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Essilor Donates Protective Equipment to Support Global COVID-19 Relief Efforts

To limit the spread of the virus, Essilor Group has donated close to 1 million protective equipment including face masks, as well as goggles and face shields. Beneficiaries include local hospitals and frontline workers such as healthcare personnel, firefighters, caregivers, and security forces in China, Italy, France, Germany, Spain, Portugal, USA, Canada, and many more. Other donations include protective gloves, hand sanitizing gels and plano glasses.

Paul du Saillant, CEO of Essilor International, declared: “Our heart goes out to everyone affected by this unprecedented global health crisis. Essilor is committed to using its collective power and global presence to support our people and the communities around us and around the world. As the Covid-19 crisis evolves, Essilor will continue to align its philanthropic efforts prioritizing essential supplies, medical and emergency assistance thanks to the joint efforts of country teams, online businesses, Essilor Vision Foundations and the support of Vision For Life™”.

Key contributions from Essilor Group in Canada include:

Essilor Group subsidiary, Clearly, responded to the call of the authorities for the general public and business community to contribute, with the donation of safety glasses to Vancouver Coastal Health earlier this month. The eyewear retailer has requested its global eyeglass and sunglass manufacturers to switch their production to supply face shield and safety glass and is aiming to donate tens of thousands of these much-needed items.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Eyeployment.com Offers Free Career Planning Tool to Optical Industry

Eyeployment.com, the eye care and eyewear Industry’s advanced candidate assessment technology platform, is making a career planning tool available free of charge to industry associates and optical and optometry students effective immediately until August 31st.    

The COVID-19 industry disruption provides an opportunity to reflect, assess and plan for the future. The Eyeployment Career Planning Tool provides an online self-assessment questionnaire that uncovers the personal make up of individuals and points them towards specific career opportunities most suited to the person’s basic makeup.  Twenty-five different attitudes, preferences and tendencies are described in a comprehensive personalized report for individuals completing the assessment.

The online survey takes about 20 mins to complete and the resultant and fully confidential Career Planning Report is immediately generated and emailed to you. (Click Here to View a Sample Report)

The optical industry provides a rich and varied source of opportunities that job seekers may not have considered.  While many Opticianry and Optometry graduates may aspire to own an independent practice one day, their deep personality traits may point them in different directions for the fullest job satisfaction.  

Consider the Possibilities

There are many career opportunities available to individuals trained in optical and vision sciences, including business ownership, B2B industry sales, retail sales, academia, research, franchise ownership, customer service representative, lab technician and more.

The Eyeployment Career Planner assesses individuals on 25 personality attributes and matches these, through a “Job Fit” algorithm against the requirements of specific jobs within the industry. The report provides a ranking of jobs that best match to the individual’s characteristics and points them toward a career that will be the most rewarding and least stressful.

Tim Brennan, Chief Visionary Officer, notes, “This tool provides a perfect roadmap for better course or internship choices, apprenticeship planning, and a more targeted job hunt after graduation.”

“We wanted to provide a valuable service to help students and recent graduates impacted by the COVID disruption. Self-isolation provides a unique opportunity for individuals to take stock, reflect and learn. The free service is open to anyone willing to participate,” said Eyeployment president David Pietrobon.

Start your personal and confidential self assessment now

About Eyeployment.com and Fit First Technologies
Eyeployment.com uses advanced candidate selection science powered by Fit First Technologies International Inc. to help eye care practices find high-performing stars for their practice, increase ROI and reduce turnover. Eyeployment.com’s industry-proven system makes hiring more streamlined and less painful.  Solutions are tailored for independent practices or scaled up to enterprise level for multiple location networks.  

Fit First Technologies mission is to make hiring practices and career discovery easier, more human and more economical for everyone. 

Eyeployment.com is a division of VuePoint IDS Inc.

Diversity & Inclusive Month Spotlight: HumanWare

HumanWare Inc is the global leader in assistive technology for the blind and visually impaired, and part of the Essilor Group since 2013. Its mission is to empower those with vision loss to fully participate with their sighted peers.

