Applying staff access levels in your software system can be one of the trickier aspects of salon management to master. Access to client databases and your salon appointment scheduler can be a touchy subject, and it can be challenging to implement the perfect balance between security and trust. Staff access is, ultimately, a personal choice. However, below are some important things to consider before deciding how your staff access levels should be structured.
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Start With The Foundation: Trust
As a business owner, the level of trust you feel with your staff will be the foundation that dictates how much access they are granted in your system.
Perhaps all new staff members start off with basic access to the system (the ability to book appointments and view the appointment screen for example), but upon promotion are granted the right to see client details and salon reports.
Although often an instinctive feeling, there are several ways to increase trust levels between management and staff. Some of these include:
- Holding regular meetings
- Listening to staff members’ queries
- Allowing your team to be autonomous and responsible in their work
A strong culture of trust will make it easier for you to decide on a solid access structure, and will also alleviate any worries you may have towards certain situations (a staff member leaving with client details for example).
Transparency
Transparency often goes hand in hand with trust, and both are essential principles to consider when deciding on staff access levels. Deciding how transparent you want to be with your team should be a priority.
Some salon owners want their staff to learn all about the inner workings of the business, in which case, allowing access to financial reports, cash ups and managerial sections of your system is an advantage.
On the contrary, if you feel uncomfortable with staff knowing too much about your salon, it may be beneficial to lockdown certain areas of sensitive data within the system.
There are pros and cons to being both totally open or totally secretive with your team, but focusing on how much you trust your staff members will allow you to make the right decisions regarding transparency.
Autonomy
Another important area of salon ownership to consider is how autonomous you want your team to be. Empowering your team to think like leaders can be extremely beneficial to personal and professional growth. However, that too can also come with difficulties.
To decide how much autonomy and access a team member should be granted, speak to your staff individually, gauge what kind of responsibility they expect to have. Match this with what responsibility you expect an employee to have. While your expectations may be different, consider both sides of the coin, and come to an agreement. Giving more responsibility to your team can be extremely rewarding for everyone, and doesn’t have to come at the cost of your privacy or authority.
For example, if you have a beauty therapist who is excellent with words, perhaps you should give her a little more access than usual to your marketing suite; or maybe you see great potential in your receptionist and would like her to start pulling salon reports. Don’t be afraid to have a chat with your staff and work out how their skills can benefit the salon. As well as alleviating your own workload, giving extra jobs like this to your team instills a feeling of responsibility and the chance to grow professionally.
Seniority
A key reference for setting software staff access levels should be how long they’ve been with you, and how senior their role is. If an employee is being promoted and has been an employee of the salon for years, their loyalty and trust should be duly rewarded.
As your team progresses in each of their chosen trades, it can be easy to forget areas of development that they may want to explore. Try not to forget this. As your staff move up the ranks, it’s important to allow them more responsibility and access to your system.
By granting senior staff members more responsibility to handle extra financial and admin-related parts of the business (such as salon reports or rostering tools), it shows that you appreciate and value their contribution, benefiting everyone in the long-term.
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In Summary
While setting software staff access levels is, ultimately, a personal choice, it’s good to have some guidelines before setting your own. When your team knows you’ve put genuine thought and knowledge into setting them, they’ll be more accepting and understanding of your decisions. One last thing: remind yourself not to get overly stressed about getting it right the first time around. Staff access levels are a fluid security measure that can be amended at any time to align with your business and salon ownership practices.
Top Tip! If you feel like the System Access Levels in your Phorest cloud salon software and need some help, you can drop us an email on togetherwegrow@phorest.com, or take a look at our support team’s handy article!
Have you got any tips on the topic? How did you go about this in your salon? Let us know either in the comments below or tweet us @ThePhorestWord! (Pssst! We’re on Instagram too!)
Thanks for reading! #LetsGrow
Featured imaged shot on location of Architeqt Salon, in Philadelphia. © 2019 Phorest Salon Software.
