By Debbie Bolla
Company benefits have become a competitive differentiator for today’s top talent. In fact, research from Voya finds that nearly three-quarters of workers say they would choose better benefits over a higher salary when making a final decision about a new role. One area in particular where interest continues to grow is vision benefits—four out of five employees say vision benefits are as important to them as general medical insurance.
This comes as no surprise considering that more than 80% of adults report using some form of vision correction. Employers are responding, with 88% of organizations offering vision benefits, according to research from Arizent. This is helping to promote preventive care. The Vision Council finds that those with insurance are three times more likely to get an annual exam compared to those individuals without coverage.
4 out of 5 employees say vision benefits are as important to them as general medical insurance.
Vision coverage and access to annual exams also leads to a three times greater chance of diagnosing a potential eye problem. Such conditions include presbyopia, macular degeneration, and glaucoma, as well as increased myopia rates among the youth, often triggered by large amounts of screen time. Having an eye exam each year can also allow for spotting early detection of chronic health conditions like diabetes, high blood pressure, and high cholesterol.
Eye health is also becoming increasingly important to employee performance. Common aliments of employees who are frequently on a screen—whether it be a laptop, desktop, tablet, or smartphone—is eye strain and light sensitivity. Nearly 70% of respondents to a recent survey report these types of vision problems affect their work and productivity.
But eye care benefits can help by providing employees the tools they need to reduce eyestrain and boost overall optical health to remain productive at work. Wakefield Research also finds that almost half of employees report that taking brief breaks to rest their eyes helps prevent eyestrain and helps improve the quality of their work and performance.