Massage Therapy Business Ethics

Why did massage mills like the Envy place grow across America? I think it's the convenience factor, but are places like it really ethical? All the forums I have read say that the massages are mediocre to reasonable but the chains try to up-sale the client at every corner. So where do they cross the line in ethics?

Every massage business has a duty both to its employees and its clients. The first duty is to the client to provide a professional service. Every therapist that does not gives all of us a tainted reputation. The second duty of the massage business owner is to treat their employees fairly. Low pay, for example $12 per hour, is nearly slavery. It's not ethical to take $60 for a massage and cut out the person doing the work by that far. The lighting, creams, candles, and tea do not cost that much, and after many thousands of dollars and countless hours of schooling we owe it to our body workers to pay them well.

So what would be ethical with clients? For the client, it's your duty to provide them with the very best that you can do. They should feel that you're attentive and that you truly care about the service you're providing. If you're in this profession first to get rich and somewhere in the distant second to help people, it's time for a priority check. The money has to be a secondary motivating factor when working with people.

How about business ethics? As a business owner it is your duty to first make sure that your workers have everything they need to do their service well. If you're in it for the money, again you're doing it wrong. This is America, and we have to get back to remembering that the people we work with and work on are our brothers, sisters, fathers, and mothers etcetera. The business plan should include your employees in reasonable compensation. If you offer benefits, obviously you have to receive a slightly larger portion of the fee. However, if you do not offer benefits it is your duty to pay the employees a living wage, and one respectful of their training and skills.

I think the ethics of Enron and Wall street cannot prevail in our line of work. The more people we help, the better the quality of life will be for all of us in this nation and world.