Salon Pay Rise Management | Build Your Salon

Salon Pay Rise Management | Build Your Salon

April 20, 2026 · 11 min

About this episode

Phil Jackson discusses how salon owners can manage pay rise conversations effectively without jeopardizing their business.

The minimum wage went up on 6th April, and your team is watching. But with thin margins, how do you handle pay rise conversations without it costing you your entire business? Many salon owners kick it into the long grass and lose good people.This episode gives you a simple plan to manage salon pay rises confidently, fairly, and profitably.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📊 KNOW WHAT YOU CAN AFFORD FIRST* Calculate your total wages (including employer's NI, pensions) as a percentage of your total turnover.* Phil's rule of thumb: for salons with a team and premises, this should sit *below 40%*.* If it's above 40%, a pay rise isn't possible until you fix underlying pricing and profit issues.* Solo operators: Work backwards from what you need to take home to live, not just survive.* *Mistake:* Waiting for someone to ask before doing this calculation. Numbers first, always.━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━━📊 HANDLE THE CONVERSATION LIKE A PRO* Never answer on the spot. When asked, listen, thank them, and schedule a proper meeting for next week.* Use that time to check your wage percentage and assess their contribution (client retention, average bill, retail).* If 'yes': State you've reviewed everything and…

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Host: Phil Jackson

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