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Welcome to the second half of our 2024 coverage on personnel strategies. In the last issue, we reported on our Job Satisfaction Survey and apps to streamline human resource functions and enhance employee engagement. (If you missed the issue, visit

“When you’re promoting a new product, material or service, make sure you explain how it solves a problem for your client. For instance, to the dentist, the fact that a 3D-printed denture can be replaced quickly and easily if the patient loses it is more important than the fabrication technique...

Since 2017, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and MetLife have collaborated in an effort to elevate the voice of America’s small business owners and highlight the important role they play in the nation’s economy. Every quarter, they survey small business owners about their expectations and outlook...

Lab owners share their strategies for creating an environment that fosters teamwork, empowers employees, recognizes their achievements, supports work/life balance, and provides both financial and career growth opportunities.

December is full of traditions for many of us and one of mine is to reach out to LMT readers to learn about their business goals and priorities for the upcoming year. After the last two tough years, I was especially eager to learn more about why 60% of lab owners have an optimistic outlook for their...

“We can’t do it without you” is the tagline we use in the cover letter of our surveys and it’s absolutely true. All of LMT’s survey reports wouldn’t be possible without you taking the time to offer your valuable responses and input.

To all those who participated in...

Here are 13 of the top challenges along with strategies for managing them.

Similar to our findings over the last decade, LMT’s 2018 Wage Survey shows that technician wages are still not seeing any significant growth. Overall hourly earnings are flat compared to our 2016 Wage Survey and 52% of our survey participants took steps to tighten labor costs in the last two years,...

It’s fair to say that layered porcelain has been replaced to a large degree by milled full contour zirconia (FCZ). Many of the small- and medium-sized laboratory owners I talk to are disenchanted with the fee structure of FCZ restorations; they feel forced into the FCZ price wars, are struggling...

LMT’s survey offers some optimistic news, but many respondents are still uneasy about the state of the market which, in turn, is affecting their personnel decisions.

What should be included in a personnel manual?

The length and complexity of your manual should be tailored to your lab’s needs and environment. You can include attendance and other employee expectations, holidays and vacation time, sick/personal...

This article first appeared in LMT’s August 2015 edition of the LMT Insider, our monthly e-newsletter, and takes a closer look at the pros and cons of the minimum wage ordinances that have recently made national headlines.

LMT’s 2014 Fee Survey respondents offer a mixed picture of their sales and profitability. On one hand, laboratory sales seem to be slowly improving. Profits, though, seem to be lagging behind.

The great transition taking hold of the way our community works is far from settling down as strategies continue to be employed and tested by tomorrow’s business leaders. Some of the changes have the capacity to pull the rug out from under us even as we retool to adapt to today’s innovations.

Though...

One of the reasons lab owners prefer to fly solo is that they have no appetite for dealing with the challenges that come with personnel management.

There’s no doubt that more people mean more issues. However, there are also as many, if not more, positives for having employees, key among them is...

During the start-up years of LMT, I read several articles about how product life cycles are bell curves; they typically peak and then decline. I also subscribed to the Harvard Business Review (HBR) and it featured a series about why most startups fail within the first five years.

Between the image of...

Mechanicsburg, PA

Owner: Greg Thayer

48 employees

Ever wish you had an extra day in the week to run errands, go to appointments, spend time with family or just chill out? The employees at Thayer Dental Laboratory have just that thanks to the lab’s four-day workweek adopted in 2005.

“Ninety-five...

Uncertainty prevails among the respondents to LMT’s 2012 Wage Survey and they’re being cautious about rehiring or raising wages. On a positive note, more than half saw an uptick in