Recruiting. Hiring. Training. And retaining staff. Most of you tell us these personnel issues are a huge headache. In fact, many of you say it's the biggest challenge you face.

To help address some of these people issues, Eyecare Business brought together four experts to share their experiences and suggestions in a two-hour seminar at Vision Expo West.

Though we'll be presenting a similar program at this month's Expo East, many of you have asked us to offer some of this important information in the magazine as well.

Why are personnel issues so critical? Laurie Zimniewicz of Cleinman Performance Partners reports that staff is more important to patients than eyewear selection, and way more important than price. "We do some pretty extensive patient satisfaction surveys," she says. "We have a database of 350,000 patient responses, and the third most important thing to them is professional staff. It's almost equally as important as it is to have a great doctor."

Here then are tips from each of our experts about finding and keeping good employees in today's tight labor market.

INTERVIEWING AND HIRING

What about the we-can't-afford-to-hire-anyone refrain? Our participants say the reality is that you can't afford not to. "Our operations numbers," says Zimniewicz, "confirm that when you have the right staffing levels, you actually substantially increase your revenue per refraction."

The bottom line? If you're understaffed, you're going to lose business. And that, confirms Zimniewicz, costs money. "In a 10-year period of time," she says, "a single happy patient can be worth $152,000 in profitability to you because not only are they buying, but they are referring and bringing other patients to you. So, think about what one unhappy patient can cost."

However, finding a perfect employee isn't easy when you're up against a wall. One of the biggest challenges, agree participants, is that most searches are last-minute ones forced by someone leaving.

The answer, they say, is to create a system that will help ease the process by assigning someone the task of creating job descriptions, for instance. Also important, adds Zimniewicz, "is establishing a system to interview for customer service skills."

During the interview, says Carol Norbeck, founder of Optical Illusions and now a consultant and Envision Yourself spokesperson, try to find out about the prospect's values. To make a good match, look for values like yours. "One interview question I found very telling was asking, 'Where do you like to shop?' I found that people who liked to shop at stores that had the atmosphere I was trying to build were most likely to be able to communicate and understand that atmosphere."

FILLING TOUGH JOBS

Optical has long hours. Unemployment is low. Workers are tough to find. So, what can you do?

Contract workers. In the future, there will be lots more contract workers, says executive recruiter Sharon Guy. "That's something to consider regarding your own needs."

Job sharing. "Find two really motivated people who can't work fulltime but will share one position." suggests Zimniewicz. "They need to communicate and offer each other the flex-time they need. The rewards can be great. In fact, statistics show that because they're motivated to make it work, you often get two two-thirds people instead of two half-time people."

Rotational scheduling. One of the biggest problems is finding people for locations that are open seven days a week, 12 hours a day. How you can handle that depends on laws in the state in which the store is located. In Washington State, however, Norbeck says she was able to work it so employees could actually get three-day weekends; but to get it, they might have to work seven days in a row. "It's all in how you declare your work week, but, again, that depends on your own state laws. We were able to set employees up on rotation and were actually able to keep people with us by giving them three and four days off in a row. That way, they didn't mind working the night shifts."

WHAT TO PAY

Whatever you do, don't hire-or determine pay-in a vacuum. Look at the competition both in optical and outside of it. "Find out what other people are offering to recruit people so you know what you're up against," stresses Zimniewicz.

Wages are going up, confirms Guy. "The average hourly wage for nonsupervisory people on private payrolls is more than $13.00 an hour and rising," she says.

One problem with national figures, however, is that they don't reflect regional variations. At International Eyecare Center, for example, most of the locations are in rural areas. "When we look at numbers," says former general manager Candy Krause, who is now vice president of operations for eLaserEyeCenters in Tampa, "they don't apply to many of our markets. So we do our own surveys to find out what local employers are paying."

Though many operations still pay straight salary, there are a lot of other options as well. In her three Optical Illusions stores in Seattle, Norbeck wrote individual contracts with each employee. "I also paid my staff on straight commission with a draw."

TRAINING TIPS

High wages and even strong incentives won't ever work, however, if people aren't trained right. Krause doesn't even wait until a new employee starts to begin the training process. "I call that person before he or she begins. They may have questions. Plus, communicating then really sets the way for training."

How do you get information and materials that can train employees? Vendors can help when it comes to product information. Some can help provide broader training, as well. "Don't overlook their resources," says Krause.

