14/06/2024
This was written by an alumni. It is still relevant today. - Ruthie
My school created an alumni group and after a Massage Envy recruiter advertised on it, this topic came up, so I’m resharing this from sometime last year
*edited for updates*
“After 4 years of being employed by various types companies, I’m becoming outspoken about what I see as a growing problem in the industry: chain spas and companies that copy their business model.
As a therapist who is passionate about this work and the industry as a whole, I’m asking should you decide to go get a massage, please, do not go to a chain spa or any other business that employs therapists as W2- as opposed to independent contractors, renting out rooms, etc... Find local, self employed therapists or independent contractors (and if you have a therapist you see, ask them how much they get paid) The prices are roughly the same ($80-$100), often times cheaper, around $60, but the quality is usually much better. Self employed therapists tend to work fewer hours, leaving them with much more energy to put toward giving a high quality massage.
Most therapists in chain spas and other similarly run companies make only $15-$20 out of the $100 you pay per hour session, and we are not paid downtime in most states. We give 20-30 hours of massage a week, sometimes as much as 40 and in certain settings like chiropractic or other health care offices, we don’t get tips to supplement our income (not to mention the absurd tax rates we pay on tips 🤮).
The work we do is exhausting. It’s not fluff for us, even when it’s fluff (aka relaxation only) for you. We sweat, we get sore, we hurt constantly and bringing your business to chains makes it much harder for good quality therapists to be able to start their own businesses and thrive on their own. These massive companies force the vast majority of us into jobs where we are over worked, under paid, under appreciated and often times facing hostile work environments from managers who do not understand or care how physically, mentally, and emotionally draining massaging for so many hours is. The biggest issue is that we are constantly pressured into doing mostly deep pressure work when many therapists aren’t built for it. The reality is, people generally do not need deep pressure massages- they need specific ‘deep tissue’ techniques that are often done at just a medium pressure, and much more effective than deep pressure alone. But these businesses create environments that make it impossible to properly educate clients on the difference and force therapists to work at bone breaking pressures to ensure they get repeat clientele and decent tips. This has personally happened to me working at my first chain spa, where I tried to educate my clients and do deep tissue properly, and for the first couple months had very poor client retention and tips despite successfully releasing the muscles nearly every time. Eventually I said f**k it and switched to deep pressure and my income doubled in a month at my body’s expense.
The average span of a therapists’ career is 4-5 years. That’s it. Most retire from overuse injuries because they are so over worked. Spas like Hand and Stone and Elements were created by massage therapists and phyiscal therapists, but the franchise owners that run them are generally from business management backgrounds and know nothing about the workload we have. Massage Envy is the worst about this, followed by Hand and Stone (at least in TX, I hear they’re better in CA).
We go into this industry with a passion for helping people ease their pain and improve their quality of life. We go in with a desire to have more control over our careers, our direction, and our schedule while still making a decent living and not being treated like cash cows. 4 years in this industry has taught me being employed means being taken for granted 9/10 times and being worked to exhaustion/injury just to make $30k a year(average). I’ve had many injuries from my work, from throwing out my back, to dislocating ribs, hips, and other bones in my hands and forearms, muscle spasms and strains, migraines, pinched nerves and neuropathy and I worked through them all. It killed my love for my career for a long time. I’ve worked 7 jobs and only my first job and my current one actually gave any consideration to my work load and made me feel appreciated (shoutout to Vallejo Chiropractic, they are wonderful and you should totally go to them if you live in the area).
This always weighs heavily on my heart and I wanted to shed a light on the problem these large corporations are causing for this industry and the negative impact they are having on tens of thousands of therapists lives. I know the franchise owners aren’t all bad people-many of them also suffer from the franchise business model and are just trying to succeed, but it’s ruining this industry and a lot of careers in a country that’s supposed to be built on small business and personal success. I’d appreciate it if anyone would share this, either on fb, or word of mouth. If you know anyone who gets massages, share with them how going to a private therapist is so much better for them as well as our industry.
Shop local, shop small business. It’s more worth for your money and better for your conscious knowing your therapist is not being taken advantage of.
Thank you.”
