Dr. Quint

One of the most important lessons that I’ve learned to date as a private practice owner is to value your staff. Not doing so affects everything from the quality of patient care to business success — turnover is expensive!

We, as optometrists, can value our staffs by providing them with the education and resources they need to stay current and continually grow. Additionally, we can accomplish this by celebrating personal de- tails, such as birthdays and work anniversaries; by staying laser-focused on morale — I send my staff periodic surveys to gauge their happiness; and by providing group training sessions and team-building activities.

Since implementing a program (bit.ly/0421Personnel) of investing in my staff, we have seen tremendous practice growth, turnover has gone way down, staff go above and beyond what is expected of them, such as voluntarily working a longer day if needed, and patients have commented on how much they enjoy coming in. We can’t provide the level of service we want without our staffs, so let’s show them they are valued! OM