On Call or Full Time? Salary?

[bluareochick8]

Hello all,I have worked on call as a massage therapist at a spa for 6 years. We are expanding and they want me to work more of a full time schedule, instead of being on call I will be at the spa at certain days and hours. For example 10 to 4 Tuesday, Friday and Saturday.If I don't do this, they will hire someone else to do it which means I will lose out on clients.However, I am not sure how to make this a financial gain for me, not a loss, as I was getting paid 50/50 per massage. ($35 plus tips).I am meeting with them in a few days and not sure how much to ask for as a salary. After all, if I am going to be stuck there all day instead of the freedom of my on call status, it should be worth my while.Thank you for your help

 

[Pompal 09.]

Hi there - Are you the only MT they have?  

 

[Pompal 09.]

Well I guess for me there's not enough information given here. Are you an Independent Contractor currently or an Employee?If you are an employee, how will they handle paying you when you are not doing massage?  On what will they base the pay for salary?Guess I am a little confused.  ???

 

[samld021]

On Call or Full Time? Salary?

Hello to both of you.It's not you, because I am confused too. LOLI am the only MT there yes, but have built up their business enough where they want to expand and hire others.I am an independent contracter as of now, but they want to make me an employee.I have two issues here. One is the fact they want to hire someone, either myself or someone else, to be on the premises all day instead of on call. That means a hourly wage and perceneforum.xxxe of the massage will have to be agreed upon. My issue is that I don't see how they can pay me enough to m make it worth my while to change my status.I get $35 per massage right now. And I go home ( I live 5 minutes away) and sometimes have private clients or do other things in my life. I don't know how much to ask for as a wage. Second issue is that I have been there almost 6 years, and been a very loyal MT for them. (obviously). Now that they are expanding I feel disheartened that if I don't take this full time, on premise employee status they will hire someone who will. What this means is that this other therapist will get all the massages coming in.I enjoy my on call status. I like the freedom. If I am to take the salaried position, I need to come up with numbers for them that makes this worth my while.If for example, the offer was $10 an hour and $20 of each massage, I'd actually be losing out of money. This would not be a step up financially.Yes, if I don't work salary, it looks like I'm losing out too.I am between a rock and a hard place.They did offer the position to me first, and the fact that I have a regular and loyal client base there may give me leverage to get what I ask for, but I need help on figuring out what would be fair to me.Hope this clarifies some of this.If not, ask away!! And thanks for your time and help .

 

[reis]

A couple of things to keep in mindFirst, as an employee, the spa will be increasing its costs by $7-8 per  appointment to cover their share of SS taxes, Medicare, Unemployment taxes and other such fun. This does not count any benefits offered. These are costs YOU currently pay. Becoming an employee shifts that responsibility to the business, so you can expect to get paid at LEAST that much less per appointment.Secondly, if they are paying you and hourly wage for idle hours, then you are coming out ahead, not behind. If you are not doing 2 private clients a day, you are better off financially sitting in the spa making $10 an hour, 8 hours a day.You may only earn a fee or % of each appt, and you have to judge if you think a spa can attract more clients than you can.Don't take this the wrong way, but you have not been loyal. You worked when and if they had an appointment that was mutually convenient. Remember, they also called you every time they had a request. You were not DIS loyal- you were looking out for #1, as you should. But don't feel slighted and let that be part of the decision.The spa is committing to expanding its offering of massage. To do so, they need to be able to meet the requests of their clients. Just saying "let me check if I can reach her" won't cut it for them.There are trade offs to everything. You need to figure out what you currently earn, what your effort in generating and growing that business is worth/costs you and go from there

 

[Macks]

Well, I worked on call @ a day spa for 4.5 years so I'm very familiar with that freedom to "do your own thing" when the day spa doesn't have stuff booked for you. I too lived 5-10 minutes from the salon... and would often be called in to do walk-in 30 minute massages.And I've been between that rock & hard place too. It's hard to tell you what's best to do really, because only you can decide whether being an employee is worth it to you.  There are just so many variables. If you are no longer an IC... you give up the ability to deduct certain expenses from your taxes  that you have occurred in working there at the spa. (Oils, lotions, music, linens, etc)  At least I am assuming they are now going to pay for these things. In addition... when you do your MT laundry @ the salon... you will be hopefully earning $10/hr. While when you did your MT laundry elsewhere not only was the expense of doing so yours, but you were not making any money during that time period. Will they be contributing towards C.E. for you?As an I.C., I am assuming that should you end your working relationship with the salon, the client files were Yours. However, if you are an employee, won't your client files become spa property?  It might have been different if you had set that up originally... but how do you divide them up now? Any new clients from a set date become their property?  What is your average # of clients there per day & per week?How likely do you think it is that you can schedule your personal clients on days off... or before 10 or after 4?Do your clients schedule in advance? Or are they pretty used to getting into you same day/last minute?Honestly... that's where I have a problem.  I have a horrible time getting mine to schedule in advance.In some ways... this might actually build up your personal business because you're so busy @ the spa, they HAVE to book in advance and be dependable.  *chuckles* No more stretching that every 3 weeks apppointment to 4...  If you work, Tuesday, Friday and Saturday... who will work the other days of the week? Would you be expected to share your space with the other MT?In addition to, say for instance, doing table massage... will you be expected to provide other spa services (within your scope of practice)? If part of your employee duties are to care for the MT laundry... what will some of your other duties be?Hope these questions have given you a little more to think about. Wishing you the best possible outcome,-M

 

[SucreCaramel]

On Call or Full Time? Salary?

Thanks for all the well thought out replies.This is a lot to think about.IRT Relax: Part of the issue is that on my off time I also am an artist and actress, so the idea of sitting around, even for the $10 is a hard one for me.Again all, thank you for your insight.

 

[DOGFOOD]

I've just recently agreed as an Independent Contractor to a situation in which I am on-site even when I don't have sessions scheduled. At first I was very leary of this and thinking of everything else I could be doing with that time. It has now been just under a month and I've had VERY LITTLE down time. If I start off a shift with only the first two hours filled I can almost guarantee that the last three hours will be filled before I'm done with the first two. People love being able to drop in and get an open massage spot at the moment that they are feeling like getting one. Now granted I am not in a spa (health club) but I do know that when I did work at a day spa we had to turn people away all the time for same day appointments. I'm also thinking that if you have been building a clientele for 6 years and the spa is doing a good business you may not need to worry about having much "free time."  And if you do have some maybe you can fill it up productively with reading, writing, planning, etc. Just some thoughts!

 

[jyu_bonk]

On Call or Full Time? Salary?

Another thing to consider is whether or not it's time to take the plunge from part-time/on-call to setting up your own practice independent of the spa. If, as you say, you have a good client base, there shouldn't be too much lag time and you should be able to make the money to 'pay the bills'. However, being an artist and an actress will require you to have a schedule that's flexible that allows time for last-minute auditions. (I feel ya, I'm an artist and actor, and I've had to think of these things as well.)Good luck...and keep us posted.