Fact: We Brits, and indeed Americans, are not renowned for our prowess in speaking foreign languages. Another fact: over 1.7 billion people, or a quarter of the world’s population, speak English as their first or second language. Undoubtedly, my latter fact is a major influence on my former.
However, as we will all no doubt appreciate, a conversation in English is often peppered with language “interlopers” when the English language doesn’t seem to quite have the right words to communicate a particular sense of being or feeling. Many such words and phrases have over time become part of the English lexicon and one such phrase which I guarantee we have all used in the UK and beyond in recent weeks has been “déjà vu.”
Twenty-four months ago, our eyes were being opened wide to COVID-19, a new pathogen that was steadily and unrelentingly marching across the globe. The ongoing issue of Brexit that had pretty much dominated the previous two years of conversation and media coverage in the UK, mainly evaporated (certainly in most peoples’ everyday thoughts). Fast forward 12 months and the virus we thought we were beginning to control took us into a third lockdown in the UK. Fast-forward another 12 months, and the words déjà vu (unfortunately) come to mind again.
As I write, we have not gone into a lockdown in the UK, and I very much hope and pray that we will not. I simply do not think, as a nation, we could financially or emotionally afford it and there is a groundswell of resistance to do so here. But the fear that it could happen is real. The Netherlands has just gone into full lockdown again, and it is on the agenda for other European countries. The impact of this fear and rippling insecurity is already impacting many sectors, including indoor tanning.
The UK recently experienced its highest levels of COVID cases on record. Thankfully, as a result of the hugely successful vaccination programme and a concerted push for boosters, the numbers of those requiring hospitalisation is statistically low compared to the number of positive cases. However, the impact of the volume of positive cases on our workforce is significant.
A year ago, it was still unusual to hear of someone you directly knew contracting COVID. That has done a full 360-degree turn and now, everyone will know of someone – and usually many – who has recently contracted the virus. With a mandatory ten-day isolation required once you test positive, it is easy to see how the nation’s workforce is being heavily impacted.
Some businesses and salons are having to reduce open hours, the number of weekdays open or in worst case scenarios closing altogether, albeit hopefully temporarily, as they simply do not have enough staff.
Pressure is in place for government-funded financial support to help businesses through these different but equally challenging times. Perhaps understandably but frustratingly the government is standing firm on its position that there are currently no further funds available for our sector.
It is with a slight sense of relief that tanning salon owners expect the winter months to be quieter and we did, of course, have the much-needed benefit of an extended season into late 2021 when holiday travel reopened. But after two years of COVID impact, there’s no doubt any amount of lost income even in the quieter months will hurt all affected businesses big-time.
But we have been here before – this truly is a case of déjà vu – and I am pleased to say that professionally-run salons previously came back bouncing high. What will separate success and failure going forward will undoubtedly be a professional approach to the salon business environment and experience overall. Learning, planning, strategy, investment, belief and an ongoing passion for what we do will undoubtedly remain at the core of the continued success of the professional element of our industry.
What will separate success and failure going forward will undoubtedly be a professional approach to the salon business environment and experience overall.
