THIS MONTH’S QUESTION:  Do you hire part-time employees?

Yes: 54%

• Only have one part time employee, she went from FT to PT, she otherwise would have quit. Happy to have her still with the team as she knows our POS and can help as needed. — Katie Kelly, Ochsner Vision Center, New Orleans, LA
• These are prior employees that cover during vacations or employees on sick leave. — Dr. Texas Smith, Dr. Texas Smith and Associates, Citrus Heights, CA
• It’s always nice to have a flexible part time employee who is available to fill in. — Hanna Cook, Urban Optics, San Luis Obispo, CA 
• More flexibility with scheduling. — Ann Gallagher, Professional Vision of Ellicott City, Ellicott City, MD
• Our finishing lab tech is part-time, but he’s year-round. — Frances Ann Layton, Optical Associates of South Georgia, Valdosta, GA
• I hire what I need for the business, sometimes I just don’t need a full-time person for certain activities. — Selina McGee, OD, Precision Vision of Edmond, Edmond, OK
• As it fits our needs. We currently have an optician who has been part-time for almost 2 years working mornings. His presence keeps things flowing. With an extra optician, we can keep up with work, patient flow, and sales in the morning. — Dawn Christman Munoz, North Valley Eye Medical Group, Mission Hills, CA
• Our part-timer works during our peak hours; Saturday and during the lunch hour. — Stephanie Kuhn, Optique Vision Center, Edmond, OK
• I like the flexibility of a part-timer. Plus, in order to put on a full-timer, insurance and 401k benefits kick in, so if we are just needing help during busy periods, it makes better sense to have a part-timer. — Jim Williams, Eye to Eye Optometry, Mexico, MO
• Part-time works well to supplement staff in absences or simply to do busy work, the non-patient related tasks. We have also hired pre-optometry students interested in gaining insight into the practice. The tasks assigned to them allow flexibility with their schedules. They do eyewear final inspection, patient notifications, inventory and data entry.  — Pam Housley, Texas State Optical of Nederland, Port Arthur, TX
• We do it all year-round to keep our schedule flexible. — Vlad Cordero, Focus Eye Care PC, Hackensack, NJ
• I typically reserve part time status to students. We make a point to try to offer an opportunity to kids wishing to see what working in a health care field is like and for some those shining stars which have a penchant for service. I typically prefer the majority of my team is full-time. I feel like my support of them through their salary, benefits and opportunities for learning are better appreciated by a full-timer. — Ted McElroy, Ted A. McElroy OD, Vision Source Tifton, Tifton, GA
• Year around. To fill in on our busier days and events. — Paula Hornbeck, Eye Candy & Eye Candy Kids, Delafield, WI
• Only to fill periods of high volume. — Leisa Lauer, Westcliff Optometry, Newport Beach, FL
• They provide coverage year-round when needed and it helps keep good employees that can’t work full time due to other commitments. Better some hours then none. — Jill Sweig, OD, Oyster Bay Optics, Oyster Bay, NY
• We keep a part-time college student on staff, normally a pre-optometry student to help with clerical tasks: filing invoices, marking glasses orders as dispensed in EMR. —  Caitlin Bruno, Binyon Vision Center, Bellingham, WA
• Year round. Fills in times of the day that are busier than others. Makes it easy to have someone to fill in when one of the staff is sick or on vacation, the part time staff will take extra hours. — Michael Davis, OD, Opti-Care, Eldersburg, MD
• Year-round. Mature workers don’t want full-time usually. They have other interests and often don’t need the money. — Cindy Henderson, Eyear Optical, Hixson, TN
• We do not need to give benefits and they work for us when it is busy (ex: weekends, during busy hours like when customers get home from work). — Kaleena Ma, MK Vision Center, Forest Hills, NY
• We have a staff member that has been part time for 3+ years, it proves to be very valuable to cover when other staff needs to be gone. — Bridgett Fredrickson, Whelan Eye Care, Bemidji, MN
• Your round. Our office is open 56 hours a week. Therefore, we have a combination of full-time and part -time employees. We have found that it works great to give employees flexible hours! — Theodore Sees, OD, Rockford Family Eyecare, Rockford, MI
• Year-round, some people only want part-time responsibility so we’re happy to fulfill that need. It’s mostly mothers who used to work for us before they had children and now that they’re in school, they just want something a couple days per week. — Josh Bladh, Dr Bladh OD, Diamond Bar, CA
• We work with employee schedules for schooling, etc. — Dave Goodrich, Goodrich Optical, Lansing, MI
• I had made it a point to hire interns who are part-time to give them exposure to the profession and patient contact. They are usually younger individuals who are still in school and deciding on their future. — Pauline Buck, OD, Behavioral and Developmental Optometrists, Miami, FL
• Less business cost. — Jeff Hayden, Vision Care Center, Brighton, MI
• I am looking to hire a part-timer especially for front office functions. The way we alternate our doctor days, it would be a great benefit to have someone to work our busier office on non-doctor days to do administrative work. — William Chancellor, Eye Can See Eyewear, McDonough, GA
• Year-round. We are close to a major university and used to hire students seasonally, but there is too much training involved to take someone on part-time and seasonally. Many of my employees are not interested in working full-time. — Sarah Jerome, OD, Look+See Eye Care, Minneapolis, MN
• I only have one employee and she comes in when I need her and goes when we’re done. We have a great working relationship. She’s retired so she’s very flexible. She’s here to help make the business successful and with the extra money goes on vacations. — Jennifer Leuzzi, Mill Creek Optical, Dansville, NY
• We have several part time employees that are great! They work year-round and help fill in the gaps each week and are a great benefit when full time staff members take time off. — Ken Boltz, Kenneth D Boltz OD, Dublin, OH

