IMPACT OF COVID-19 PANDEMIC AMONG SALON BUSINESS IN SERCHHIP TOWN Lalbiakina V Semester BSW HATIM Roll no. 2023BSW014 Introduction • Meaning of salon: A salon is a place where people have their haircut and colored, or heavy beauty treatment. • Classifications: Specialize in services for hair, nails, and skin. • Focus of the study: Male hair cutting salon. Objectives • To examine the income before and after the Pandemic of barbers in Serchhip town. • To know the working hours of salon shop owners. • To study the engagement pattern. • To assess the safety precautions during the pandemic. Review of Literature • The impact of COVID-19 on the salon industry in Australia in 2021 by • How Has Covid Affected the Beauty and Salon Industry by Nupur Gupta. • How Pandemic Has Reshaped the Salon Industry by Sunjay Dutta on Indianretailer.com. • Marketing for salon industry in the times of Covid by Soumya Shetty. • Salon business gets a facelift by Vashnavi Gupta on Financial Express • The effects of Covid-19 on Texas Hair Care Industry by Gail Buttorff, Co-Director, Survey Research Institute & Assistant Instructional Professor. Methodology • Field settings: Universe of the study will be Salon business from Serchhip District among the group. • Research Design: The present research design is Descriptive research design where a comprehensive study of the problem is made in order to find the overall knowledge. Datas were collected using qualitative and quantitative method. • Sampling Method: Purposive or judgmental sampling where the sampling of the research is collected to represent the impact of the salon business. It is used to collect the data in a way that the suitable information can be drawn selectively. • Source of data: Primary data: Interview is used to collect the data of the barber first hand, interaction, schedule data collection tools is used to collect a suitable outcome from the respondence in the primary source of data. • Tools of data collection: Questionnaires made to collect data from the barbers in first hand. Results and Discussion 1. Income of the barbers before and after the Covid-19 Pandemic: • The mean income (Weekly) of the barbers in Serchhip town before the pandemic is above Rs. 3000. • The mean income (weekly) of the barbers in Serchhip town during the pandemic is Rs. 2000. • The mean income (weekly) of the barbers in Serchhip town after the pandemic is more than Rs. 3000. • 66.7 per cent of the respondents reported that they received their retail using mobile apps. 5. Great majority (83%) of the responders also receive their retail in cash. 2. Working hours of the barbers before and after the Covid-19 pandemic: • More than the majority (58.3%) of the respondents worked five to eight hours in a day before the pandemic. • During the pandemic, half of the haircutters in Serchhip worked more than 5 hours a day. • During the pandemic, almost all (91.7%) of the respondents are allowed to open their shops from 3-5 days a week. • During the pandemic, 91.7% of the respondents are not allowed to remain open every day. 3. Engagement pattern: • All the respondents receive customers at home during the pandemic. • Nearly all (91.7%) of responders receive customers using phone calls during the pandemic. • Among the responders, going to the customers’ houses for haircutting and not going to their houses are equal. • During the pandemic, 33% of the respondents receive customers twice a week from mobile phone. • Above majority (58.3%) of the respondents receive customers at home after every one day in a week during the pandemic. 4. Safety precautions: • All the respondents said that it is not mandatory to wear PPT suit while working. • Above majority (58.3%) of the respondents maintain social distancing in their shops during the pandemic. • All the salon shops provide sanitizer in their shops for safety. • More than half (66.7%) of the respondents do not provide free masks for customers without masks. • Above the average (58.3%) of the respondents make a limited number of people in the waiting area. 6. 58.3% of the salon shops allow two to four persons in the waiting area. Suggestions • Customer's registration for better safety. • Proper sanitizing of tools • Modernization Intervention • Micro Level: Social worker can act as an educator. • Mezzo Level: Social worker can act as a community change agent. • Macro Level: Social worker can act as a broker. Conclusion Barbers were aware of their clients’ diminishing mental health amidst the COVID-19 pandemic, for this reason it can be considered to be a suitable setting for promoting good mental health. But on the other way, the Covid-19 Pandemic has caused a drastic change for business owners.
