Employee benefi ts can cost up to 40 per cent of the payroll in Sweden
Even taking into account the cost of living from one place to another, there are still major variances in average monthly pay
lishments – to receive absolutely no base salary, earning all of their income as a com- mission on the treatment prices charged by the business. While this sounds unfair and quixotic, the result is that American thera- pists are the most highly paid in the world. The US also provides the biggest variety of
pay plans which vary between states and cit- ies or even two businesses in the same block. As there’s no one way things are done, meth- ods of pay can be quite creative. Rather than paying a straight percentage for all thera- pists, for example, operators could offer more compensation to those who reach set benchmarks – such as better client reten-
Spa Business 3 2013 ©Cybertrek 2013
tion rates and average customer spend – that help drive business. Alternatively, they can vary the percentage of compensation accord- ing to different services: paying less for treatments where a high amount has been spent on pieces of equipment, for example, to get a quicker return on investment. Slowly and incrementally, this is helping to off-set the high staff overhead that US spas face. Retail commission – where therapists get a percentage of revenue from products they sell – is another possible add-on for salaries as spas all over the world offer products for home use. Globally, retail commission levels are fairly consistent at 5-10 per cent of the
retail price, which is typically all a business can afford on branded merchandise that already have high markup costs.
BENEFITS AND TAXES Every country also has its own legal and cultural requirements for employers pay- ing therapists concerning issues such as health insurance, retirement/pensions and other social service benefi ts. The costs vary widely also, from an approximate 11 per cent of payroll in the US to as much as 40 per cent in Sweden. It’s certainly incumbent on any spa business opening in a new country to fully understand all the different taxes and
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