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Customer demand is high. Demand for jobs? Not so much.

Prior to reopening, the owners of Ten Nail Bar's two salons in Detroit were worried about customer demand.  Would people be clamoring to get their nails done after months in quarantine?
Co-owner Kelli Coleman started by opening just the salon in New Center in mid-June, concerned that there wouldn't be enough appointments to reopen both locations.
She was worried about customers' hesitancy, as nail salons were among the last businesses that Gov. Gretchen Whitmer allowed to reopen during the pandemic because of the close contact needed to perform the services.
Tatiana Johnson, 22, Roseville gives Blake Grannum, 36, of Detroit a manicure at the Ten Nail bar at the New Center location in Detroit on July 7, 2020. Masks are now required and plexiglass was installed at each station to separate customers from employees.
Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press
"The reality is that this has been more challenging from a talent perspective, and being able to get able manicurists to come back and have a full staff," said Coleman.
Coleman surveyed her staff prior to reopening and found the manicurists lacked childcare options, were concerned for their health, and while Coleman can't say for sure, she expects another reason that she's been able to bring back only about half her staff is that they would rather remain on unemployment benefits. Benefits can near $1,000 a week when factoring in the extra $600 coming from the federal government.
Those concerns are shared by business owners and workers across Michigan, especially for companies with hourly workers.
In many cases, demand has more closely matched the number of workers employers have brought back. 
"It's been in lockstep," said Sandy Baruah, chief executive of the Detroit Regional Chamber, which represents businesses across southeast Michigan.
Still, it's a major challenge businesses face when reopening.
"Everyone is trying to feel their way for the demand of a product or a service," he said. "That’s much more art than science."
Businesses have to balance their own constraints, whether it's how many employees they can bring back while still observing social distancing rules, or how many employees they can afford to pay after a months-long shutdown, with the limitations of their workers. Employees may not be able to come back to work because they don't have childcare options or are taking care of someone who is vulnerable to the virus.
Aujanae Taylor, 23, Detroit works as a manicurist at the Ten Nail bar at the New Center location in Detroit and wipes down a pedicure station after a customer leaves on July 7, 2020. Taylor says she agreed to come back to work after the state reopened small businesses because she felt like it was safer since Gov. Whitmer didn't rush to reopen.
Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press
Employers are taking a variety of approaches to getting employees back to work, by offering bonuses or raises or entering into the state's WorkShare program so employees can continue to receive some unemployment benefits if the demand and hours aren't what they used to be.

With demand high, businesses looking to hire

Many are hiring. Coleman said she's looking for 10 to 15 manicurists. So is David Coughlin, the owner of Lucky Hair Company Salon Spa & Boutique in Canton. He's hired seven new employees recently and is looking to hire another five.
"Demand on the business is so high right now," Coughlin said. While only a few employees didn't return to work, he still has the space to hire more, even after he modified the salon to meet social distancing guidelines and observe the best safety practices. Coughlin eliminated the lobby and reconfigured the space so employees are 10 feet apart.
Coughlin also decided to give a $1,000 incentive to employees to come back to work — new employees get a $1,000 signing bonus — while front-desk staff gets a bonus of between $250-$500.
A divider separates guests from the front desk staff at Lucky Hair Co. Salon and Spa in Canton.
Lucky Hair Co.
"The front desk team is hourly workers, and with the $600 extra in unemployment benefits, they were making (the equivalent of) $25 an hour," he said. "That’s where the biggest challenge was."
In talking with other salons in states that were allowed to reopen prior to Michigan, Coughlin learned that it could be a challenge to bring back employees who may be making more on unemployment. An added incentive helped to entice them back to work.

Incentivizing return to work

That's the approach Jessica Hayes, co-owner of Skinphorea, a facial and acne skin bar in Royal Oak, is taking. Hayes gave her 11 employees an $8 an hour raise and a $1,000-$1,500 bonus, increasing the average hourly pay to $23-$26 an hour. 
"I have three girls and I thought of this (pay raise and bonus) as 'What would make me leave my home and be able to leave my kids?,' " said Hayes.
Hayes viewed the incentives as a way to make it easier for her staff to afford childcare, options that may have changed depending on which daycares are open.
 Businesses are thinking about such options, Baruah said.
"We don’t have school right now and daycare options are limited at best," he said, adding that he hasn't heard of any concrete proposals on how to help employees in this area.

Making more with WorkShare

One program that does seem to be working for companies, Baruah said, is the state's WorkShare program, which pays employees partial unemployment benefits to make up for being called back to work for fewer hours than before the shutdown.
Nearly 2,500 businesses in Michigan are using the program, and 87,000 state residents are receiving partial benefits, according to the state's labor department.
"We know that businesses that are even completely back to work are not at 100% capacity pre-COVID," said Jeff Donofrio, director of the Department of Labor and Economic Opportunity.
One of the changes since reopening after the Coronavirus pandemic began is that customers have their temperature checked and are now spaced out at every other station at the Ten Nail bar at the New Center location in Detroit on. July 7, 2020. Other changes since Covid-19 are cashless payments and tips for service and wearing masks.
Kimberly P. Mitchell, Detroit Free Press
For employers concerned about enticing employees to come back to work because of the $600 federal unemployment, he said employees also receive that when they're a part of the WorkShare program.
"It's a win-win," said Donofrio.
That federal benefit ends in a couple of weeks, though, something Coleman at the Ten Nail Bar is closely watching.
"We’re expecting more people to come back when it’s lifted," she said. "There are a lot of unknowns but we’re staying positive."
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