Recently my wife and her girlfriend spent 2 days a very popular spa St. Anne’s Country Inn and Spa. It primarily caters to women, although men and couples are also welcome. This has been a yearly ritual for these 2 ladies — a chance for a little personal “me” time — to get away from kids and responsibilities with a good friend.
Overall the visit was very enjoyable — but one particular experience raised an interesting question.
When she went for one of the treatments, she discovered the person administering the treatment was a male. She was surprised to find herself in a state of near undress while a male administered the treatment — without being asked if that was okay with her. The session was professional in all regards and she reported the quality of his work was also excellent.
However, that nagging discomfort of not being asked if she was alright with the situation remained.
Upon reviewing the website she discovered the following prominently displayed under their FAQ section
SPECIAL REQUESTS FOR THERAPISTS
Ste. Anne’s Spa employs both male and female professionally trained therapists. We are committed to the principle of Employment Equity, which means we will provide equal treatment in employment and will not discriminate on the basis of race, colour, religion, or creed, sex, sexual orientation, marital status, physical handicap, age, ethnic origin, or political belief, or other grounds prohibited by Provincial or Federal Legislation. Therefore to protect the rights of our employees we are unable to accommodate any special requests for therapists.
While the spa may have the best intentions for their employees — which is a good thing — where exactly does this policy consider the customer?
My wife is not a prude in any way — but not having the opportunity to indicate whether she was comfortable with a male attendant seemed very odd. It certainly didn’t make her feel like a “valued” customer. This policy seems out of alignment with their own brand promise as taken from the front page of their own website.
Far too many of us neglect what our body and spirits need most: relaxation, revitalization and a chance to heal from the intensity of our daily routines. Ste. Anne’s philosophy focuses on creating an atmosphere to help rebuild your strength, recapture your energy, and reflect on what’s truly important in your life.
After all, it would be very hard to relax and enjoy a session if you were uncomfortable with the person administering the treatment — regardless of whether you or I agree with their reasons.
Yet the spa has taken the position that the customer has no choice. Shouldn’t a paying customer have some input. Shouldn’t they have the option to decline service from a male if they were uncomfortable.
What if she had been someone with strong religious beliefs, or possibly overweight, or potentially having had surgery — possibly a mastectomy. All of these might have caused significant embarrassment or discomfort to the patron to have their treatment performed by a male.
One the other hand — some women would love the idea :).
The spa may not be prepared to have guests request certain employees — but surely deciding on a male versus female should not be out of order.
My Perspective: First it is a strange policy to place so prominently on the website. This suggested that it has been an issue in the past — possibly certain therapists were more “in demand” than others which led to scheduling difficulties or disappointment by returning customers that their favourite therapist wasn’t available.
But isn’t that the job of every great employee — to build loyalty by creating a service experience that causes customers to request them by name.
Wouldn’t it be better to “recognize” great employees that have encouraged customer loyalty and then train those who need support achieving the higher service level.
This policy seems to be going in another direction entirely and definitely isn’t “on-brand”. Maybe I am missing something — but this policy is focused on the organization and doesn’t inspire employee excellence or customer loyalty.
A bad policy to start — and it sets a tone for how customers are viewed by the organization across the entire experience. Is it “on-brand” or “off-brand”?
Do you have any policies that aren’t focused on the customer and aligned with your brand promise?
Dear Bill:
Like many policies in the workplace, this policy was developed in response to an ongoing challenge. Here’s what happened. At one point in our history, we did accommodate gender preferences for our guests. Most of the time, this wasn’t a problem. However, it became a problem when an employee called in sick, requiring us to reschedule their treatments with another therapist, who might not be of the same gender. Again, this wasn’t usually a problem until the guest arrived with the expectation that they had been promised a therapist of a particular gender, and now they had the choice of not having their treatment, or having their treatment with a therapist of the wrong gender. In the vast majority of cases this is where the problem started in that certain guests would have a very public melt down over the gender of their therapist, which was an uncomfortable situation for the guest and the therapist. After many years of trying to find a solution to this problem we came to the conclusion that we had to go back to the point at which the expectation was set and ask ourselves, is the gender of the therapist something we can guarantee? Is this an expectation that we can always fulfill? The answer was no, unless we only hired therapists of a particular gender, which is clearly against the law in Ontario. So, although it is not a perfect solution, we now will accommodate requests for a particular gender, and we will make our best effort to deliver on this promise, but we cannot guarantee the gender of the therapist, and we do not offer it as an option unless it is specifically brought up by the guest. Having said that, I personally consider a massage therapist to be a professional. In fact, in Ontario, Registered Massage Therapists are governed by the Massage Therapy Act under the Regulated Health Professions Act. As such we follow very strict protocols when it comes to the draping of the body during a treatment so that we meet (and in some cases exceed) the standards set by the governing body for Massage Therapists. Therefore, there aren’t situations where a guest having a massage finds “herself in a state of near undress”; they are always covered and they are always with a trained and qualified professional. Furthermore, prior to the commencement of a massage, the guest completes a consent form so the gender of the therapist is in fact something that the guest is aware of in advance. Again, from my point of view, the gender of an RMT is no different than the gender of a doctor. They are qualified and professionally trained. My biggest concern would be that they are a good therapist, not whether they are male or female (any more than whether they are black or white, or Christian or Muslim, other forms of discrimination prohibited in Ontario). Based on your question; “What if she had been someone with strong religious beliefs, or possibly overweight, or potentially having had surgery — possibly a mastectomy. All of these might have caused significant embarrassment or discomfort to the patron to have their treatment performed by a male.” the booking conversation might go something like this: “So, I have a massage available at 2:30 with Mike or Mary – do you have a preference? Mary, OK, now Mary is Jewish, and I see here that you are of the Muslim faith, is Mary’s faith going to present a problem for you? What about your weight? Mary is very thin and she may have an issue if you are overweight?” I’m sure you can see where I am going with this. I also feel that a male therapist who meets the standards prescribed by law is untitled to employment without the risk of discrimination because of his gender. However, in an effort to balance the rights of the guest with the rights of the employee, we have developed this policy. Again, if this is a concern, a guest can make their preference known at the time of booking and we will make our best effort to accommodate their preference, or offer them another treatment. You go on to pose this question; “Shouldn’t they have the option to decline service from a male if they were uncomfortable.” Absolutely. Any guest has the option of declining a treatment for any reason prior to the commencement of a treatment or at any time during the treatment. We have never forced a guest to have a treatment. I do hope this helps to address your concerns, and I would be more than happy to speak with your wife or yourself if you like. Take care and thank you for your interest in my company and our policies. Jim Corcoran, Owner, Ste. Anne’s Spa.