A Transitions Optical Survey of HR professionals in the US reveals that employers have a limited understanding of the benefits of an eye exam, as 97 percent associate going to an eye doctor with getting a new prescription, but only 60 percent associate it with diagnosing systemic diseases.
This limited awareness of vision care and wear may contribute to the fact that four in 10 employers never discuss vision benefits with employees, forgoing a huge opportunity to educate them about the value of protecting their sight.
Hypertension – also known as high blood pressure hypertension impacts the eye as well as the body. It can damage vessels that supply blood to the retina and cause leakage in the eye
In the US 78 per cent of all healthcare costs can be traced back to 20 per cent of all patients, those with chronic diseases, like diabetes, which can be detected through a regular eye examination.
Employers may be shooting themselves in the foot when it comes to educating their workforce about eye care. While employers in the UK are required under Health & Safety legislation to provide their employees with a regular eye examination if they use a computer as a routine part of their work, employers may not like to promote the importance of using their provided for eye examination because of the associated cost
Furthermore, employers may go with the cheapest option without an appreciation of the importance of specialist occupational eyecare for protecting their bottom line. Even slightly miscorrected vision alone – so slight that an employee may not notice it – can reduce productivity by up to 20%.
Also presenteeism can be impacted by poor vision leading to additional time to complete tasks and decreased quality of work and resulting in 32 times more productivity loss than absenteeism alone.
For more information go to the Transitions white paper on Communicating the Value of Vision Benefit to Employers. http://www.healthysightworkingforyou.org/pdf/broker_paper.pdf