Cash is disappearing from your salon, but the urge to tip hasn’t. The real question is whether that goodwill still reaches your team.
Tipping used to look after itself. A client left a few coins, your stylist pocketed them, and nobody thought much about it. Now that almost everyone pays by card, tips no longer just happen. If it isn’t easy to leave one, plenty of clients simply won’t, and your team feels the gap in their take-home pay. Handling tips well, making them easy to give, fair to share and clear to everyone, has quietly become part of running a good salon. Here’s how to get it right.
Why tipping still matters, even when no one carries cash
For a lot of stylists, tips are a real part of what they earn, not a rounding error. They reward the client who’s thrilled with their colour, and they say something a payslip can’t. The trouble is that the way people pay has changed far faster than the way most salons collect tips.
When a client wants to tip but has no cash and no easy alternative, the moment simply passes. Over a week that’s the odd fiver lost here and there. Over a year it adds up to a noticeable slice of income your team never sees, through no fault of their own. Sorting out tipping isn’t about squeezing more from clients. It’s about making sure the generosity that’s already there actually lands with the people who earned it.
What your clients are thinking when it’s time to tip
Most clients want to tip a stylist they’re happy with. What stops them is awkwardness, not stinginess. They’re not quite sure how much is right, they don’t want to fumble at the desk, and more and more of them don’t have any cash on them in the first place.
There’s no set amount, and tipping is always the client’s choice, so the “right” figure is simply whatever they feel like leaving. What matters more is whether the option is there at all.
The point is simple. The easier and more discreet you make tipping, the more of that goodwill turns into real money for your team. Take away the friction and you take away the excuse.
Make it easy to tip, right at the checkout
The simplest thing you can do is give people the option to tip the way they already pay, on the card machine. When they tap or insert their card, they’re offered the choice to add a tip, and whether they do is entirely up to them. It’s their choice, not a prompt from you, and the money goes to your team.
When a client pays on your Treatwell Pay card machine, they’re offered the option to add a tip as they check out. They see 5%, 10%, 15% or a custom amount, with the option to skip. No hunt for change, no awkward pause, just a quick option they can take or leave. The tip shows up separately in your receipts and reports, so it’s simple to see what came in as a tip and what didn’t.
Pair it with daily payouts and the tips reach your team the next working day, not weeks later at the end of a pay cycle.
How to share tips fairly across your team
Once tips are coming in, the next question is how you share them, and this is where good intentions can cause friction. Fair does not have to mean identical. Splitting everything evenly can look like the simplest option, but it can also mean a fully booked senior stylist takes home the same as someone who had a quiet day, which rarely feels fair to either of them.
The better approach is to share tips on clear, sensible criteria that everyone understands upfront. Common factors include the hours someone worked in the period, their role, their level of experience, and who the client meant the tip for. There’s no single right formula. What matters is that it’s transparent, consistent, and something you can explain without squirming.
Each country has a dedicated legislation covering how tips must be shared and communicated, check the current rules for your business or speak to your accountant.
Put your tipping policy in writing
Whatever you decide, write it down. A short, plain tipping policy that sets out how tips are collected and how they’re shared takes away the guesswork and the whispering. Your team stops wondering whether they’re getting their fair share, and new starters know where they stand from day one.
Keeping a simple record of what came in and what went out matters too. It protects you if anyone ever questions the split, and it keeps everything open rather than a mystery only you can see. Treatwell Connect makes this easy: tips are logged as tips in your reporting, so they’re simple to find and total up whenever you need them.
Tips, service charges and tax: the bits worth getting right
A couple of things trip salons up, so they’re worth spelling out plainly.
A tip and a service charge are not the same thing. A tip is voluntary, left because the client wants to. A service charge is something you add to the bill. If you add one and call it a service charge, clients will assume it goes to the team, so it should. Blurring the two, or keeping something that looks like a tip, is the fastest way to lose your team’s trust.
On tax, keep it simple. Verify if tips are taxable income in your country, and how taxes are handled. Anything paid out through your books is usually dealt with through payroll, while cash a client hands straight to a stylist is a different matter. It’s worth a short conversation with your accountant to set it up properly once, rather than leaving it to chance.
How tips work when a stylist rents a chair
If some of your team are self-employed and rent a chair rather than being employed by you, the picture shifts. Tips a client gives directly to a self-employed stylist are theirs, and the rules that cover employees’ tips generally don’t apply in the same way. Even so, if you’re processing their tips through your card machine, everyone is better off knowing exactly how that works and when the money reaches them.
Give tipping the setup it deserves
Tipping is one of the easiest wins in your salon. The goodwill is already there, sitting with your clients. All you’re doing is clearing the path so it reaches your team, fairly and without fuss.
Set up tipping on your Treatwell card machine, agree a simple way to share it, and put that in writing. Sign up today or log into Treatwell Connect to get started.
This article is general guidance and not legal or tax advice. Please check the current rules for your business or speak to your accountant.
FAQs
Do clients still tip if they can’t pay with cash?
Many want to, but only if it’s easy. A tip option on the card machine captures the goodwill that would otherwise vanish the moment someone realises they’ve no cash on them.
How should I split tips between the team?
On clear, sensible criteria everyone knows in advance, such as hours worked, role and experience, rather than a split only you understand. Fair and transparent beats equal-but-arbitrary every time.
Do I have to give all the tips to my team?
Tips belong to the people who earned them. Keeping a share for the business is bad for morale, and in several markets it’s against the law.
What’s the difference between a tip and a service charge?
A tip is voluntary. A service charge is added by you to the bill. If you call something a service charge, clients expect it to reach the team, so treat it that way.
Do tips get taxed?
Yes, tips are taxable. How the tax is handled depends on how the tip is paid out, so it’s worth setting it up correctly with your accountant.
What about stylists who rent a chair?
Self-employed stylists generally look after their own tips and tax, and much of the employee-focused guidance won’t apply to them in the same way. If you handle their card tips for them, make sure everyone is clear on how and when they get paid.
