educators. According to Sokolow, the service sales alone
from the new program’s first six graduates in June 2019
was nearly $60,000.
In addition to tweaking their apprentice program—a
combination of both traditional onboarding and ongoing
education—Allen and Sokolow reworked how the company
educates its employees about the spa’s “service cycle” and
revamped each department’s training manuals. Every
manual features the story of milk + honey, the company’s
mission and its expectations for employees. Each version of
the manual then features the specific department’s unique
training list for new employees. “The new hire can see
exactly what their two to three days of training is going to
look like,” says Sokolow.
“We attempted to find solutions, but we weren’t
really hitting the nail on the head. We wanted
somebody to focus on this area and make it a
better experience.”
— TERESA SOKOLOW, Regional Director of Operations, milk + honey spa