasonable request. I wouldn't do it. You said you've been on call Tue & Thur 9-8 & 9-6 Fridays for 2-1/2 months. That's 310 hours you've set aside, resulting in only 4 appointments. That's about a 1% return on your time & the amount you're making per hour is too scary to calculate, if you actually include the time you've had to spend waiting around. Instead of increasing the hours you're on-call, I would cut back. There isn't a clientele to justify more availability. I'd drop to 2 days per week.

You also need to take some serious action to increase your clientele at this location (if that's your goal). On the days you agree to be on-call at the spa, spend the time marketing. You can carry a pager and go to the office if someone books a last-minute appointment. If you have no clients that day, spend the entire time marketing. Here's a list of ideas that could keep you busy for a year (posted recently on another thread by Breathe):

http://sohnen-moe.com/mm_archives/2006/ark_2006.php

Good luck!

 

[soph]

Yes in SeattleSunshines case I would say that the spa she's working at may not be sufficiently marketing her services (if it's their responsibility to do so per their contract).
At the day spa I am working at it however is the owner's responsibility to do the advertising and marketing. Me being an employee and all. *shrug*
That being said, to drum up a bit of business, I have been going around town a little bit as I do my errands, making small talk with people and making sure to give them a business card or spa menu (depending on interest) as often as possible. (I make sure to tell them to ask for me as well, since there are 3 other MTs on the staff there as well.) Doing what I can to drum up business!

 

[kadir]

You are right that NO marketing is going on. I am hesitant to do it myself as its a very small community and if I don't see some proof in the pudding pretty soon I will have no choice but to go out on my own. I don't want to approach clients for the spa myself because if things are not going to work out I will be approaching those same people for my own practice. It would be the easiest thing to go talk to the DC and MD offices around here which there are plenty. Also the mid wife practice, press releases for a new place and a dozen other ideas. I feel like Maestra that the owner is responsible for a lot of that unless she wants to cough up a consultant fee or something. I know I could do a decent job myself, I just really wanted to try my first year or so with someone else to avoid all the self employed paperwork, marketing etc. I have some personal stuff that is not going away for a least a year and half that is requiring a good deal of my time right now so thats why I was hoping to have someone else carry that load for awhile anyway. I just know I am not in the right space of mind right now but I may have to get there sooner then later. I think backing off to a couple days may be a good answer. I did speak to the owner on the phone today and we decided to have a sit down after Christmas and talk about things. and Bliss thank you for breaking it down by the #'s for me. That helps. I am amazingly visual and seeing it in writing clarifys it .

 

[John Doe 1st]

If you don't want to spend your workdays marketing (which I understand) then you might also want to consider getting rid of the on-call nature of those days. Require that appointments get set up a day in advance. That's a reasonable request. For example, if you chose Thursday & Friday as your workdays, you'd call the spa Wednesday at 5pm to see if you had any appointments set up for Thursday. If there were none, have them put an X through your Thursday schedule (you get the day off) and your next available appointment becomes Friday. Then do the same thing Thursday at 5pm.

I don't like being on-call, so this is my bias. If you don't mind being on-call, maybe cutting back to 2 days per week is enough. Also, address the marketing expectations at your meeting after Christmas.

Good luck!