Pros
* Provides immediate employment for CMTs out of school with 500 hours. * Raises the minimum standard of education in California. * Sets therapeutic massage standards promoting positive public opinion of massage.
Cons
* "Cheapens" massage as a commodity by lowering cost to just $39/hr for members. * Negatively impacts the massage profession throughout the community by forcing other therapists to lower their rates to be competitive. This in turn forwards in the public mind that massage therapy is not as valuable as it really is. * Doesn't pay therapists enough to provide a decent living for a family on their income alone. * No medical benefits. * No vacation pay. * No overtime pay. * Will fire therapists needing to file Work Comp to avoid increased State fees. * Will fire therapists at senior pay and hire new therapists at beginner pay to improve profit margin. * Will create false stories of therapist misconduct to avoid paying increased UI rate when firing therapists. * Will sue therapists if clients follow therapist. * Most owners are not massage therapists and have no sense or sensitivity for providing a work environment that supports the special needs of their therapists. * The single greatest stressor for clients is dealing with membership contract issues. * The 2nd greatest stressor for clients is dealing with inept, poorly trained front desk staff which has a high turn-over rate. * Puts too much pressure on front desk staff, and in some cases, massage therapists, to meet sale/membership quotas or suffer penalties including termination rather than reinforce performance positively. This takes away from the calm, healing atmosphere that should be promoted in environments like massage clients should have. * Doesn't pay front desk staff and therapists enough to have pride and commitment in working for Massage Envy. * Doesn't compensate front desk staff for the amount of stress and list of duties they're subjected to. * Forbids clients from tipping therapists directly, and instead, requires them to give front desk staff tips. Front desk staff are paid so little they have too much motive to not try to pocket tips, and there's no effective system in place to prevent that. Often times front desk staff are alone up front, and know where to get out of camera view, so they can pocket tips. This has lead to therapists mistrusting front desk staff, suspicion, tension, and even promotes a hostile work environment between therapists and front desk staff.
