To be or not to be....MINE!

**HelpU2C** · 08-17-2005, 01:52 PM

Hello

I work in a very busy Opthomology practice as the only dispensing optician. I have about 1,200 frames in my dispensery. I do on average 22-25 $ a month.

We have a staff of around 15 other employees, techs, admin and an office manager. And then of course our Owner/Ophthalmologist/Eye Surgeon and we also have an OD on staff full time to assist. . Again I am the ONLY Optician in the office.

My question is.....should the perks (ie: shirts, perfume, gift cards, cd players, frisbees, etc, silly stuff and sometimes gift cards and/or money) be given to the Optician (ME!) or should it be raffled off to the rest of the staff?

I'd love to hear your thoughts! :)

Thank you!

**CME4SPECS** · 08-17-2005, 02:08 PM

we had a thread on this a couple of months ago. Go to search and type in perks.

**GOS_Queen** · 08-17-2005, 02:35 PM

Helpu2c -

I work in retail dispensing so I don't see any of those perks ... :( (waaahhhh)

but I did want to welcome you to Optiboard ... :cheers:

Karen

**misunderstood** · 08-17-2005, 04:20 PM

All of the "stuff" belongs to the owner, and I think that he/she can do what they please with it. you have to keep in mind that by raffeling the "stuff" you have an equal chance to win it. If you want the "stuff" all to yourself then you should open your own store.

**Jason Carruthers** · 08-17-2005, 04:56 PM

HelpU2C:

Since you are by far the most valuable person in the office I say you should get every single gift that comes in. After all, if it wasn't for you, there would be no gifts in the first place, right?

Jason

P.S. The above statement is sarcastic and designed to reflect the opposite of my actual viewpoint.

**Lynne** · 08-17-2005, 06:17 PM

Originally Posted by Jason Carruthers

HelpU2C:

Since you are by far the most valuable person in the office I say you should get every single gift that comes in. After all, if it wasn't for you, there would be no gifts in the first place, right?

Jason

P.S. The above statement is sarcastic and designed to reflect the opposite of my actual viewpoint.

I work for an HMO, and the "perks" such as you mention never show up in our work locations. It used to be that for every whatever lens type, brand of frame or whatever was being promoted was sold, by one of the opticians on the floor, our name went into a hat, and then pulled for a $5 gift card or whatever. But, some, namely those not "on the floor", doing the sales, got disgruntled, so now no-one gets anything. Better share those goodies!

**SarahMP584** · 08-17-2005, 07:50 PM

The other techs and I sold so much varilux that we won a trip to paris...
guess who is going?

The doctor who owns the practice.
that was kind of a slap in the face. :angry:

**rbaker** · 08-17-2005, 08:17 PM

Sarah,

Well, duh . . . what did you expect. Had your boss given you the trip he would be pissin and moanin on some MD message board. That's why commissions, spiffs, etc. usually bring far more resentment than joy.

For more info on this subject refer to the works of W. Edwards Deming. A goood place to start is here: www.deming.org

**chip anderson** · 08-17-2005, 09:08 PM

Now you know the golden rule. He who has the gold, rules.

**Chris Ryser** · 08-18-2005, 03:16 AM

Originally Posted by HelpU2C

My question is.....should the perks (ie: shirts, perfume, gift cards, cd players, frisbees, etc, silly stuff and sometimes gift cards and/or money) be given to the Optician (ME!) or should it be raffled off to the rest of the staff?

If you want to run an honest business where people can trust each other and not create any multisided problems...........................all above described items do belong to the owner and owner alone.

Whatever the owner decides to with it, is his choice..........he can spread it around the emplyoees or he can spread it around himself.

**spazz** · 08-18-2005, 07:33 AM

We put any perks that we get all together, and then do drawings for all employees at our christmas party. Great moral booster, and, IMO, a very fair way to distribute them.

**Diane** · 08-18-2005, 08:47 AM

The person who pays the bills, owns it all.

There's a story about the farmer who needed workers to work a field. He went out early in the day to an area where workers met to get work, and he hired some for the normal day's wage. About midday, he realized the job was larger than he anticipated and went back and hired some more for the same daily wage. Mid afternoon, he needed more and hired a few more for the same daily wage, because he needed the job done. At the end of the day, he paid each worker the same wage, as agreed upon. Those who had worked all day were angry, because those who had worked fewer hours, got the same money and they felt they should have received more. But, the farmer asked, "Didn't you agree before working for me that you would agree to this wage?" The workers said that they did...so it was fair.

When perks are given to a company, the cost of those perks are a part of the cost of goods. As a business owner for almost 20 years, I would have rather had reduced prices than perks distributed around. A practice should pay it's employees what the going rate is for the quality of employee they have. They should also have it identified what the pay is and if it would include incentives from vendors. Also, as a consultant, I recommend that practices have contracts with their vendors, that ANY perks or gifts that come into the practice go to the owner, and allow the owner to distribute as he/she sees fit. I believe that they have been paid for by the practice/business owner, and employees need too understand that. I would also advocate that any vendor that chose to give gifts under the table to an owners employees would be grounds for letting that vendor go.

There will always be the point that if the optician didn't do a great job, there would be fewer if no perks, but if the office staff didn't do their job well, the appointments wouldn't be there, if the techs didn't do their job well, the patient's would be ticked off and leave and also if there were no practice, the optician wouldn't have a job....it could go on and on.

The idea of pooling the gifts and having a drawing at an employee event, even a weekly staff meeting is a great use of the items received. As for the larger gifts like trips, they belong to the owner, and if they believe in rewarding an employee for above average performance by giving that gift to them, remember it is a gift from the person who actually paid for it...the owner.

In that same regard, if an employee/optician/manager chooses to get large quantities of product from a company just to personally receive the gift, that can be considered unethical, and in some practices would be grounds for dismissal.

Let your conscience be your guide.

Just my 2.5 cents worth as an optician.

Diane

**Framebender** · 08-18-2005, 08:48 AM

We never actively seek spiffs - we don't sell certain lenses or any other product due to rebates or incentives. Whatever comes into our office whether its a t-shirt or gift certificate it all goes into the Christmas box. At Christmas its all passed out at the company dinner.

We believe that our success is due to the fact that we have a good team and we function as a team. The front desk often contributes more than the person working the floor. Then again, we're only as good as the product the lab rat produces. If the person working the floor sells the right combination of product and dispenser fits it well then we all win. None of us can do it all and all of us must cover for each other.

I hope you're all having fun and making money!!