This article is adapted from Brad Drummer‘s forthcoming self-care course on understanding and preventing massage therapist burnout.
Giving Our Careers Away
One of the best pieces of advice I can give to both massage therapists and spa owners about preventing burnout is this: if you advertise a one-hour session, you give exactly 60 minutes of service. Not a minute more. Period.
This seems like a trivial and not career prolonging piece of advice, but it is actually one of the most impactful ways to add years of life to your massage instrument – YOU. Unfortunately, this piece of wisdom is ignored by many people in the industry. I have encountered first-hand therapists who give ten – even fifteen minutes of extra session time to each client to the detriment of their bodies and to the business.
Why Massage Therapists Give Away Extra Time
Why do they do this? Perhaps they give the extra time because they want to do something special for their client, or they always lose track of time, or they mistake a 60 minute massage appointment/session to mean delivering 60 minutes of massage. While investigating the motives behind giving so much extra massage I have discovered that the reason is often that the therapist wants to have the client choose them over the other therapists when it comes time to re-book – thinking to build a loyal clientele because they “give more for the money.”
I am hoping that I can shed light on why the reasons listed in the above paragraph are not good enough to warrant the damage done to the therapist, to the team psyche of a spa, and to the business in general – whether it is a private practice or a resort spa. As someone who has walked a mile in almost every shoe type found in the spa world – having extensive experience as a therapist, a manager, and a spa owner (and private practice owner), I do not believe there is a side of massage therapy that I have not experienced. This unique perspective has allowed me to empathize and relate to all sides of the industry and speak with the authority of one who has.
I say all of this not to peacock my accomplishments but to give the reader confidence that I
have a very broad understanding of all aspects of the massage business and can appreciate the issues inherent in every layer of the profession. So, when I say that staying on time for your appointments is IMPORTANT – I hope that the reader takes note of the weight I am placing on this topic for the betterment of their careers and well-being.
When Longer Sessions Come at a Cost
I want to share with you one such experience that first made me take a hard look at the subject of staying within the framework of what we advertise as the length of a massage appointment or session (NOT to be confused with the length of the massage).
Before my wife and I became the sole owners of Nusta Spa, a day spa in Washington, D.C., I was the managing partner alongside two other co-owners. Upon my recommendation, the partners decided to bring in a general manager to help boost our merchandise sales and take some of the managing load off my shoulders, allowing me to focus more on public relations and research and development.
After an extensive search, we hired someone for the position whose first recommendation was to increase the length of each massage session from 50 minutes to 60 minutes. His argument for doing this was that we would have longer breaks between massages (15 vs 10 minutes) giving the therapists more time to sell products. The extra five minutes between services also lent itself to booking on the quarter hour vs. on the half hour giving the clients more options (but also increasing the possibility of unbookable wasted time to 45 minute gaps).
I was against this change in session time for several reasons. As a businessman, I was cognizant of the lost revenue of at least one service for each therapist on the schedule that day (a 9-5 shift could now only contain 6 potential services versus the 8 services when the session times were 50 minutes). If I had four massage therapists and two estheticians on the books that day it would equate to the loss of up to 12 services. As the General Manager’s main argument for this increase in session time was increasing our product sales, I pointed out to my partners that it would take an inordinately large amount of product sales to replace that revenue.
But that was not my main argument against the change. After looking at the increased
scheduled times from a massage therapist’s point of view, my primary concern became how this would negatively impact the therapists on multiple levels.
How Extra Massage Time Contributes to Massage Therapist Burnout
From a therapist’s point of view, one of the glaring drawbacks to this service time increase was the hugely unjust hit to their wallets that the therapists were taking. From a compensation standpoint, they were getting a raw deal. Because they worked on a commission per massage basis, and since we would not be increasing the menu prices nor their commission rates while reducing the number of potential clients per shift, we would be asking the service providers to work more, while paying them less. By taking away appointments per shift, we were requiring the therapists to work the same length of time on a shift for less money AND have them give an additional ten minutes of massage per session for no extra pay – that is, for free.
My full-time massage therapists were averaging at least 20 massages a week translating to over 1000 per year.
