Imagine it’s your first day at a new practice. You’ve never worked in optics before. You’re asked to fill out some basic employment forms and are introduced to the team. You spend your first week shadowing an experienced staff member—and you love it!
Flash forward eight weeks: you’ve got unanswered questions because you don’t know who to ask. You’re helping patients choose frames, but you don’t really understand the mechanics of prescriptions, and you’re starting to lose your confidence and enthusiasm. On top of this, neither the job ad nor your job description mentioned anything about the admin you’re being trained on…contact lens repeat orders? What are these?
It’s an all too familiar situation that many of us have experienced. I certainly did. All that kept me in the industry was my curiosity (and my desire to end my maternity leave). Even though this was 30 years ago, sadly the same scenario still exists.
It’s often the case that, as practice owners and managers, we are so busy we don’t have time to stop and strategize. When it comes to recruitment, we know we need a new person—sometimes even just a ‘warm body’. We write a quick job advertisement, get it posted on jobs4ECPs, and wait for resumes to arrive.
Our next challenge is finding the time to review those. “What are we actually looking for?” We do a few interviews, think that person had a nice smile, then they are hired and start next week. You’ve just completed a reactive hiring cycle, and six months later they’ve left and you begin the cycle again.
Time and time again, as I speak with eye care professionals (ECPs), I hear that employee loyalty is declining and practices are losing anywhere from 20% – 50% of their team per year! Not only is this disruptive to your patients, it’s also expensive and time-consuming for you. It’s time to move into a proactive hiring cycle. Let’s consider the elements of this:
Strengthen your Hiring and Onboarding
Retaining staff starts long before you hire. Writing a sound job description and developing a clear interview guide of great questions is key to bringing in the right candidate. If you are going to keep them, you need to onboard them effectively and give them all the tools they need to be successful and feel valued.
- What is the culture you are trying to build?
- Have you clearly laid out the role expectations?
- Have you planned your interview questions and time?
- What is your onboarding plan?
Professional Growth
In a world where staff may jump for an extra dollar, you need to give them reasons to stay. Offering opportunities to grow their skill set through clear, visible career paths can significantly improve retention. Providing mentorship, certifications, and ongoing education empowers your staff to shape their future and feel more satisfied with you as their employer.
Feedback Rich Culture
When I was first introduced to this concept, and I’ll be honest, I found it scary. I was worried that staff might tell me they didn’t like something, and I’d be expected to change every little detail they didn’t like. It wasn’t long before I realized how valuable staff felt when they had a voice. Holding 1:1s that asked, ‘where can I support you?’ became a powerful tool to improve the overall employee experience. Trying out suggestions, even if they didn’t work, created the environment for creative thinking and solutions. Before I knew it, I had staff who were completing five-year milestones and fully committed to the team’s vision.
Foster Belonging and a Strong Team Culture
Encourage your team to participate and provide inclusive practices so everyone feels a sense of belonging. Be mindful of any unconscious bias you may carry. Provide opportunities for your team to showcase their backgrounds and cultures. For example, a themed potluck lunch. These encourage the social connections in your team and bring enjoyment to the workplace on a daily basis.
I’m sure you’ve heard something like the phrase, “People don’t leave jobs, they leave bad managers.” Often, this is the case when staff feel they work hard, but don’t get recognition for it. Celebrating wins is great but avoid being generic. A comment like “good job today” can feel meaningless and lacks sincerity—good job for what, exactly? Instead, replace it with, “good job getting all the inventory accepted today.” This shows you’re paying attention and truly recognize what they completed.
Be The Leader They Want to Follow
Go back and read the phrase from above again, it really is true! Equip yourself with specific skills that will support your team:
- Emotional intelligence
- Conflict resolution
- Coaching and developing
- Shared accountability
- Assuming innocence
If you exhibit these skills, your team will see a genuine leader who has their best interest at heart, someone who challenges them positively, provides them with the tools to be great, and truly wants them to be successful.
Worklife Balance
The buzz phrase of the 21st century. Do an audit of your workload, remove outdated, and repetitive tasks with automation. Make sure your staffing levels are adequate and encourage staff to take time off without interruption. Your measure of this is yourself. Set the example so your team knows you are genuine with your intention.
Compensation and Benefits
Whilst retention is about so much more than pay, it’s still a very important factor. Staff perform better when they feel well compensated.
Use market rate reviews to assess salary and hourly rates. Offer benefits that matter, such as employee assistance programs, wellness spending, and mental health days. Consider having team incentives that don’t just reward an individual, but a team effort too.
How Do You Put This All in Place?
We all need support, and sometimes we need to ask for that help too. Eye Care Collective has developed a strong human resources toolkit to make this easy for you. Once you’ve defined the culture you want to build, the toolkit will be your foundational resource.
In the toolkit you’ll find everything you need to help you write your job description, onboard your staff, and manage their ongoing performance. We’ve even added up-to-date provincial employment legislation to give you the correct information at your fingertips.
Conclusion
In my experience of managing teams, having the right tools and support to take a holistic approach is key. Being intentional about supporting, developing, and offering fair compensation builds a culture that people enjoy being part of and will genuinely feel valued.
Investing in your team improves overall performance and reduces turnover. Staff contribute at a higher level and become long-term advocates for your business. And while you, as a business owner, gain from this and eliminate the repetitive cycle of recruitment, your patients stand to gain the most.
Lisa Glithero
Senior Manager Growth Programs
Eye Care Edge