Essilor acquired a majority interest in HumanWare Inc. in 2013 and accelerated its partnership with HumanWare in 2014 to boost investment in research and development to offer new and innovative high-quality products for the 3% of the world population suffering from blindness and low vision.

Who is HumanWare?
For more than 30 years, HumanWare has been developing a wide range of advanced, connected and intelligent devices that help people with vision loss to overcome the digital divide that most of the visually impaired community experience and allow them to participate in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) activities, achieve higher education and access to jobs in the new economy. Some examples include the BrailleNote Touch Plus, first Google-certified braille tablet, the iOS compatible Brailliant braille displays, Victor Reader®, and more, all designed to help users stay productive in their daily life.

To date, HumanWare markets its products in 50 countries throughout North America, Europe, Australia, Africa, the Middle East and in certain parts of Asia.

Inclusion: A ‘Raison d’être’
In line with its business which is oriented towards empowering the autonomy of the visually impaired, HumanWare’s efforts to tackle high unemployment rates within the BVI community include:

  • Targeting to have 10-15% of visually impaired employees.
  • Launching a successful internship program to provide training and work experience to visually impaired students.

By leveraging innovation, the company aims to bring the latest advanced technology for disability inclusion:

  • HumanWare has its R&D hub based in Montréal, a world leading center of excellence for cutting-edge research in areas such as Augmented Reality and Artificial Intelligence.
  • Thanks to a partnership with MILA (Quebec’s Institute for Artificial Intelligence), HumanWare is leading research into new ways and products which will improve the lives of people with visual impairment in the future.

Last October, the Quebec Technology Association named HumanWare SME of the year 2019 for its innovation in the tech industry.

For more information about the solutions available for low vision, visit https://www.essilor.com/en/brands-and-solutions/for-low-vision/.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Hoya Launches Recovery Program to Support ECPs Through Impact of COVID-19

Hoya Vision Care Canada logo

HOYA Vision Care Canada announces the launch of the HOYA CARES program and action plan offered to independent eye care professionals (ECPs) to support them through various stages of the COVID-19 impact.

The program includes toolbox packages with online educational webinars, checklists and guides about how to make it through the struggles of having to close a practice, open back up for business and sustain their operations when things return to normal. HOYA has offered extended payment terms, extended warranties and other programs to help ECPs across Canada in addition to the toolbox options.

As the Ally of the Independent, HOYA is devoted to assisting their business partners in getting back on their feet as quickly as possible. The “HOYA Cares” program provides various tools and incentives to strengthen the infrastructure of each practice and help bring patients back as quickly as possible regardless of the situation the national pandemic has left them in.

“Eye Care Professionals are facing financial difficulties and have incurred massive losses, not to mention having to lay off staff to keep the business afloat in the long-term. These factors alone are enough to add stress and worry to any practice owner, without concerning themselves with the need for using this time to plan ahead. We can and will help any Independent ECP who needs it!” said Ahmos Henry, President of HOYA Vision Care Canada.

HOYA Vision Care Canada is dedicated to supporting Independent ECPs in any way that they can.

Click HERE for the full press release.

Keeping Remote Associates Engaged and Motivated

Nava Sarooshi, President of MDP Corporation, lays out a prescription for keeping practice associates engaged and motivated under the constraining circumstances of COVID-19 closures and stay-at-home directives.

CLICK HERE TO VIEW THE RECORDED WEBINAR.

Sarooshi advises owners consider their practice culture and above all, ensure that practice leaders remain authentic to their own style and remain calm. She lays out a specific plan-o-gram of  Monday – Friday activities from which practice owners can choose to implement. Saroochi emphazises that consideration must be given to the various ages and stages of practice associates in choosing which activities will be most effective.

Her message, “Don’t underestimate how you can strengthen your team’s coherence and culture! Don’t be afraid to share your anxieties, hopes and dreams.”

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