Employee Health Matters

Physical health and financial health often go hand in hand. Rising health care costs have caused companies to shift more of the benefit burden to employees. This may be helpful and necessary for the company but ultimately leaves the employee with less income to take care of their family. As a lab owner, it is up to you to motivate and inspire your people to perform well. Nothing kills this enthusiasm like a pay cut.

You may not be able to control the country’s healthcare costs, but you can do something that will benefit your employees’ health. Start a wellness program. Weight loss, exercise, smoking cessation, and other programs no doubt can and do improve people’s health. The benefits to employees could include improved health, lower medical costs, and closer bonding with co-workers. They spend all day together; working toward a common goal while providing mutual encouragement can foster better workplace camaraderie.

The lab owner can also benefit through reduced benefit costs, improved employee morale, better attendance rates, and increased employee productivity. Most importantly, starting a wellness program can also show your employees that they matter to you. If they can see that you care about them, they are more likely to care about you and your business. Who knows? You could lead by example and participate in the workplace wellness program too and improve your own health while improving your business. Win-Win!

—Jason A. Meyer is senior vice president, HPC Puckett & Company. Based in San Diego, Calif., HPC Puckett & Company specializes in mergers and acquisitions of wholesale optical laboratories. You can send comments or questions about this article or any other Dollars & Sense articles to Jason Meyer at [email protected].

Precision San Diego Promotes 'Alliance' with Practitioners

Precision San Diego recently celebrated the launch of its in-house Crizal processing center by partnering with Essilor to co-host a dinner for practitioners at San Diego’s elegant Bohannan Estate. The event was a springboard for the formation of The Alliance, a group formed by Precision, Essilor and Transitions Optical to offer practitioners new tools to enhance their practices. A select group of practitioners joined the Alliance and are participating in a six-month series of breakfast forums at which they discuss practice growth, networking and methods of increasing patient satisfaction with premium products such as digital lenses, AR lenses and photosensitive lenses.

The Alliance also provides the practitioners with business resources such as a banking officer who provides financial planning assistance and a graphic/website designer who develops marketing material exclusively for Alliance members. Each office meets individually with a marketing consultant to support its growth process.

“In today’s economic climate, many independent practitioners are becoming more strategic, looking for ways to differentiate themselves in a difficult marketplace,” said Mark Becker, president and CEO of Precision San Diego. “As an independent lab, we feel it’s important to bring to them all the resources we can.” He added, “We want the Alliance to create a synergy that will be applicable to many things, not just specific products or services.”

Pictured at top are, left to right, Michael Stegen of Stegen Designs, Bev Becker, Bobbie Bohannan and Mark Becker of Precision San Diego greeted guests throughout the evening.

In the middle are Essilor's Shon Bjornberg, Colin St. Clair, Erin Allen, John McMahan and James Schrick.

At the bottom are Denis Iwamoto, OD, Lori Treadwell of Precision San Diego and Bob Howard, OD as they enjoy the evening at The Bohannan Estate.

Walman Tees Off With Callaway Golf

Walman Optical has entered into a license agreement with the Callaway Golf Company to promote the Callaway Sunwear collection featuring the technologically advanced Neox Transitions SolFX outdoor lenses. Under the terms of the agreement, Walman will develop and distribute Callaway branded sunwear and ophthalmic fashion frame collections. In addition, Walman Optical has exclusive marketing, sales and distribution rights to the Neox Transitions SolFX lens.

Walman Optical plans to launch the Callaway sunwear line and the Neox Transitions SolFX lenses simultaneously in April. The Callaway branded men’s ophthalmic frame collection is slated for a May 2010 introduction. Both lines will be distributed exclusively by Walman Optical’s Imagewear, Walman Ophthalmic and Soderberg Ophthalmic divisions.

Pictured above are, left to right, Craig Giles, vice president of Soderberg’s ophthalmic division; John Anderson, vice president of Walman Optical’s ophthalmic division and Doug Schlauderaff, vice president of Walman’s Imagewear division.

