You're probably familiar with employees who exhibit below-standard performance. Maybe yours is the massage therapist who is consistently late or the front-desk attendant who gets along well with coworkers but sometimes takes a surly tone with customers.

In the Workplace, Managers Get a Bad Rap. The butt of endless water cooler jokes, bosses—be they spa directors, spa owners, or managers—are more often than not characterized as the workplace villain and are maligned for simply existing. How then does a boss transcend this collective disdain and find that delicate balance between managing as a tyrant like Miranda in The Devil Wears Prada or as a pushover who is taken complete advantage of?

Personality Matters Learn how some spas are using personality tests to take the guesswork out of hiring and find the right staff from the start. May 1, 2006 By: Anitra Brown

It's easy to be friendly and calm when everything is going well. But when you're booked solid, short-staffed, and a late client makes a scene about getting his or her full hour, you want someone at the front desk who will stay friendly and calm. "The things you fake go away when stress is applied," says Victoria Gulikson, spa director at The Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas Spa (Henderson, NV). "We want to hire people who have the natural qualities we're looking for."