How we take care of our staff

We believe it is the responsibility of the business to offer stable wages. When a therapist is paid per service or by commission, the business is asking the therapist to take on the risk of not being booked. If a therapist is not booked, or has a cancellation, they often end up making less that day. Urban Massage chose to move away from commission based employment models in 2019.

Since then, massage therapists at Urban Massage have been paid per hour they are clocked in; not per service or by commission.

In 2023, we chose to move to a non-gratuity based model because along with the hourly pay model, it contributes to providing a stable, predictable form of income to massage therapists. Check out our post for 5 Things to Know about Tipping for our reasons why.

In addition to a high, stable hourly wage, we also offer continuing education benefits and paid time off.

We believe that this pay structure is supportive in helping us work as a team to provide our clients with the high quality care we strive for.

In addition to offering a stable, predictable form of income to our staff, we are equally focused on a work environment that is set up to decrease massage therapist burnout. Associated Bodywork and Massage Professionals reports that the burn out rate within our industry has been estimated at 50% to 88% within the first 3 to 5 years after graduation.

• We ensure sufficient turn-around time in between massage sessions. Massage appointments are never performed back-to-back with no break in between.

• We encourage healthy eating and hydration habits, stretching and self-care throughout the day.

• Full-time massage therapists at Urban Massage do not perform more than 20 hours of massage per week.

We hope that helps give you an idea of some of the ways we focus on taking care of our team.