• Training and retaining staff is without a doubt one of the central issues in our industry today

Many eye care practices, from multi-office to single

location offices, do not have good training

programs that they can deploy to new or existing

staff

What does training look like today?

When we surveyed 25 of the Top 50 largest

Optical Companies, we found some consistent

trends:• 90% had no Formal

approach to training and when they did their approach was Ad Hoc.

• Of the 10% that did have a formal approach all indicated they had Suboptimal Training

They also told us:

• Very little consistent content delivered across the organization

• Comprised of bits and pieces from an array of sources

• Key areas missing in their materials

• Content not standardized

• Content is ‘Vendor-ized”

• Tribal Method – Passed on from “elders” to new staff

• Inconsistent and subject to trainer’s biases • “I like to do (it) this

way..”• “This AR is the best”• “this progressive is the

best”• “we don’t do that in

this office”• “That’s not

important..”

• Trainers / Mentors• Limited time for all who

need training• Secondary or Part-Time

Role• Most staff are left to

their own devices to figure out what they needed to know.

• Bottle neck - Limited time and access to employees in need.

• Little, if any, method for assessing and tracking content absorption.

• Spotty: “We have some manual tracking on some training from some vendors”.

• Use their “gut”.• “Nothing…no real way

to do that.”• No objective way to

monitor content expertise.

• How important is training to your organization’s success?– “We know it’s important

but we haven’t done a good job”.

– “Hard to find good trainer”.

– “I know it’s costing us money and we should do a better job training”.

– “We are no worse than our competitors.. But it is an opportunity..”.

As compared to the time you spend on buying products at a better price - how much

time does your organization spend on training staff?

Not one company spent the same amount of time on training as on

product costs.

– “Way less time”– “Hard to compare, but far

less”– “We need to do a better job

on both fronts”– “About 50% of the time we

spend on training vs product cost”

Want training like this Have training like this

Challenges

More competition– It’s easier for patients to go

to someone else today.Managed Care – More Work / Make LessEmployee Retention – Average Job Tenure of a

millennial is 18 months – Average cost to replace an

employee is $5000 to 150% of the salary of the person you are replacing

Impact of Social Reviews

There’s just a lot moreto know and learn today

versus10 – 20 years ago!

Want training like this Have training like this

How should our training look?

5 components were identified…

1. Standardized content and delivery process

• Same content is delivered across the organization in the same effective & consistent manner

2. Easily distributed and accessible:

• Available on demand– 24/7

• Eliminate bottle-neck: Staff at various stages in the training process can be trained simultaneously

• Available on-line• Allows staff to work at

their own individual pace

3. Easy to monitor how staff is progressing:

• Ability to monitor individual progress or lack of progress.

• Easy to track the time staff has committed to training.

• Able to measure new hires aptitude for learning the material.

4. Make it Vendor Agnostic

• Keep the content free from vendor sponsorships and brand neutral

5. Make a positive impact on the organization:

• Improve patient service: increase sales and patient retention

• Improve confidence of Staff• Reduce our costs: i.e.

remakes, redo’s and other errors can be controlled through better training

• Improve staff retention: Retaining those staff members that “we want to keep”

• Compensation and performance evaluation

LearnEyeCareTraining Solution

Development Process

– Established a committee of ECP owners & Trainers and developed list of the skills needed to be a competent Optician/Staff member

– Identified an LMS system to that has the following features:• Accessible 24 /7 via the internet• Scale and play on multiple applications: Desk Top, Lap Top, IPAD, Mobile

device• Management reporting capabilities: e.g. time spent on Units, Page views,

test score results, drill down on test Q answers• Secure log-in protection

– Set up 8 multi-office practices as BETA testing partners– Spent 2 years in BETA while developing the 38 units to support our objectives

BETA Process:• Vetted over a 18 to 24 month

period program using 8 practices that are multi-site operators.

• Surveyed users as well as & management to measure content validity, reliability, usefulness and results.

• Adjusted content and approach to improve engagement, usefulness and financial results.

BETA results:

All Beta users renewed subscriptions (on a paid basis) for successive years

We surveyed BETA users and they told us:– It’s easy to use and learn from.

– The Content is interesting and valuable.– The content is applicable to our staff’s

everyday job.– The information helps build our staff’s

confidence on the job.

BETA results:

On a scale of 1 to 5(with 1 very unsatisfied and 5 very satisfied)

our BETA testers rateLearn EyeCare

very high with anAverage Score of

4.7!!!

Areas where our BETA group experienced tangible improvement / ROI

– Optician Retention increased (Turnover decreased)

– Remake % decreased 4% resulting in savings of $80K)

– Now able to Recruit Non-Optical “People persons” and have a method to train into successful, competent opticians, systematically

“We use the program to organize our on-boarding process. We gained valuable insight into the actual competence levels new hires have with in the first 30 days. Before having Learn EyeCare, it could take us months to really know how much they know and their aptitude for learning new things.”

Our Current Curriculum

1. Getting Started – Overview 2. Anatomy of the Eye3. Eye conditions every optician should know4. Light Prisms and Lenses5. Understanding a lens and Lens power6. Introduction to Prismatic Effect7. Calculating Prismatic Effect8. Parts of the Lensometer9. Steps to Neutralizing Spherical Lenses10. Steps to Neutralizing Cylindrical lenses11. Steps to Neutralizing Segmented Multifocals12. Neutralizing Progressive Lenses Part 1– Reconstructing the ma

rkings on Lenses & Why13. Steps to Neutralizing Progressive Lenses Part 214. Lensometry Intro to prism15. Neutralizing Simple Prism16. Neutralization of Resultant Prism17. Lens Design - SV BF TF & Specialty lenses 18. Lens Designs Progressive Lenses19. Lens Classification20. Lens Enhancements Part 1 - Absorptive tints, Variable tints, Pol

arized tints,

21. Lens Enhancements Part 2 - Scratch Coat, UV Blocks & Non-Glare Coating

22. Anatomy and Materials of Frames23. Frame Shape Frame measurements & Face Shapes24. Frame Fitting Theory Part 1 - Preadjusting the frame 25. Frame Fitting Theory Part 2 - Ensuring proper frame fit26. Fitting SV Lenses Part 1 - Measuring PD's using a Ruler P

Ds 27. Fitting SV Lenses Part 2 - Measuring PD's using a

Pupillometer 28. Fitting SV Lenses Part 3 - Specifying MRP Vertical Placeme

nt29. Fitting Segmented Multifocals

- Specifying Segment Height30. Fitting Progressive Lenses31. In office Final Inspection - ANSI Standards Part 1 - Introdu

ction to in office Final Inspection32. In Office Final Inspection ANSI Standards Part 2 -

Cosmetic considerations,33. In office Final Inspection ANSI Standards - Part 3 - Overvi

ew of ANSI Standards34. In Office Final Inspection ANSI Standards – Part 4 - Verifyi

ng Single Vision Lenses - Step by Step Guide35. In Office Final Inspection ANSI Standards – Part 5 - Verifyi

ng Single Vision Lenses - Step by Step Guide36. In Office Final Inspection ANSI Standards Part 5- Verifying

Segmented Multifocal's - Step by step guide

37. In Office Final Inspection ANSI Standards Part 6- Verifying Segmented Multifocal's - Step by step guide

38. In Office Final Inspection ANSI Standards Part 7 - Verifying progressive lenses - a step by step guide

Comprehensive Training program

Optical Technical

Other Modules slated for future development:Sales Process

Product KnowledgePatient Conflict / Complaint resolution

Leadership/Management

Thank You!