Case Study: Employer Focused
Hospitality Meets Healthcare: The Steel + Lacquer Story
We sat down with Jarrod Ryan, co-owner of Steel + Lacquer, to hear how he and co-owner Lena Garcia built one of San Francisco's few salons that employs its stylists directly, and with it, real obligations around healthcare and sick pay. Here's how Apios Health helped them give their team faster access to care, reduce unnecessary call-outs, and take the guesswork out of managing employee health.
The Challenge
Steel and Lacquer faced two interconnected challenges. Most of their stylists are either on a parent's insurance plan or uninsured entirely, and when they need urgent care, delayed access translates directly into missed shifts and lost revenue. Sick pay costs added another layer: California and San Francisco have significantly increased allowable sick time accrual in recent years, and as payouts grew, so did patterns of absenteeism.
Making things harder, California law prohibits employers from questioning whether an employee is genuinely ill, which left Jarrod in a management gray area. He could see patterns like frequent Monday and Friday call-outs but had no legitimate, constructive way to address them.
“When I see patterns like frequent Monday or Friday call-outs, I now have resources to reference.”
— Jarrod Ryan, Cofounder
Why Apios
For Jarrod and Lena, finding a solution wasn't just about cutting costs. They wanted their team to feel genuinely supported. Apios addressed both problems at once: faster care access reduced time sick, and giving managers a legitimate resource to point to cleared the gray area around absenteeism conversations. As Jarrod puts it, "Apios brings hospitality to healthcare. It feels human, not transactional."
Key Use Cases at Steel + Lacquer
Use Case
How Apios helps
Results
Urgent care access
Absenteeism convos
Benefits education
Fast access to accredited guidance
Fewer Callouts
Legitimate resource for managers
Gray area cleared
Coaching on premiums and coverage
Better Decisions
The Cost Case
Mon/Fri call-outs
In California, sick pay accrual is mandatory and has increased significantly — every unnecessary call-out carries a real dollar cost. For Steel + Lacquer, reducing that exposure was as much a financial decision as a cultural one.
Relative sick pay risk factors — California employee-based salon
No urgent care access
Benefits illiteracy
Mgmt gray area
Misinformation risk
High
High
Med/High
Med/High
Medium
The Results
*
The Results *
