Medusa, Scotland’s fastest growing salon group, celebrated their annual awards last night for the first time in three years. Managing Director, Colin McAndrew kicked off proceedings at Ghillie Dhu, Edinburgh, by thanking his team for their unwavering commitment to each other and the business throughout the pandemic.

The salon group, added two new salons to their portfolio one month before lockdown in March 2020 making this the first time in two and half years that all 86 members of the team had come to celebrate. The business also underwent full salon refurbishments in all six spaces during lockdown, and since reopening are the only salon in the UK to enrol eight members in the Wella Master Colour Program. In the last year they introduced free period products for all team members and launched a Salon Safe campaign, highlighting their open door policy for any females that feel unsafe or vulnerable on the streets of Edinburgh.

Medusa are a brand changing the salon culture and their commitment doesn't stop there. During the evening Colin announced their new Fertility policy. Having recently undergone two rounds of fertility treatments with his wife, Colin has personally experienced the heartache, emotions and physical commitment that goes into such treatment. As a result, Medusa is now offering flexible working and two weeks full pay to any team member that undertake fertility treatment.

He commented “We have an incredible team at Medusa. We consistently invest in their professional development but during the pandemic I appreciated just how important it is to also invest in my team as people. Having experienced fertility treatment first hand, I want to help others that go through it also. Supporting them financially as well as creating an open culture in the salon will hopefully help lessen the struggles of such treatment.”

And Medusa’s commitment to addressing the imbalance of issues women have to contend with on a daily basis continues by educating themselves on the menopause. Colin and three members of his team have completed a ‘Menopause in the Workplace’ course and an expert is booked in with each salon to help educate the team on the subject. “25% of menopausal women consider leaving the workplace due to the menopause, and one in every 10 women will hand in their notice. Over 50% of our population will experience the menopause, 90% of the Medusa team are female and 84% of our clientele is female so why is this subject still considered taboo in the workplace? I hope that by opening up the conversation and changing the salon culture we can better support more females going through the menopause and prevent them leaving the hairdressing industry unnecessarily,” said Colin.

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or email rachael@wonderhousecreative.com.