Boots staff speak out

Boots Opticians staff have spoken of their uncertainty following the latest reorganisation within the high street chain.

Earlier this month the optical group offered new incentives to optometrists and dispensers to become practice managers.
This week a Boots optometrist based in the south described the arrival of the internal announcement, (News, May 13), as 'a mixed blessing'.
'They're promising an additional 50 per cent to our salary, but they're going to make us work very hard for it,' she said. 'And it appears they're not going to support us.'

She added that she was also worried that 'our jobs might be on the line'.

'If they employed another optometrist manager in my store they wouldn't need me all the time. So the announcement could be a poisoned chalice.'

Other professionals who have contacted optician are alarmed at the prospect of 135 practice managers being offered work elsewhere in the group.

Another Boots practitioner - this time a dispensing optician and practice manager - believed the majority of this group would be made redundant 'if vacancies elsewhere in Boots are not suitable, or the remuneration package isn't suitable either'.

She stated that the previously reported end of the 'senior optometrist' role in the multiple, coupled with the departure of the practice managers might harm morale.

'A manager may have built up their team over time and might be making it a success,' she said. 'With a new manager drafted in, after the senior figure is taken out, staff morale could go through the floor.'

She is worried that these outlets could hinder the overall profitability of Boots Opticians and 'drag down' the better performing branches where morale remained intact.

David Cartwright, director of professional services, played down these fears, and claimed plans had been laid to improve Boots Opticians' profitability.

He shrugged off claims of possible redundancies referring to 'a consultation process'. 'If a retail manager's job ceases to exist then there will be a number of options, including redundancy, but also work within other areas of Boots,' he said.

'Obviously there are people impacted by the changes, and those would be primarily the practice managers who are retail managers of small outlets. There are opportunities for those people within Boots The Chemist and we want to maintain those skills and expertise within the company, albeit within a different part of it.'

Cartwright, however, was keen to quash any suggestion that the company was neglecting optometrists in favour of those professionals who want to manage as well.

'We will still need an awful lot of optometrists, and we are putting an enhanced benefit package in for those people.'
The company is explaining its decisions to staff in a series of roadshows this week.
david.challinor@rbi.co.uk