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The joint venture concept
Specsavers Opticians was founded in 1984 in the spare bedroom of optometrists Doug and Dame Mary Perkins. Today, it is a hugely successful global business, which is still run by the Perkins family.
The couple had moved to Guernsey after selling a small chain of West Country opticians. In the early 1980s the UK Government deregulated professionals, including opticians, allowing them to advertise their products and services for the first time. They seized the opportunity and opened their first Specsavers, value-for-money, quality eye care opticians in Guernsey and Bristol, followed shortly by stores in Plymouth, Swansea and Bath. They aimed to offer a wide range of stylish, fashionable glasses at affordable prices for everyone.
The company has grown rapidly since, thriving with its joint venture partnership approach to eye care. It hit the milestone of 100 stores in July 1988, 200 in 1993, 300 in 1995, 400 in 2000, 500 in 2003, 600 in 2004 and 700 in 2005. The first Netherlands store opened in 1997, the first Swedish in 2004, and 2005 saw the first in Denmark and Norway. In 2006 the first store was opened in Spain, and in 2007 the company began supplying in Australia whilst opening the first store in Finland. In January 2008 Dame Mary Perkins opened the 1000th store in Roosendaal, Holland, followed by the launch on the first three Specsavers stores in Australia in March. By July 2009 there were 173 in Australia, plus 24 in New Zealand.
Doug and Mary saw that the future of eye care needed to be led by opticians. For the last 27 years, their unique joint venture partnership concept has enabled practitioners to own and run their practices while, as part of a large organisation, benefit from the economies of scale and comprehensive support offered by the Specsavers Optical Group. “Partnership is at the heart of everything we do – this philosophy is a cornerstone of the Specsavers business,” says Doug Perkins.
The partnership concept has indeed been the foundation for success in Specsavers: “The partnership is unique – Specsavers provides the retail, business, property and clinical support you require. It works fantastically well, and there is always somebody you can turn to, should you need further support. ” says Shakeel Hirani, Joint Venture Partner at Specsavers Hammersmith and Shepherd’s Bush, West London. “This makes the partnership so very strong – you have the freedom to operate your own business and you know you can rely on the strength of the Specsavers brand in all departments. It’s one of the reasons why we are the UK’s leading opticians.”
A name you can count on
With more than 1,400 optical practices worldwide and no store closures due to under-performance, Specsavers' track record speaks for itself. As the largest privately owned opticians in the world, the company is not governed by City investors who could be looking for a quick return on their investments, which means we can afford to look further into the future and choose the optimum strategy for growth.
The high profile of the Specsavers brand means that it has become the most well-recognised eye care provider among the general public. For the past nine years it has been voted Britain's most-trusted brand of opticians by Reader's Digest. The current straplines, 'Number One Choice for Eye Tests' and 'Number One Choice for Contact Lenses', reflect its position as market leader. The strength of the brand helps Specsavers continue to attract an ever-growing number of patients – which, in turn, means excellent job security for practitioners who join any of its growing number of practices.
Best of both worlds
Because Specsavers practices are owned and run by professional staff just like you, it's like working for an independent practice where the boss is always available and decisions can be made really quickly. If employees have a problem with a patient or need a new piece of equipment, they can speak to the owner of the practice straight away. It's essentially their business, so they'll be just as passionate as the practitioner about giving customers the best possible service.
Specsavers' store network embraces both large and small practices up and down the country. So, whether a practitioner wishes to work as part of a large team in a city centre practice or a smaller team in a market town, there is a practice to suit their professional and personal needs.
Cutting-edge equipment
From an equipment point of view, the opticians believe that practitioners are almost spoilt for choice. Specsavers optometrists have access to a combi-unit, an auto and manual phoropter, slit-lamps, a keratometer, an NCT and a fundus camera as standard practice. The company's cutting-edge, computer-based systems help to ensure consistent record-keeping.
Specsavers dispensing opticians are big fans of the equipment they get to use too. Every dispensing area has a dispensing toolbox, which includes a pupillometer, varifocal measuring gauges, a full range of lens samples, and various other equipment, all of which means patients rarely have to wait to be seen.
