A new survey has been launched to review shifts in wages and employment in the global spa industry.

Open until 7 December, the 2022 Global Spa Compensation Survey was created by Lisa Starr, principal of Wynne Business and 36-year spa and wellness industry veteran.

The 26-question survey is the second iteration of its kind following on from the original version eight years ago.

The 2014 edition received responses from 35 countries across six continents and had its results published in the Spa Business Handbook. This year’s findings will also be published in the 2022/23 Spa Business Handbook, with results tallied by country.

The survey is designed to be answered by spa owners, directors or manager-level staff, who have an accurate working knowledge of the various pay rates and roles of their entire team of spa or wellness centre staff.

Any global spa director or regional directors participating are being asked to answer a survey for each of the countries in which they manage a property.

Starr told Spa Business what sparked the motivation behind the survey.

“For spa and wellness businesses, staff compensation is typically the largest single expense so it’s important to record it accurately. I know from my global travels around the world teaching spa management courses that standard ranges and methods of payment are often consistent throughout a country. However, there are massive variations in the relationship between payroll expense and revenue from country to country.

"To study this and consider what global standards might be, we need data.

"As an industry, we want to create workplaces that provide opportunities and a career path, without compromising the ability of the business to operate.

"A lot has changed in business operations as a result of the last few years and there's a tremendous global demand from consumers for our wellness products and services, but we have less staff than we ever did to deliver on this.

“If we’re going to grow our industry – and I believe we have the potential to do so – we need a high-level view of the economics."

To take part in the survey, please follow this link.

Starr plans to make this survey a more regular initiative and is aiming to repeat the process every two years. She’s also planning to launch a staff survey focused on job satisfaction and career growth in the off years.

“We need accurate data to develop campaigns that draw more people to join our industry,” she said, “attracting potential staff was also the impetus behind the launch of my podcast, Starrcast. In order to grow the spa and wellness industry, we need more people.”