MORE than one third of hair salon business owners suffered mental health issues and more than a fifth suffered depression in 2020 as they faced blow after blow, a national survey shows.
A survey by the Australian Hairdressing Council (AHC) of 360 business owners - predominantly sole operators of hair salons but also including beauty and barber salons - found the combined effect of bushfires, floods, cyclones, hail storms and COVID-19 was for many "their most challenging" 15 months of trade.
Sandy Chong, AHC chief executive and owner of Newcastle salon Suki, said among the most worrying findings of the survey were hair industry staff who had left the industry and set up businesses at home, at times illegally, because they didn't feel safe in their workplace.
"We lost a lot of workers and, besides that, the financial stress, mental stress and anxiety is clear," Ms Chong said, adding that those coping better at present were those who had a better cashflow.
Some of the key survey facts include:
- 75% of businesses closed due to COVID-19
- 20.4% of salons were required to terminate staff during the pandemic
- 77.6% of salon businesses were not eligible for the JobKeeper extension
- 79.4% of business owners experienced stress due to uncertainty during 2020 while 36.5% suffered mental health issues and 23.1% from depression
- 54% of business owners engaged with staff via text message while closed versus 24.3% via Zoom
- 46.2% have employed a new apprentice in the last 12 months, while 40.3% have not
- 31.9% discovered employees were not willing to work on JobKeeper
- 22.5% found staff to be servicing clients outside of the salon
Sixty six per cent of businesses surveyed reported that their turnovers had dropped in trade between January and December 2020 compared to the year prior, with 30% of them saying trade was down by 30%.
The survey found those business owners who were AHC members felt more confident about their business than non-members.
On Wednesday Ms Chong was in Canberra lobbying government figures to ensure that hairdressing remains on the 482 short-term Temporary Shortage Visa, enabling salons to employ international workers and address an industry skills shortage. The AHC wants its sector to be on a visa list that includes a pathway to permanent residency.
"During COVID, 482 workers were not entitled to JobKeeper and went home, or had to source income elsewhere, and salons lost sponsorship investment," Ms Chong said.
