We know the massage profession and, as a whole, it's not pretty. Most massage jobs leave massage therapists underpaid, undervalued and unfulfilled. Seems tragic for such a caring profession, no?
Stop us if you've heard this one before:
A massage employer wants you to work as an "independent contractor" even though they dictate all of your hours, rates, book clients and provide all massage equipment and supplies. They want you hanging out at the business even when no clients are booked, just in case a client walks in. They don't have a lot of business, so most of the time you don't get paid. Or worse...
The employer is so busy that you are repeatedly overworked. Even though your schedule is full, your paychecks are still surprisingly small. You learned about what happens when you are overworked and eventually it happens - you get injured. Once you can no longer work they simply fire you instead of giving you time to heal. On to the next therapist for them to repeat the cycle.
Sure, you could work for yourself. But perhaps you've noticed that that is no small feat...and that your massage school really hasn't prepared you for such a big step. Even the best massage schools tend to fail in this critical area.
Still, many therapists attempt to open their own businesses. Some succeed, but most barely make enough to scrape by. Often they give up and get a job doing something else.
In any case, this was not what was promised when you started massage school. When you imagined graduating, you thought you were going to help people and make a good living doing it. What happened?
When we opened Relax Blacksburg in 2015, we knew we wanted to provide a better way. In fact, we were determined to do so. The current massage profession is filled with either exploitative employers or self-employed therapists that are broke.
Our success proves that is doesn't have to be that way.
So what do we do that's different?
First and foremost, we classify our therapists as
employees, instead of the industry standard that treats them as
independent contractors. This simple change allows them to keep more of
their hard-earned money because we split the taxes with them. Plus calling someone an independent contractor when you are really treating them like an employee is illegal (just ask the IRS).
We provide great pay that's broken down into an hourly wage, commission and tips. We do it this way so the therapist gets paid well even if they have a slow week.
We also offer our full-time employees 15 days paid time off, full health and dental benefits, paid chiropractic care twice a month, a free 90 minute massage every month, plus paid continuing education and a matching 401(k) plan. All of these benefits are, unfortunately, unheard of in our profession.
Finally, we make
sure not to overwork our therapists. We give them at least a half-hour break
between massages and make sure they do not average more than 20 hours of
massage per week. This helps prevent the therapists from burning out or
becoming injured.
Massage therapists work very hard as it is a very demanding profession. They spend their careers giving to others - and we wanted to make sure to give back.
It is simple to us - a happier therapist gives our clients better massages, which means our clients are happier.
This provides a win for everyone involved.
We do not currently have any openings, but we are always interested in meeting new therapists for when a position becomes available.
We prefer experienced therapists with a proven record of client results and retention. You will also need to be dependable, always on time, kind, courteous, have a strong attention to detail, and be a great team player.
We are willing to train recent graduates if we feel you will be a good fit for our team.
If you are interested in working for us, please contact us, send us your resume, and include why you think you'd be a good fit for our
team.
We are very busy, so no calls or pop ins please.