Essilor Honors Tri-Supreme’s
Michael Cooper

Michael Cooper, vice president of laboratory operations at Tri-Supreme Optical in Farmingdale, N.Y. has been named as one of Essilor’ Distinguished Employees, one of only a handful of people to receive the honor this year. Cooper is also the first person to earn the award in the partner lab division of Essilor of America.

To be considered for the award, candidates must demonstrate leadership ability and skills, hard work and dedication. When Essilor acquired Tri-Supreme in 2004, Cooper played a central role in helping the lab transition from being a privately owned business to becoming a key part of the Essilor organization.

Seen here are Michael Cooper being congratulated by Jay Graber (left) and David Steuerman of Tri-Supreme.

SoCal Practices Score With Zeiss Individual and Transitions

Five practices enjoyed a private tailgate party and a San Diego Chargers game at Qualcomm Stadium as winners of the “Charge into the Revolution” promotion from Carl Zeiss Vision, Transitions Optical and Perfect Optics, a San Diego-based wholesale lab. The winning practices were: Barry Mozlin OD of Encinitas, Calif., Richard Skay, OD of San Marcos, Calif., Point Loma Optometry of San Diego, Calif. and Mira Mesa Optometry of San Diego, Calif., Tony Pham, OD of San Diego, Calif., and Greider and Associates of Vista, Calif.

Katy Coleman, pictured above left, of Dr. Richard Skay’s office accepts four entrance tickets and winning prizes at the private tailgate party from Adrienne Sikman of Carl Zeiss Vision.

Eileen-Ann Lewis @ Reliable Optics

Reliable Optics, located in Brooklyn, New York was established in the spring of 2007 after the merger of Elm Ophthalmic Laboratory and Vision Lens Express warehouse. With over 20 combined years of serving eyecare professionals, Reliable Optics covers a 10,000 square foot state-of-the-art facility, making it the largest independent full-service laboratory in New York City. Eileen-Ann Lewis joined the 50-person lab in 2009 as the technical support manager.

On a typical day, Lewis starts early by opening the lab and getting it ready for the day ahead. She prepares the workstations and downloads the customers’ orders, getting them ready for the lab work ahead. “The ability to provide a laboratory that supports and grows the independent practitioner is our primary goal here at Reliable,” said Lewis.

Lewis assists ECPs by answering technical questions and troubleshooting problems. In addition, Lewis analyzes internal and external credits and also assists in lab operations as needed. “Our company culture continues to grow in response to our clients’ needs. We pride ourselves on a high energy, productive work atmosphere here, all due to our clients,” said Lewis.

Before taking her position at Reliable Optics, Lewis gained experience working at a variety of companies such as Triconic Labs, Supreme Optical, Benedict Optical and Tri-Supreme Optical. She finds the work gratifying and the outcome fulfilling. “When you find a job like mine, it makes life that much more enjoyable,” said Lewis.

LabTalk Spotlight   March 2010

Economy Schmonomy—Consumers Want The Most For Their Money
By Brian Lynch, Winchester Optical

Winchester Optical Company has been in business for 108 years. My grandfather started working at Winchester during the 1920’s, and the Lynch family took over full ownership in 1963. As with most companies, we have changed with the times—but one thing that has remained consistent is our commitment to our customers and our promise to provide the highest-quality products and services.

Earning the 2009 U.S. Transitions Lab of the Year title has been a remarkable honor for both myself and the entire Winchester Optical team (pictured above). We have been firm believers in the Transitions family of products since Transition lenses were first introduced in the early 1990s—and have promoted Transitions lenses both as an ideal everyday lens option and as an opportunity for growth.

Despite the distressed economy, in 2009, we decided to raise our own bar and take our partnership with Transitions to a new level—with a goal of stimulating growth and boosting customer satisfaction. We focused on three main areas for growth: Transitions lenses, Crizal anti-reflective coatings and Varilux lenses. We were confident that even in the current economic climate, consumers would be willing to spend more on a product that did more for them, so we encouraged our customers to promote Transitions lenses alongside of other premium enhancements.

To learn more about what Winchester Optical did to become the Transitions Lab of the Year for 2009, log onto www.labtalkonline.com where you will find Economy Schmonomy—Consumers Want The Most For Their Money, listed under the Features section.