The Management & Business Academy, sponsored by Alcon and Essilor, have released the Staff Management Survey: 2012. This resource features findings regarding staff hiring, compensation and management practices and OD desires for staff improvements.
Here are several of the survey’s key findings:
•Employment of non-OD staff by independent practice ODs increased 6 percent during the year ending June 2012, a rebound from a sluggish hiring environment during 2010, when optometric staffs increased by just 2 percent. Thirty-nine percent of practices added one or more staff members during the past year, while just 11 percent decreased their staff.
• Larger practices (nine or more staff members with an estimated $1 million+ annual gross revenue) account for 72 percent of current non-OD staff employment and were more likely to add staff during the past year. Larger practices accounted for 78 percent of the new hires for the year ending June, 2012.
• Average staff turnover in optometric practices was 14 percent over the past year, a decline from the 17 percent turnover ratio experienced in 2010 and the 20 percent ratio in the pre-recession 2007-2008 period. Presumably, in a high unemployment economy staff is less likely to seek new positions. Turnover is lower in larger practices, in which average staff turnover is 12 percent annually. Sixty-five percent of practices experienced some turnover during the past year. Thirty percent currently have one or more open positions. Thirty-six percent of staff members leaving optometric practices during the past year were terminated.
• Personal referrals are the leading source of new hires for optometric practices, accounting for 43 percent of people hired. Internet listings are the second largest source, accounting for 26 percent of new hires. Use of newspaper ads to attract candidates continued to decline in 2012. Larger and smaller practices acquire new employees in similar ways.
Click HERE to download a PDF of the report and learn more.
