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Section
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Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work

Unit G8

Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work

What you will learn:

G8.1  Contribute to the effective use and monitoring of resources G8.2 Meet productivity and development targets

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Level 3 Beauty Therapy

Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work

The resources covered within this part of the unit are: stock control tools and equipment human resources (people) time.

To make sure the end-of-year audit is correct with regard to items that may be offset against tax due from the business. If you are aware of any shortages of tools or equipment you should report them immediately to the designated person within your salon. This will ensure the smooth running of the salon and avoid unnecessary problems such as clients being kept waiting because the required equipment is already in use.

Human resources
The people that work in the salon should be a valuable asset to any business. However, for the salon to remain protable, this means employing the right people for the right job and ensuring that they are provided with all the training needed to carry out the role. If this does not happen it may lead to client dissatisfaction resulting in loss of clientele, negative publicity and/or litigation (see the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994, page 12). A therapist carrying out the duties of a junior (on a therapists pay) would not be cost effective as the therapist would not be bringing sufcient revenue into the salon to cover their wages.

Tools and equipment

Unit G8
Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work
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Salon tools and equipment are monitored in the same way as salon and retail products. The main difference is that stocktaking of tools and equipment should be carried out less frequently; tools and equipment should last longer provided they are properly maintained and only used for business purposes. To ensure the optimum life expectancy of electrical equipment you should make sure you are complying with the Electricity at Work Regulations (refer to page 123 for further information). It is important to monitor the levels of tools and equipment in the salon for several reasons: To ensure the correct number of working items that are needed for the smooth running of the salon (some may be out of use, either broken or awaiting repair) To calculate if the levels need to be increased to meet the demands of the salon (if there are more therapists employed, more equipment will be needed)

Think about it
If you employ a Saturday junior you need to check your local bylaws. Do you need a licence to employ people under 16? The table below shows a common resource problem and possible solutions.
Resource problem Therapist phones in sick Outcome A whole column of clients have no therapist Solution Try to share out the work amongst the other staff (with similar levels of competency) Telephone clients, explain the situation, then reschedule where possible Cancel appointments (this should be a last resort)

All salon equipment should be regularly checked and maintained

All staff should have good working conditions as laid down in law, examples of which are the Working Time Directive and The Health and Safety at Work Act.

The workplace environment Beauty Therapy

Time
Time is another valuable resource in the salon environment. It is essential that all staff make good use of their time at work as time is money! All the services carried out in the salon are priced to include the cost of materials (products, electricity, water, etc.) and the time it takes to complete the service. It is essential that you are able to carry out all salon services in a commercially viable time and, by doing so, you are fullling part of your obligations under the Sale and Supply of Goods Act 1994.

Good time management involves working out the amount of time each treatment needs. There are a number of things that you will need to take into account.

time to discuss aftercare time to get undressed EACH CLIENT NEEDS: consultation time time for the treatment time to get dressed

For your Portfolio

Your awarding body has set timings for technical services that are deemed commercially viable. Are you aware of these timings? If you are not, you should speak to your tutor or assessor and ask them for this information.

Calculating how much time is needed for individual treatments

(1) TIME 9.00 SUSAN MRSAUSTIN PHONE 823181 1/2 LEGWAX 9.30

(2) YASMIN MISS ALLEN PHONE 631212 ACRYLIC NAILS

(3) LOUISE MISS BROWN PHONE 761047 WEDDING PAMPER

(4) HAYLEIGH MR SIMONS PHONE 471151 FULL BODY MASSAGE

(5)

MRS WOOLFORD FULL SET PHONE 621148

10.00

FULL BODY MASSAGE

10.30

MRS J. STREET PHONE 521683 EYELASH PERM

MRS SINGH PHONE 821356 EYELASH AND MISS COLLINS PHONE 712185 BROW TINT

11.00

MRS K. GAROGHAN PHONE 356987

AROMATHERAPY BRIDAL MAKE-UP 11.30 CANCELLED BACK MASSAGE

A salon appointments book

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Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work

Unit G8

time to pay and purchase products

Level 3 Beauty Therapy

My story

Time is money
Sylvie worked as a therapist in a busy salon. Every Friday she carried out a full column of treatments. The salon allocated commercially-accepted times for each treatment. Despite the amount of work she carried out, she still needed to earn more commission each week (as her expenses were more than her income). On looking through the appointment book, she noticed that the way her appointments had been booked, she sometimes had more than enough time to complete each client. She then realised that if her clients were rescheduled, she could actually do another three clients each Friday and still have a lunch break! Sylvie explained this to the salon receptionist and asked her to reschedule all her clients (as far as she was able) to maximise her opportunities to meet her targets and increase her commission. Was this Sylvies responsibility? Whose responsibility is it to ensure that all working time is utilised to the full?

Unit G8
Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work
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Resource problem Therapist is continually running behind schedule

The table below shows some common time problems and their solutions.
Possible causes Therapist is not up to speed Outcome All other clients kept waiting, leading to client dissatisfaction Solution Enlist the help of other members of staff to take over one of the clients or assist the therapist in order to help them catch up Junior needs retraining

Junior member of staff is not fullling their own job role effectively, causing unnecessary problems for the salon Instructions from the therapist are unclear or poorly timed
Some common time problems and their solutions

May cause unnecessary friction between the therapist and the junior

Therapist may not meet productivity targets

Therapist needs retraining

The workplace environment Beauty Therapy

In some instances, it may be necessary to allow the therapist more time per client when booking appointments, depending on the speed and experience of each individual. It may also be that the therapist needs retraining in certain areas to enable them to get up to speed.

Assessment guidance
What your assessor is looking for You must demonstrate in your everyday work that you have met the standards for contributing to the nancial effectiveness of the business. You will have to prove to your assessor that you can competently: Monitor and effectively use resources (human, stock, tools and equipment and time) Set and achieve productivity targets for retail sales, technical services and development targets for your own personal learning. You will be assessed once on your contribution to the monitoring and effective use of resources. The rest of your evidence is most likely to come from documentary evidence that you have assembled in your portfolio. You are not allowed to use simulated activities as part of your evidence.

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Develop and maintain your effectiveness at work

Observation can form part of on-the-job training

Unit G8