1,000 massages × 10 extra minutes = 10,000 additional minutes of massage per year.
That’s approximately 166 hours of additional hands-on work.
To put that into perspective, those hours are equivalent to:
- More than 166 additional 60-minute massages.
- 200 additional 50-minute massages.
- More than eight weeks of performing five 50-minute massages per day, four days per week.
All without an increase in compensation. In other words, we were asking our service providers to do more than 2 MONTHS of free massages!
The general manager who was pushing for this change believed that the staff would accept a reduction in compensation because of the spa’s reputation and the other incentives we offered. He also suggested that therapists who were unwilling to accept the change could be replaced by others willing to work for a lower commission rate. (Most of my staff had been with us for years and had accrued higher commission rates over their tenure with us.)
I was rapidly growing to dislike the man – and not for his business acumen and willingness to implement changes to cut costs. I was proud of the incredible team of therapists I had put together and respected their efforts in helping to make the spa so successful. I cared about their well-being, beyond the financial. And it felt like the General Manager did not share any concern for their well-being at all.
Which brings me to the main reason that I fought so hard against this change: the physical
attrition that 10,000 minutes of massage can have on a therapist’s body. That is 10,000
minutes per year of needless, unpaid wear and tear to their bodies – which translates to
shortening a therapist’s massage career by over two months each year.
I passionately presented my belief that the physical and mental demands of performing 166 hours’ worth of massage without even being compensated for the work was disrespectful and harmful to our team of exceptional service providers. I was voted down by the other two partners who said, “Why would we go through all of the trouble of doing a world-wide search to bring the top expert in spa operations to our spa if we were not going to listen to his suggestions? And besides, the clients would love the extra ten minutes.”
In the end, I acquiesced to the majority decision. BUT – it was at this moment that I began a zero-tolerance rule for going overtime in a session. It had always been a spa policy to stay on schedule – but from then on I approached strictly adhering to this rule as literally saving the life of my therapists’ careers.
Now, circling back to therapists who routinely extend their services 10 or 15 or more minutes beyond the advertised time of a massage appointment… The sobering negative consequences to adding ten minutes of time to a service that so alarmed me as the spa owner are the exact same as when a therapist CHOOSES to give an extra 10 minutes of massage to their clients. You are giving away, for free, 166 massages a year. You are unnecessarily adding the physical strain of performing TWO MONTHS of massages to your already exhausting yearly tally – again, without being compensated.
Even adding just 5 minutes of massage to a service over the course of one year equates to 4
weeks of performing 5 massages a day, four days a week FOR FREE.
As a spa owner, I had other reasons for enforcing the strict adherence to service time beyond keeping my therapists from burning out. I had to consider the other ramifications of consistently granting extra massage to clients.
How Running Overtime Affects Clients and Coworkers
First, it is unfair to those therapists who adhere to the session time limits. Clients who receive a bonus ten minutes from one therapist, and then on their next visit are treated by a different therapist who follows the session time policy, will feel negatively towards those who adhered to the advertised session duration. This is especially true when clients who are friends come in together for services and one gets a bonus ten minutes and one does not.
And always going overtime invariably leads to being late for the next service making the next client have to wait – which creates a snowball effect in longer and longer wait times as the day progresses. The frustration of running behind schedule is compounded if the client has a following service. The therapist giving the bonus minutes has now inconvenienced other clients and other therapists – forcing them to go over time with their services if they are to give the full 60 minutes to the client.
What is more, all spas have rules about an employee giving a client “extra product” free of
charge or even changing the service – upgrading it to a more expensive experience without
permission to do so.
One might argue that a massage therapist is only cutting into the “down-time” between services that is their own to do with as they will. But while the therapist is on the clock, that down time does not exist to use at their whim or solely for their own advantage.
Why Time Between Massage Appointments Matters
Within those 15 minutes the spa expects you to:
- have a final word with the client where you are to discuss at home therapy, products,
and when they should come in for another session - prepare the room for the next client
- restock linens and supplies
- clean/restock changing and waiting areas
- make notes about the treatment that was just performed
- PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY RECOVER from the session just completed before heading into the next client. This includes using the restroom as needed, hydrating, and taking a moment to get off of your feet.
