hair stylist

salon manager

coiffeur

stylist

salon assistant

Great Clips

I am there 15 minutes before starting my shift. I am responsible for counting  opening cash float for the day. I clean, tidy the salon and prep my work station with all working tools and sterilized combs and guards.I also make sure all combs hair brushes that were used the day before must be sterilized for 10 minutes.I Learned to be punctual, dependable and organized to begin a positive day.

We as a team working for Great Clips work as a team to flow with a balance, as professional Hair stylist to our guest.We work as a team  learn from each other to excel our knowledge,customer service and to maintain as professional and friendly to our guest.

At Great Clip it s a Salon business which was designed to focus on cuts and there for a system in place for each stylist to be focused and work on productivity as a motivation to excel on highest performance and productivity dollars.I find this a challenge hard in the sense to stay focus within time frame of the; at the same time I have to multi task making sure I can delivery customer service a conversation and accuracy.I have attained this  well and it is rewarding.

My enthusiasm give me this burst of lift to my artistic and creative 
knowledge when I able to give a new fresh style to my client and to see their trust and pleasing of my work its as thought I have created a new person in them.I love this part of my job.

- very competitive and hostile stylists 
- very physically demanding work, more than in a factory and more stressful
- clients expect complicated work for too low of a price and stylists don't have the knowledge
- franchise owners have no knowlegde of hairdressing and are not suited for ownership
- mandatory training classes in Woodbridge for a week regardless of experience level
- unreasonable demands for metrics and performance for minimum wage
- catty, boorish, unprofessional management
- speratic on -call scheduling with no consistency, can't plan for your own life
- Clients don't tip , your lucky if you leave your exhausting shift with $5 total
- only have 13 to 15 minutes to complete the service including consultation and checkout as your timed by the computer
- metrics are measured daily, highlighted and posted and made to shame stylists for underperforming
- have to rotate stations every shift, pack all your tools and store them in a locker, return to a new station next shift and reassemble everything
-the means don't justify the ends to this experience even if your desperate
- Very high turnover of stylists, not a career path, merely a survivor job 



I worked for GreatClips for 13 years on and off for Dixie in Calgary. It was Great with a Great work environment, Great staff, it was the best job I had ever had. I moved to Vancouver Island and worked for a different Frachisee owner. I worked on the Island location for about 3 weeks, and was very disappointed with the job. It is interesting on how wonderful it was working for the one franchisee and the other franchisee was not as Great. I guess it opened my eyes to how the franchisee system works. The co-workers I had in Calgary were very team oriented and fun. The co-workers in Nanaimo were needless to say, single oriented, no "Team" anywhere to be found. I loved working in Calgary at the GreatClips. I would give Calgary 5 stars all around, I would give Nanaimo, 2 stars at the most. I would hope that one day that I could work for GreatClips again in a Great team environment. In Calgary, it was ALWAYS a Great Day at GreatClips. I give Great thanks to Calgary GreatClips, for showing me a Great world in haircutting. If only the GreatClips in Nanaimo was a Team as much as Calgary, it would have been a better experience and I would probably be happy and still working there.

The typical day at great clips was pretty straight forward and easy going. Once you got used to the fast pace it was easy to keep up. They often encouraged you to speed up even if your haircut wasn’t “the best” as long as you were hitting this time quotas.  The workplace culture felt very competitive like everyone was competing for the tips nonrealizing the more effort you put in the better tips you made! 

The hardest part of the job was being treated as though I was just a number and not an asset to the company. I feel all the hairstylist should feel like an asset without them the company wouldn’t run.  Not only was I just a number but I was let go with the premise that I had only be hired for “three months” when I had been off for 9 months due to medical leave.

They then hired someone else in my place and also continued to let me go just before Christmas. Then asked me to come back three days later but still keeping me off the pay roster and schedule…. I found another job within 3 days. Started as soon as I could. 


Typical day is being rushed. You have to get many clients in and out of your chair without going over a half hour. They prefer you be done in 15mins. They expect you to whip out all perfect haircuts in 15mins when sometimes that’s not humanly possible. Yes fast is the goal with them but some people have different hair types and it’s harder to work with but you’re put down if you need the extra time to make sure the client is happy. 