And, don't take training too casually. What we see all too often, explains Zimniewicz, is "one day on the computer, then they're on the phone. That's not training."

Our experts say mentoring is a great way to get someone started. It also gives them someone to ask questions of. And, in turn, that mentor is capable of giving you an assessment of the new hire.

"Assigning a mentor to a new employee is one of the best things we did," says Krause. "That person is responsible for not only helping that new employee but also for providing feedback on performance."

The second day on the job is critical, adds Krause. "I always check with them then and reassure them that we know it's a lot of information. If you see performance issues, don't wait. It will only get worse. No matter what, employees really appreciate feedback."

At Optical Illusions, Norbeck had 25 employees. "When a new person started," she recalls, "he or she spent the first half of their first day in our main office learning all the accounting and sales forms, and how to run the register and computer. Then we'd go to lunch with the lab people, followed by two hours of education on what lenses we carried and why.

"Next, I would take them on a tour of our three stores. But most of that time, I was really communicating to them my values-why we decorated this way, etc. Then we'd spend the last two hours with the manager of the store they were working in. And that was only the first day."

Norbeck says that an important part of the training at her locations, starting on the employee's second day, was the Envision Yourself program and color analysis. "When a customer would come in and ask about prices, for instance, I expected employees to answer, 'Certainly, we'll be happy to share that with you, but first I want you to know what kind of practice we are.' I wanted customers to understand what it meant to be an Envision Yourself practice. It made us special...and it made them feel special."

On day three, the new hire would be handed over to a mentor for two more days of training. "That," explains Norbeck, "means we gave them four solid days of training before they were expected to actually produce or do anything other than really take it all in."

RETAINING EMPLOYEES

Training is all-important. But it's only a beginning. And, with a 4.2 unemployment rate, finding a new job if they don't like the current one isn't hard, stresses Guy.

It calls for creating a retention program, and sometimes it calls for asking yourself some tough questions.

But before you can even do that, it's important to really sit down and analyze your turnover. "If you're consistently losing employees," says Norbeck, "then it's time to take a hard look at your policies, because something isn't working."

To find out how to keep employees, start by asking your current employees what keeps them there, stresses Zimniewicz. "Whatever that is, continue doing it, and, in fact, do more of it."

It's sometimes easier to retain employees if you're a company that is growing in terms of new locations. That means new opportunities. "But even if you're not, you need to make sure your employees continue to grow," stresses Krause. "Make them a mentor for a new hire. That can really give someone a shot in the arm. Also, you can help them grow by sending them for continuing education like at Vision Expo."

Offering a benefits package that includes what employees most want also helps retain them. Says Zimniewicz, "The trend is away from sick days and into personal days. Take them for whatever you want. That's tough if you're a small practice, but maybe offer to pay people if they don't take those days. Or consider a retirement program. That's something we as an industry are really bad about."

THE INCENTIVE CARROT

Incentives-whether in the form of more time off or a bonus structure-are becoming increasingly important as tools for motivating and retaining employees. Some offices incentivize front-office opticians only. Many, however, take a team approach in which rewards are shared by everyone. That can make a big difference in attitude and motivation throughout the office.

Zimniewicz says her organization works with practices to develop compensation plans for them. "We often create a contribution to income, which is a modified P&L. And, if the team reaches that, the entire staff shares the agreed upon percentage of the growth. It's really profit sharing, and everyone-even part-timers-get it because it's based on hours worked as opposed to job title."

"I think the teamwork approach works best," agrees Krause. "But there are all sorts of incentives. We use longevity awards-five years on up in our organization. You can give them plaques or anything tangible. We have necklaces that you can add to.

"We also do an annual trip bonus, and that's been very well received," she adds. "We set annual goals for what an office needs to do in terms of receipts, and if they make it, they get the trip. We give them monthly updates on how they're doing, so that's a motivator, too. We also have monthly bonuses for things like number of new patients seen. And some employees prefer a cash bonus to the trip, for example."

There are boundless ways of developing incentives, confirms Norbeck. For example, she recalls an interesting approach of one doctor she worked with as a consultant. "He put a commission value on each second pair of glasses sold. It was shared equally at the end of the month by back and front-office staff."

Though many eyecare professionals say they're in a box, it's clear that a lot of your peers are succeeding by doing just the opposite-thinking outside of the box. According to the book The New Pioneers, concludes Guy, "retailers are going to have to come up with creative, radical, new compensation models and motivation strategies." Why? To compete. And to thrive. EB