World-class working environments
There's a broad spectrum of experience to be gained in a Specsavers practice. All kinds of people visit Specsavers, so there's always a buzz around the shop floor and many practices have a special interest, such as low vision, laser eye surgery or participating in shared care schemes. Plus, Specsavers have a broad range of products, which aims to make the practitioner's job easier because they can provide the best options for their patients – at a great value-for-money price.
Training and development
“In order for our business to achieve its growth objectives, we need to ensure that we have, fundamentally, the best quality people possible. And as a function of that we spend a huge amount of time, resources and commitment to ensure that all of our people are able to be the very best, and live up to the very highest standards within the organisation,” said Dame Mary Perkins.
“We have a huge commitment and investment in terms of infrastructure as well: the Specsavers training academy, online training materials, and every single person within our business has their own personal development programme to ensure that they genuinely can achieve exceptional things,” added Dame Mary.
Specsavers is the largest employer of pre-registration optometrists and trainee dispensing opticians, all of whom have access to the company's bespoke in-house programmes, and many of whom are financially supported through external exams as well.
Specsavers ensures that its qualified practitioners can achieve all their CET points through the company's in-house programmes, including monthly online learning and access to its Professional Advancement Committee (PAC) annual clinical conference, the largest optical conference of its kind in the UK. Specsavers delivers bespoke development programmes for dispensing opticians and pre-reg, newly-qualified and senior optometrists, as well as Joint Venture Partners.
Plus, with thousands of Specsavers support staff gaining nationally recognised qualifications as clinical and dispensing assistants, employees can be confident that the support team in their practice are trained to a consistently high level – to the benefit of both them and their patients.
“Our commitment to employee development has never been stronger and the wealth of development tools available provides an assurance that we can get you to where you want to be” added Chris Howarth, director of professional recruitment.
The career ladder
From a career progression point of view, Specsavers believes that the sky really is the limit. Some previous Specsavers employees have gone from Saturday worker to practice owner, and even more have started out on the shop floor and now have a professional qualification in dispensing or optometry.
“The opportunities are significant and I've got to say, there is nothing I get more satisfaction from than when we see some of our team who have come in at junior levels within the business, move on, develop new skills and actually forge new ground for us in new and exciting markets,” said Dame Mary.
Specsavers believes strongly that its practitioners' professional and personal development shouldn't stop on qualifying, however. So whether they want to further their clinical knowledge, develop their management skills – or even have ambitions to run their own practice – the opticians will provide support all the way.
And now that the company is an international business, with practices everywhere from the Arctic Circle to Australia, if practitioners want to broaden their horizons, the world really is their oyster.
Pay and benefits
For all Specsavers staff, a transparent salary and reward structure exists, which links in directly to the company's career development programme. The individuality of its stores means that salaries can be determined according to experience, qualification and responsibilities.
Practices offer substantial bonus structures geared towards rewarding professional staff for a rounded performance in the store, not just for handling high volumes of tests. Plus, as part of each practice's senior management team, employees may also get to share in the profits of the store too.
Private medical and dental insurance is available, often for family members too, and employees can build a substantial pension plan with help from their employer. Plus, it's comforting to know that Permanent Health Insurance and Death in Service benefits are also available for added peace of mind.
GOC registration fees are usually covered and substantial professional indemnity insurance is provided as standard. Plus, there is financial support for educational training and help to meet the legacy of student loans.
Professional services
It's not always easy to recognise the value of things like CET, career development, and professional defence unless you talk to people who don't have access to them. In times of increasing litigation, it's good to know that staff can rely on the advice of the company's expert team of highly experienced professionals should they receive a letter from the GOC.
A culture of success
In a Specsavers practice, everyone's part of a team. Practitioners are professionals in a company where members of the same profession sit on the board. Specsavers is a family business with 26,000 family members, who have the same vision and values.
“It's important to know that in Specsavers we have very strong family values and I always say that you should treat people as you would wish to be treated yourself. And that means helping staff, for instance, to be the best that they can be – exceeding all customer expectations in service,” added Dame Mary.
Next steps...
For more information on the full range of opportunities at Specsavers, call Specsavers Recruitment Services on 01566 880 950.
Details await you at http://jobs.specsavers.co.uk
