As remote working and flexible work arrangements become the norm in today’s society, more and more employees face a problem that’s often overlooked—their eye health. Employees now put immense pressure and stress on their eyes due to longer and longer hours spent in front of a computer screen.
Once they dive into their tasks for the day, they rarely look up from their screens, and without proper breaks, people tend to blink less frequently. While this sounds like a simple, inconsequential thing, it can actually lead to dry eyes, eye strain, headaches, and a host of other problems even beyond your employees’ eyes.
When employees feel stressed, presenteeism suffers. Plus, they will more than likely underperform. So, if your company is seeing a decrease in productivity, it's time to boost employee motivation through better benefits packages. Of course, health insurance is a fantastic perk, but wouldn't it be even better coupled with eye care benefits?
If you are still on the fence about offering eye care benefits, we’ve listed below some eye-opening reasons to do so.
1. Eye Care Benefits Encourage Employees To Maintain Productivity
Employees with vision problems find it difficult to complete their tasks, which impacts the financial health of your business. Blurriness might make it challenging to do necessary tasks, but the problems can extend beyond that. Eye strain can also cause symptoms including headaches, burning, itching, discomfort in the back and neck, and light sensitivity, all of which make it difficult to focus and produce high-quality work.
Employees may require frequent eye checkups and exams depending on their line of work. People who spend most of their workday in front of a screen may develop computer vision syndrome, more commonly known as digital eye strain, which results in dry eyes, tired eyes, headaches, difficulty concentrating, and other symptoms.
Studies show that even minor visual issues can reduce employees' productivity by up to 20%, adding up to a full day's work by the end of week three.
By providing vision benefits, you can help your employees get routine eye examinations, corrective glasses, or contacts that will aid them in seeing properly and reducing eye strain at work.
2. Eye Care Benefits Show Employees You Care About Them
Everyone should care for their eyes at work and in their everyday life. By providing vision insurance, you're showing your employees that you are concerned about their general wellbeing and way of life.
Eye doctors not only assess a patient's vision and check for problems like cataracts and glaucoma during routine exams, but they can also identify diseases and illnesses that affect other parts of the body.
Before patients even become aware of physical symptoms, an optometrist or ophthalmologist can identify indications of diabetes, cancer, heart disease, hypertension, high cholesterol, and other health issues based on changes or abnormalities inside the eye.
With early diagnosis, your employees may receive the required care from other doctors before the problem develops. This may lower their long-term healthcare expenses and lessen the time lost from work due to illness and doctor's appointments.
3. Eye Care Benefits Increase Employee Retention & Boost Recruiting
Most individuals prefer to work for companies that respect their contributions when completing challenging projects on time. But they also want to feel that their employer values them as individuals. That’s why employee benefits are a big lure for applicants. Unsurprisingly, according to studies, healthcare outweighs other standard benefits like retirement plans and vacation days as the most alluring perk for job seekers.
Not a lot of companies offer additional health benefits such as vision and dental care as part of their healthcare package, so providing them at your business can help you stand out in recruiting and retention efforts.
Prospective and existing team members will see that you are prepared to go above and beyond for them, providing a better sales presentation for promising new talent and maybe increasing the likelihood that valued individuals will stay with the company for the long term.
Bonus Benefit: Vision Benefits Help The Company Financially, Too!
Employer vision benefits enable businesses to save costs via preventative eye care significantly. In fact, the return on investment for employer vision coverage is $1.45 for every dollar you've invested.
Don’t Lose Sight Of Eye Care Benefits
Aside from teaching your employees to follow the 20-20-20 rule and reminding them to look up from their screens once in a while, offering good eye care packages will help them be in control of their eye health.
Don’t forget to encourage them to have an eye checkup every year to assess their general health and spot any issues that could worsen if left untreated. It will also be beneficial for your company to hold seminars on eye health and other events to educate your employees about the importance of eye care.
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