Demand for eye care is projected to rise by 40% over the next two decades, according to the College of Optometrists. An ageing population and a growing awareness of preventative and advanced eye care is driving that demand, with primary care optometrists playing an important role in managing the increased need.
With demand on the rise, the growth of the UK optometry sector is also set to follow suit. The latest data suggests market revenue will reach £5.8bn by 2025-26, with further growth projected over the next five years.
As the ‘front door’ to the NHS for patients with eye concerns, high-quality care is fundamental to any scaling practice. The challenge is making that quality consistent, particularly for multi-site businesses.
The key to consistency is a strong culture. Cultivating an environment where all staff can thrive, where they are motivated and where they are inspired to be their best every day, is crucial to delivering first-rate care.
With demand set to rise, the ability to be able to protect and nurture your culture as you grow has never been more important. After all, people are the lifeblood of any healthcare business.
Scaling culture when growing
An important part of nurturing and scaling a company’s culture is the ability to attract and retain talent, whether it is optometrists, dispensing opticians, optical assistants or receptionists.
Like many sectors, the optometry profession is experiencing a significant ‘capacity crunch’, with roles becoming increasingly difficult to fill, particularly in rural and, more recently, urban areas.
According to recent statistics, more than one in 10 NHS optometry posts are currently empty with the College of Optometrists estimating that there will be a shortage of nearly 2,000 practitioners by 2030.
With a number of economic factors making it harder for healthcare businesses in the UK to attract top talent, creating a supportive culture for staff is crucial; a place where they are encouraged to grow and develop.
That means offering rewarding careers with progression, as well as providing an environment that fosters employee well-being and work-life balance. This is core to building a sustainable and scaling business.
In its response to the NHS 10 Year Workforce Plan, the College of Optometrists emphasised this point, highlighting the need to nurture
homegrown talent, to retain skilled staff and to equip the workforce for a digital-first NHS.
When it comes to culture and values, it states: ‘Staff well-being is central to workforce performance and patient care. Fostering supportive work environments, promoting mental health awareness and embedding well-being into professional practice better equip optometrists to deliver safe, effective care, while sustaining their own health and career longevity.’
Fostering a positive workplace culture that has the ability to flex and evolve as the business grows also requires strong leadership – people who can embed core values such as compassion, integrity or patient-centred care. These values guide decision-making, shape service delivery and ensure that high-quality eye care is placed front and centre.
Those values also help to steer leadership when there are invariably bumps in the road. As an investor, we want to see, feel and hear that resilience is built into a business model.
Good leaders do not expect everything to go to plan; the key is to lean into the company culture as you travel along the growth journey, remain flexible to respond and adapt to unforeseen events, while having the right mindset to guide the business forward.
Measuring cultural impact
Culture can often be seen as an intangible thing; it is a set of shared beliefs, values and practices that should effortlessly blend into the day-to-day. But, as you grow, it is important to monitor and measure its impact in order to retain your cultural identity.
While there is plenty of noise going on externally, whether it is political, economic or industry-specific in nature, when it comes to cultural veracity, listening to what is being said inside your organisation can often be of greater value.
Communication and clarity is key, whether is through it is through exit interviews, ‘stay’ interviews, employee engagement surveys, good old-fashioned face-to-face communications, celebrating successes or sharing how the business is performing.
Scaling culture and growing a business requires senior leaders to connect with each and every employee, showing them how valued they are to the business, while providing them with a platform to make suggestions, improvements and express how they are feeling. Done right, this can be hugely impactful.
In action
Culture has always been central to Bayfields Opticians and Audiologists – often referred to as like a ‘family’ by founder and CEO, Royston Bayfield.
But such is the growth of the company – expanding from a single practice in 2004 to 57 sites 20 years later – the company’s culture has naturally had to evolve during that time to reflect its scale.
Claire Hickling, people director at Bayfields, says: ‘We still talk about creating a family feel, but that’s difficult to maintain as you scale. While it reflects the right feeling and ethos, the question we ask is whether the wording needs to evolve to something that’s right for us now and fit for the future – a conversation that I imagine many scaling businesses are also having.’
One thing is clear, regardless of how culture is framed and delivered, its importance is unwavering and measuring its impact as the business grows has helped to refine and retune that ‘family feel’ across the multi-site business.
‘We use the Best Companies survey to measure the strength of our company culture,’ explains Hickling. ‘We call it our Be Heard survey, which we carry out twice a year. We’ve considered doing it more often – snapshot temperature checks throughout the year – but the concern is that if you do too many, people will stop engaging in the process and, ultimately, they stop being meaningful.
‘We’re currently at one star with Best Companies, which on a scale of one to three is “very good”. Our aim is to reach three – “world class” – but, importantly, we stress to the team that it’s not about chasing stars. We do the surveys so we can understand how they feel. And for us, that feedback is critical to how we shape our business,’ she adds.
It is fair to say that what works when you have a handful of practices will not necessarily work when you scale at pace, particularly to the size of Bayfields. The key for Hickling is simplicity.
‘You need to keep everything simple,’ says Hickling. ‘It’s also important to continually review processes and adapt them if they’re not right, while at the same time removing any bottlenecks that can easily occur as you scale.
‘I’d also say, make sure your processes are well documented. When you’re small, it’s easy to just tell somebody what you do. As you get bigger, suddenly your processes can start going awry, everybody starts doing things differently and you can lose track of your culture and how things are done.
‘By making sure everything is documented, everybody understands how to do things, how to behave and what it is you’re trying to achieve.’
Scaling culture is clearly complex and should not be underestimated. It requires care, thought and attention.
Culture is not just a tagline; when you grow you need to stay true to your values. Also, you need to listen and adapt, celebrate success and, importantly, hire to fit your culture. Skills can be taught, but attitude and values are inherent qualities that help you stand out from the rest.