Another important use for the 15 minutes between clients is as a grace period for those times when you need a little more time with the client, or they take a very long time to come out of the room, or they had a large number of questions for you after the massage finished, etc.
Trying to squeeze all of the above tasks into the 15-minute period between guests is a major reason therapists who want to give their clients additional treatment time often find
themselves running behind schedule and starting subsequent appointments late.
The proper use of the 15 minutes between clients is vitally important to the smooth operation of the spa and the health of the therapist. So, as an owner – I do not applaud the therapist who gives extra time as “caring more about the client” or “going above and beyond” by putting extra work into making a client happy. I would admonish them for creating problems for me and my front desk in dealing with upset clients who feel cheated or had to wait, for often causing clients and therapists to run behind schedule, and for being unfair to other therapists by offering extra services free of charge.
Setting Boundaries in Your Private Massage Practice
Of course, if a therapist has their own practice, the spa and medical office rules that I
mentioned in this article do not apply, nor do they have to worry about other therapists – only whether they are making their next client wait. I would still strongly recommend staying within the advertised duration of your sessions. In addition to the compelling reason that you are adding years of wear and tear to your body, all of those clients will come to have an expectation of a 60 minute session really being 75 minutes, so if you decide to actually give them the advertised duration of a session for whatever reason one day – they will feel cheated and not thank you for it.
A Practical Schedule for a 60-Minute Massage Appointment
If you have your own practice and feel you MUST give a client more than the advertised session duration, try to use the extra time giving very low impact massage (like a scalp massage) or spend that extra time in discussion about what they just received and what they could do upon leaving the treatment.
If you are someone who regularly gives 10-15 minutes extra treatment time to your clients, I hope that what I have written has struck a chord in you. I know that it will not be easy to re-educate your clients who have become accustomed to paying for a one-hour session but have always received 75 minutes from you. Below is a sample treatment schedule that can help you stay within your time boundaries.
Start the session timer by bringing the client into the room.
Take a few minutes to do an intake with the client.
Step out of the room for a minute or so to allow the client to undress and get upon the table.
Re-enter the treatment room and spend approximately 55 minutes performing the massage. If the intake process has taken longer than usual, you should still conclude the massage when 60 minutes have elapsed from the time you brought the client into the treatment room. Remember that the time you spend listening to your client, discussing their health concerns, and understanding their needs is just as much a part of what you contribute to their well-being as the massage strokes themselves. Your client has purchased 60 minutes of your professional expertise, and, in practical terms, they have reserved the treatment room and your undivided attention for that 60-minute period. Importantly, the client will receive more than 60 minutes of care. Once the massage concludes at the 60-minute mark, there are still essential steps to complete with the client. The transition out of the treatment is part of the overall experience and should be handled with the same care, presence, and professionalism as the treatment itself.
Spend a minute bringing the client back to awareness, make suggestions about getting off the table so as not to be dizzy when they stand, and ask if they have any questions about what they have just received.
Step outside the room to let the client get dressed.
When the client comes out of the room, spend a couple minutes discussing products and future appointments.
As you can see – the client has spent at least 65 minutes of your time, leaving you with 10
minutes to reset the room, reset yourself, and to do any cleaning/stocking tasks that need
attention.
Protect Your Body and Your Massage Career
I would like to leave you with this sobering thought to reinforce how important remaining on schedule is for your health:
If you give 10 extra minutes of massage to all of your clients IN FIVE YEARS TIME YOU WILL HAVE ADDED AN ENTIRE YEAR OF EXTRA MASSAGE WEAR AND TEAR TO YOUR BODY for which you have not been compensated, and which translates into subtracting a year of massage from the life of your career.
Think about what those hours represent in terms of physical effort, recovery, and time that could have been spent caring for yourself.
Giving clients excellent care does not require giving away your time. It requires professional skill, attention to their needs, clear communication, and respect for the boundaries that allow you to continue practicing.
Your body is your most important professional instrument. Protecting it is one of the best investments you can make in the longevity of your massage career.
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