Cast your minds back to June 2019, before the Covid-19 pandemic, war in Europe and economic peril. When Boots Opticians managing director James Arrow joined the company that month, he immersed himself in all things Boots Opticians and familiarised himself with every facet of the business in preparation for a steep learning curve and what he describes as his 90-day plan.
By January 2020, that learning curve was beginning to soften, but we all know what happened next. ‘Within six weeks, we were closing stores and thinking about keeping colleagues and customers safe,’ says Arrow. On something of a war footing, the company had to make several tough decisions about store closures and restructuring, but Arrow says Boots Opticians is on much more solid foundations as a result. ‘We faced the challenges head-on, together as a team. Supporting each other and working safely. I strongly believe we’ve come out stronger the other end,’ he says confidently.
‘Many of our colleagues from stores and support offices stepped forward to support the Covid testing sites alongside our Boots UK colleagues and were also on the front line in our stores doing an incredible job. I am extremely proud of how all the teams here pulled together to deliver exceptional care for our customers and each other.’
Looking after its staff has, once again, become a key priority for the company in recent months as the cost-of-living crisis begins to bite. Beyond pay reviews, which Arrow says are being conducted, Boots Opticians has been able to leverage its wider retail business to offer staff discounts as part of a cost-of-living crisis plan. Boots Opticians staff can benefit from a 70% discount on the cost of products, as well as an additional 45% off Boots-branded products. Given the breadth of the everyday healthcare and basic living products stocked by Boots, it is a scheme that can make a real difference to household budgets.
Making a journey
While it may not have followed the expected route, Arrow says the company has been on a journey since he joined in 2019. Despite this, the destination has remained the same: ‘We want to be the Top 100 Employer,’ he says. ‘Creating a workplace culture where people feel listened to, respected, and valued for bringing their whole selves to work. I truly believe that if you are happy at work, you can deliver the best service for our customers.’
Arrow’s (pictured left) desired destination has required significant long-term investment, and the company says it has listened to staff as to where it should go. ‘Our colleagues support and feedback throughout these changes have enabled us to ensure everything is fit for purpose,’ says Arrow.
Alongside the introduction of optical coherence tomography and phoropter heads in each of its practices, resources have been directed to overhauling the company’s paper clinical records and base practice management system. ‘It’s part of a modern workplace journey towards a digitised shift, including rota planning, electronic record cards and signature pads; something our clinicians and team members told us would make a real difference to their working day and improve the customer experience,’ says Arrow.
The look and feel of Boots Opticians is also something that has, and will continue to have, significant investment. ‘We want our colleagues and customers to have an emotional connection to our brand and during our journey we’ve modernised our brand and style, refreshing over 85 of our stores in the past year making them look and feel great,’ says Arrow. There are another 35 of the larger stores earmarked for refits in the next 12 months, before the rest of the group follows suit.
The work undertaken in practice refreshes was part of a large customer segmentation and understanding exercise to ascertain what patients came to Boots Opticians for, says Arrow. ‘Inevitably our goal is to deliver the best customer experience,’ he adds.
‘We want everyone who comes into one of our stores to leave with a bigger smile than when they arrived. We take every team member through focused training to ensure they are engaged in our approach to the customer journey and how to be at their best to deliver the best service. It’s important to us that each store is aligned on approach to customer care. We’ve also invested in our leaders to empower them to do what’s right and better support our store teams and clinicians.
‘Boots encourages clinicians and store managers to take on supervisor roles for our pre-reg students, which has given our existing teams more confidence to lead and mentor other team members. This has often led to them pursuing roles across the business, including area management, clinical field roles and store management. Some have even moved across into franchises.’
This emphasis on customer service certainly looks to be having an impact, as the company has had 90% of its patients in the past 12 months leave a five-star review on TrustPilot.
Opportunities knock
The Boots Opticians network of 545 stores includes 165 franchise locations, but the company is looking to grow that number and actively fosters development of would-be owners from within the business. ‘We see franchises as a fundamental part of our business,’ says Arrow. ‘It’s a third of our estate at the moment, and I think we would all feel very happy if that third became 40% for the right stores.’
‘What we’ve been focusing on recently is driving our own managers, and the people who have a desire to go on and do more, to develop a route that allows employees to have franchises as part of their career steps,’ he adds.
Parts of the company’s internal continuing professional development (CPD) conferences have been taken up by expanding on what is involved with franchising at Boots Opticians, because the full ownership model means partners are taking on large costs and a full commitment. ‘Our job is to prepare people for that,’ says Arrow. Existing franchisees are also on hand to help prospective owners prepare for running their own practice. Many existing partners are able to advise on how they grew their networks, as many go on to own multiple locations.
Most of the franchise owners moving through the company’s new pathway are optometrists, but there are several dispensing opticians and some shared ownership between the two roles. Head of professional services Kyla Black (pictured right) says the increased visibility of franchise options at events over the past 12 to 24 months has seen more optometrists considering ownership while maintaining a role in the consulting room. ‘Engagement between clinicians and current franchise owners has been really good and I think with our new optometrists coming through, there’s definitely a new drive around what Boots can do in the franchise the model,’ says Black.
For optometrists who want to build their clinical expertise before deciding whether practice ownership is right for them, the company provides support for those wishing to undertake independent prescribing and a professional certificate in medical retina. Alongside this clinical upskilling, Black says a lot of leadership training is provided and that the wider retail arms of Boots in pharmacy and hearing care brings additional layers of training in areas such as communication, which are not available in other corporate optometry environments.
Arrow concludes: ‘We know communication is key and we’ve spent a lot time listening to and learning from our colleagues, partners and customers to turn our approach from inside-out thinking to outside-in. This way we’re able to create a workplace culture and environment that encourages two-way feedback, being bold and curious and makes people feel valued for their contribution.’