Welcome Wagon
By Erinn Morgan
For this month, we posed the following question to ECPs across the country: How do you train new dispensary hires during their first week (i.e., what is most important)? The answers were both practical and inventive. If you have a story to share, or would like to see a subject covered, please E-mail us at editor@eyecarebusiness.com or send a fax to 215-643-1705.
We hire two kinds of people: Those with optical experience and those without. For up to two weeks, novices go through everything with our in-house 'Minister of Information.' Then, we gradually move them onto the floor and teach the hands-on stuff, like sales techniques. For experienced hires, we fill in knowledge gaps with training/study sessions off the floor.
—Ira Haber, owner/president, Europtics,
which has four locations in the Denver area
One of the first things I do is get them familiarized with the product, what colors, styles, and brands we have. I send them around to clean all the frames—this way they have to pick them up, look at the colors, and familiarize themselves with the product. It may seem simplistic, but with this exercise you can help train your employee and get your inventory cleaned.
—Rick Hogan, optician/owner, Optical Designs,
Santa Monica, Calif.
During the first few days, I just have them listen, watch, and observe. I introduce them to the product lines, discuss the type of patient base that we have, and teach them a little bit about our selling philosophy, but I don't have them involved too much until they are really ready.
—Kevin Dobbins, manager, Century City Optometry, Los Angeles
| New Employee DON'Ts We've all been there. Orientation as a new employee can be a horrifying and demoralizing experience if handled improperly. The goal, of course, is to motivate your new hires and make them feel a part of the team. Here are 10 top ways to guarantee your new employee will start off on the wrong foot. In other words, these are 10 things to AVOID doing with a new employee. 1. Make sure a work area has not been created or assigned. (Let him sit in a hall or share an office cube.) 2. Schedule the new employee to start work while her supervisor is on vacation. 3. Leave the new employee standing in the company reception area for a half hour while reception staff tries to figure out what to do with him. 4. Leave the new employee at her workstation, to manage on her own, while co-workers pair up and head out to lunch. 5. Provide an hour in a noisy lobby for the new employee to read and sign off on a 100-page employee handbook. 6. Show the new employee his office and don't introduce him to co-workers or assign him a mentor. 7. Assign the new employee to a staff person who has a major, career-impacting deadline in three days. 8. Assign the new employee to train with your most unhappy, negative, and company-bashing staff member. 9. Assign the employee "busy work" that has nothing to do with her core job description because you are having a busy week. 10. Start the new employee with a one- or two-day orientation during which human resources personnel make presentation after presentation after presentation after presentation. Information provided by about.com (visit the Website http://humanresources. about.com/cs/moralemotivation/l/aa042102a.htm). Article written by Susan M. Heathfield. |
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