Accept that not everyone is committed to your business for life, and that’s ok.
As the business owner, you are probably giving at least ten years of your life to working really hard on a single goal: turning something you are passionate about into a successful business. And, you are willing to make a lot of sacrifices in the pursuit of that goal. It is unrealistic to expect that of anyone else who isn’t the business owner.
Your top performers don’t just work hard on your business. They also work hard on themselves. They are constantly working to better themselves and their position in life. You can (and should) help them to achieve their own personal goals, but the reality is that you simply can’t provide that for everyone.
For many employees, you don’t have what they’re looking for in their next career step, whether it’s a management role or any number of other roles that just don’t exist in a small company.
If you want to hire the best, expect that they will behave like talented ambitious people do. Sometimes, they will outgrow the role you’ve given them. If you can’t provide the next step, then they need to move on the where they will get their needs met.
Acknowledge that they have worked hard and brought value to you and your team. Maybe they will again someday, but for now, accept that their time with your business is over, wish them well and mean it. Accept that despite your best efforts, employees will move on.
Next, start to focus on protecting your salon business from unnecessary employee churn. No single employee should hold the keys to the kingdom of your business. Otherwise, you take too much of a financial hit, when they leave.
A useful exercise that you can do here is to ask yourself: ‘if employee X moved on tomorrow, what would that do to us?’ Then think about that for ever single person on your payroll. If your business is over reliant on one individual, start to upskill other team members and spread the load.
Not letting it get to you means putting things into context, so you can go home and switch off. When an employee leaves, you will get over it, your salon will get over it and all will be fine again.