No: 46%

• Quite frankly, I never thought about it but this is making me think twice. — Monika Marczak, OD, Eye Candy Optical Center, McMurray, PA
• I have a small practice and everyone needs to be cross trained. I believe it is inefficient to properly train someone who will only be there part time. Well trained full time staff can handle even the busiest times. — Karen Santos McCloud, OD, Hamburg Vision Center, Lexington, KY
• It takes too much time to train them for it to be worthwhile. — Chani Miller, OD, Highland Park, NJ
• With so many considerations in glasses, we feel a full-time employee is able to have up-to-date ideas to present to the customer. — Mickey Bradley, Patrick Optical, Fort Worth, TX
• It’s difficult to get the same level of commitment out of a part time employee. — Steve Nelson, Eye Candy Optical, Westlake and Beachwood, OH
• Because we are not a part-time practice. — Penn Moody, OD, Moody Eyes, Indianapolis, IN
• Better luck with full time. — Robert McBeath, Edina Eye Physicians and Surgeons, Edina MN
• We have a very dependable team and they are all full-time employees. We do have one employee that is a student at the local University that works part time during the school year. — Susan Frein, Ames Eye Care, Ankeny, IA
• We expect our team members to have the answers for our patients which a part-time employee typically cannot provide in our ever-evolving world. — Michael Dunn, Henry Ford Optimeyes, Troy, MI
• Up to four locations and we’ve had turn over, we need full-time with experience. — Steve Boydte, Performance EyeCare, Swansea, IL
• Occasionally, usually at the employee request. We like to offer at least 30 hours so they qualify for benefits.  — Erin Pillsbury, Shasta Eye Medical Group, Redding, CA
• Having been a part-time employee in the past, I know that it’s difficult to juggle multiple schedules (which is usually the reason someone accepts a part-time job: other commitments); it’s more difficult to keep employees fully trained and fully aware of what’s going on in the office; and motivated. — Jen Heller, Pend Oreille Vision Care, Sandpoint, ID
• It takes a while to train someone to do things the way you want them done. A part time associate is not as invested. — Michelle Wright, DePoe Eye Center, Sharpsburg, GA
• There isn’t enough payoff for the time and effort it takes to train part-time staff in our office. — Katie Root, Latham Family Vision, Latham, NY
• Our staff is just right! — Kimberly Scully, Lodestar Family Eye Care, Palmer, AK
• We are only open 35 hours/week and want folks that are able to make it a priority to be here. That being said, if you have been with us a while, missing an hour here and there for a class is always accommodated. — Katie McElvaine, OD, Springfield Family Vision, Springfield, MO
• We have 4 full-timers and there isn’t a need for part-timers. However, three of the current full-timers were part-timers at one point. It’s primarily based on need. — Christine Howard, Attleboro Vision Care, Attleboro, MA