Most of the time there were only two people working at a time which meant no breaks or very short breaks. If someone called in you were expected to stay longer even if you had just worked a full 8 hours. I was 7 months pregnant and expected to work 10 hour days.  

The management doesn’t really care about you. They try to train you but they cut corners. The do send you to a training seminar to learn “there way” but sometimes you aren’t going until you’ve already been there almost a year. It depends when they do the seminars. 

The only enjoyable part about this place was meeting my regular clients. The conversations I’d have with them that’s it. 

So I’ve worked worked for Great Clips for the past 6 years at the Polson location off HWY 6 in Vernon.  I worked for their competitor in the United States before moving to Canada. I chose Great Clips because of their similarities, such as being fast paced, haircuts only, and walk in based. I started off as a stylist and worked my way into assistant manager. I love my manager and her willingness to work with me and my schedule. The team I work with is pretty amazing. My schedule is super flexible and if anything comes up where a shift change is needed, the staff can trade shifts to make it possible! The atmosphere feels like home with a bunch of crazy sisters that I can’t live without. Lol most of the clients are great with one or two, as with any job, that will try and throw a wrench in your day but you brush it off and move on the the next!

I love working for Great Clips because its fast paced, company has set standards for all franchisee. its a clean and professional work place. Their policies are clear and never does any contract with any employees. Pays above industry standard. Sometimes workplace gets busier but, that's when we make money. GreatClips has bonus designed for product sale, productivity, etc 

Its a Great place to work for new and experienced stylist. also, its a color free salon which works for me as i get rashes coz of color chemicals.  My schedule is super flexible and if anything comes up where a shift change is needed, the staff can trade shifts to make it possible! Most of the clients are great with one or two, as with any job

Pros
Additional training classes, workshops, flexible schedule, small town atmosphere, family oriented, and you leave with money every shift!

Work/life balance was practically non-existent even as a part timer. It was nearly impossible to book days off, then was always given a bunch of extra hours and long/late shifts the week prior to and returning from any time off. I would often get called in to work extra shifts on top of my schedule nearly every other week. 
When it got busy I was often denied my lunch break, and was not allowed to have water at my work station
There are no benefits or opportunities to advance within the company aside from management positions, and pay is minimum wage. Tips at the location i worked started off okay then got worse over the years as the prices increased. 
Management was not fun to deal with, the only thing that kept me around as long as it did was the other stylists being pleasant to work with.
It varies from one location/franchisee to the next, but I would definitely not recommend the one where I worked

Your day here starts off with cleaning and paperwork, before the doors even open. Then, you spend your shift cutting hair for an average of 15 to 20 customers and socializing, and cleaning some more when you can. I learned so much about hair cutting techniques, with help from a short course they provide. Management at my location was good. Very understanding and easy to talk to. All the girls at my shop were fairly young, all under the age of 27; however, all professional on the floor. The hardest parts of the job for me was being on my feet for 4 or 5 hours at a time on busy days and socializing. Each customer in your chair has their own problems and personality. I love giving great haircuts and helping customers choose the right product for them, but, the best part of the job was my coworkers.

Everyday is different for me, because 10 - 15 minutes I meet a new customer and every customer is different. They all have a different personality. However something that I learned is meeting and working with so many multicultural people, and dealing with stress. Management was very good and helpful. Everyone in the workplace was very friendly and helpful. I am very well experienced already with fast paced customer service so dealing with customers is not very difficult for me. However the hardest part of the job was creating  a balance between the boss and coworkers. The most enjoyable part of the job was working alongside by boss and coworkers, because everyone was respectful to me.Thank you.

Top Job Titles	Average salary
Hair stylist 32 salaries reported	$27.31 per hour
Salon manager 1 salary reported	$23.58 per hour
Coiffeur 18 salaries reported	$26.06 per hour
Stylist 4 salaries reported	$49,130 per year
Salon assistant 8 salaries reported	$54,723 per year

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