Sure, payroll is one of your biggest expenses. But keeping it too low can actually cost you money. Unfortunately, according to the article “Time Trapped: The Productivity Crisis Facing Small Business Leaders” on Business.com, it’s likely that you are doing—and experiencing—just that. Their research says 80% of small businesses are understaffed, especially in “growth-driven areas…that fuel expansion and revenue.”
The REAL Costs of Understaffing
Being understaffed can cost you in ways you may not initially consider, including:
- making mistakes
- missed opportunities
- low morale
- competitive disadvantage
- being penny wise, but pound foolish
Why such a high cost? Because an understaffed practice incurs expenses that don’t always appear on a profit-and-loss statement. There can, however, be plenty of these seemingly hidden costs, such as:
- Lower optical capture rates
- Lost appointments
- Decreased patient satisfaction
- Increased employee turnover
- Missed growth opportunities
If you decide to not add the right new team member when you’re short staffed, these negative effects can cost you and your business. According to ConnectHealth, what’s called diverted patient flow “directly translates to lost revenue, something that can accumulate significantly over time. For instance, if each missed appointment costs you…$100, multiply that by even 10 lost appointments a week. That’s a potential loss of $1,000 weekly—or over $50,000 annually. Understaffing can quietly eat into your profits, making it hard to grow and thrive.”
You could also lose your current employees because of the environment understaffing can create, and don’t forget that replacing them will cost more than salary. You can expect costs related to recruiting, onboarding, and training to replace a disgruntled staffer when you were already stretched too thin.
Changing the Conversation
Everyone is short-staffed sometimes. When you think patients and customers aren’t getting the best possible experience the day of their visit, give them something extra like cleaning cloths or a bottle of water as they leave. These small gestures are called unexpected touch points.
Once you see their surprise, you’ll see the benefit of adding these touch points, especially ones with your logo or business name on them. You can also provide coupons that offer discounts on second-pair purchases, lens coatings, and more.
Short-Handed Strategies
What can you do to help manage staffing levels and minimize the effects when you are (hopefully just temporarily) short a person? The smartest move is to cross-train and build in redundancy so when the unexpected happens, you’re as prepared as you can be.
“Whether someone has quit or calls out, being understaffed with a full schedule is overwhelming for employees who did come to work,” says Diana Canto-Sims, OD, cofounder of Buena Vista Optical in Chicago. “When your entire team is cross-trained, however, they can move from the front desk to clinical to sales efficiently.”
In her installment of The Inside View, she said, “[Staff] are able to learn new skills and be with you. When you teach them new skills, these are skills that they're able to use every day in their life, not just in your practice—so it helps you, but it also helps them. And cross-training is important too, because if they know that they have the opportunity to learn other departments, they know that they can grow... And that is a great way to retain your staff because constantly hiring is just a financial burden and it requires a lot of resources, time, and energy.”
Find Time to Train
What happens when you think you’re just too busy to train a newbie? It’s an all-too-common occurrence, says consultant Mary Schmidt, ABOC, CPO, who operates Eye Systems in Pleasant Hill, CA. Especially when companies are understaffed, they “don’t make time to properly train people and then lose them due to the failure to prepare them properly,” adds Schmidt.
Her suggestion to help ease the pain when a new, untrained person joins the team? “Adjust the patient level for a few weeks to enable you to properly train and prepare” a new hire. It’s all about perspective, concludes Schmidt. Her point? Understand that “there will be a short-term hit for a long-term benefit.”