Following Sandy Chong’s longstanding 14 years of service, the Australian Hairdressing Council’s new Chief Executive Office, Melissa Kalan, shares her insights on her initial focus with this important organisation.

Three months in since Melissa’s appointment to continue the legacy and progress the AHC has made in the industry, Melissa’s focus is set on some of the most critical workforce challenges facing the industry while she shares her insights and observations based on her experience so far.

Bookmarking National Skills Week from August 19 to 25, Melissa’s attendance over this week was to gain connections and represent the hairdressing industry across this instrumental week. This was key with COSBOA (the Council of Small Business Organisations Australia) and in continuing the Parliament House representation that her predecessor Sandy worked hard to achieve.

In addition to this front of mind advocacy, WorldSkills representation is a key pillar for the hairdressing industry to be involved in, with Melissa acknowledging the potential that’s possible to showcase how our industry offers opportunities to compete and travel the world.

“A 19-year-old stylist and AHC member, Hannah Gerritsen, is going off to France and competing in international WorldSkills, which is a great achievement for one of our salon members,” Melissa said. “I met the CEO and GM of WorldSkills in Canberra and they are very keen for our sector to be well represented in our industry and to give our salons the opportunity to be on a global stage to attract people into hairdressing which is a big focus at the moment.”

“The last six weeks has been great for me to connect to as many members as possible, going through the Facebook groups and reading social media comments and understanding their pain points as well as the opportunity to connect in person with members at events like Schmoozefest and Hair Festival,” she said.

“The writing is on the wall with the current pressure on small business owners and our role is to try and address these pressures and help attract people to the sector. Other things I’m focusing on are getting talent into the industry and sharing more stories like this WorldSkills story that are great for careers advisors to tell young people about the opportunities in our industry.”

Competing, traveling the world and being recognised on a global stage are all attractive propositions for young people seeking out new careers and to have hairdressing continually profiled will help to give our hard-working salons the voice and representation they deserve.

“Getting talent into the industry has long-been a focus of the AHC but it’s also through sharing stories like Hannah’s journey that are great for careers advisors and telling young people about the possibilities for our industry beyond the salon,” Melissa said.

Connecting in person with members is another area Melissa hopes to further focus on, while also addressing the rising number of sole operators and how they are represented in a forever evolving industry.

“70 per cent of our industry is comprised of sole traders and there are lots of strong headwinds on small business operators.  We want to make them feel listened to. Like business owners they are also subject to inflation, and increasing interest rates triggering pressure on their own hip pocket as well as in the overall business where we are affected by a lower discretionary spend.”

Coming from hospitality Melissa is well aware of the similar challenges faced in hospitality and hairdressing, all exacerbated by inflation and cost of living pressures.

For the consumer, hair and beauty is lumped in together with six per cent of discretionary spending going to hair and beauty, and as an industry we compete with luxury goods and fashion of around four to five per cent. According to the latest data, the bulk on luxury travel is 23 per cent and entertainment  is 15 per cent. It’s all about trying to get a bigger piece of the pie where we are currently falling short.

“When we are facing tough headwinds like this, it’s about helping businesses make small progress, looking at the business in a different way, where to make savings and boost top line revenue, ultimately to help our clients survive in this tough economic climate we are in,” Melissa said. “It’s good to be aware as business owners, lower discretionary spend affects how we should look at our business and the little things that, if we make a few small changes, become the big things.”  

“My goal is to make progress in these areas – when you are facing tough headwinds like this, it’s important to look at how you can grow top line revenue – areas I help to members to survive and grow,” Melissa added. “Some people are charging for cancellations or being hit with last minute no shows and  other hairdresser’s are not charging. There’s not an easy answer but it needs to be carefully navigated – consumers do come around to these changes over time. No shows and cancellations can really affect revenue.”

“The changing patterns of consumer behaviour is universal to all industries and where I came from gives great insight into this. People want to be able to pivot and not over commit. Lead times have shrunk and people are more cautious.”

We are also facing the lack in confidence not to book things too far out. That’s a ripple effect in every industry and consumers are wanting more flexibility or clarity around terms and conditions.

“Consumers have the expectation of losing their money with a hotel cancelling within 24 hours – in hairdressing it’s still an area that’s not widely accepted,” Melissa said.

Considering a hotel room is a relatively static space without one-on-one service, educating the wider industry and consumers that hairdressing needs to have the same levels of protection to avoid revenue loss is significant. Melissa believes our stance and voice on all of these issues need to be consistent.

From what Melissa has seen so far, HR support is at the top of the current business salon owner’s needs, especially legal advice around HR issues.

Most importantly what the AHC is focused to maintain is the sense of community within members, as well as offers like on-demand legal advice. Being able to post a question and hear and learn from others is very important to the long-term collective goals of the AHC.

With a mission to bolster business training to independent operators and deliver more value to the members, the AHC is continually looking forward to changing landscape of the industry and to also move with freelancer and rent-a-chair concepts and make sure everyone is included and well-informed every step of the business journey.

For more information visit www.theahc.org.au

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