Corporate Wellness Initiatives

Bankable talent often goes to workplaces offering solid programs and initiatives geared toward their wellness. This is why corporate wellness has been critical to retaining employees and improving productivity.

Eye Care in Corporate Wellness

Eye care, in particular, is worth investing more resources into when considering future initiatives. A study in the scientific journal The Lancet revealed that vision impairment has a notable economic impact on individuals, particularly those dealing with macular degeneration. As such, many workers may seek benefits that aid in financing their eye care.

Leaders may want to better understand the lengths that proper vision care can go to improve corporate performance and wellness. With the right steps, acting on these insights for improved operations should also be easier.

Workplace Productivity and Eye Health

Workplace productivity and eye health The World Economic Forum’s data shows that workplace vision significantly contributes to the global economy. With various industries moving to digital, society is crucial in intervening to protect employees' eyes. Visual impairment is already costing $411 billion in annual productivity. In comparison, they estimate the cost of addressing the need to correct vision to be a notably smaller $25 billion globally.

For business leaders, integrating eye care into corporate wellness is a worthy investment in the long run. In 2020, 18,150 reported cases of eye-related health issues resulted in days taken off work. While the risk is obviously higher in labor-intensive industries like construction, corporate environments still pose concerns with digital eye strain and its subsequent impact on other avenues of health (like sleep, energy, and susceptibility to headaches.)

The September 2024 issue of Computers in Human Behavior Reports confirms that digital eye strain symptoms worsen during prolonged digital tasks, with decreased productivity occurring as the symptoms progress. Symptoms also become more severe swiftly when tasks require a higher cognitive load, an expected part of daily work life in corporate environments.

Providing eye care in the workplace

In the current corporate landscape, leaders have mainly focused on the impact of blue light and environmental lighting on vision. However, recent studies note that blue light glasses may not be as effective in helping with eyestrain. While these lenses genuinely work in blocking out the most harmful wavelengths in blue-violet light, there is still little conclusive information linking it directly to sleep and eye comfort.

With this, the best solution may be to provide proper brightness in environments and integrate eye care services that help employees treat underlying problems. Employees often have a variety of eye health issues that require specific treatments, marking the need for access to eye tests, prescriptions, and intervention treatments.

With daily tasks requiring digital interaction and a lot of reading, progressive reading glasses are more appropriate tools, along with prescription spectacles. Multifocal lenses would most likely be useful for older staff but would also work with the growing population of adults with presbyopia. In the last decade, the number of presbyopes in the United States has jumped to 123 million.

Providing access to readers can be a cost-effective solution, primarily as modern models work for any age and gender. Even celebrity-backed lines like Sofia Vergara's Foster Grant collection have affordable ranges that work for men and women. Regular pairs like the Odair may be more neutral, with practical features like scratch-resistant lenses and anti-reflective coating. This can be useful for durability against wear-and-tear and glare reduction when dealing with artificial lights and bright screens.

The power of advocating for your team 

The numbers don’t lie, and research shows that 37% of companies offering eye health screening saw a decrease in eye-related health problems. Additionally, statistics revealed that more than a fourth of offices with eye care benefits saw better numbers in productivity and overall wellness.

Having meaningful assessments and taking action based on their results can be a powerful way to optimize for success. Team-specific assessments experience a 27% higher engagement rate when shaping wellness programs. When you understand your employees' problem areas and eye concerns, you can create a more robust corporate wellness program that actually makes a positive difference.

When you have a healthier workforce with the tools they need to maintain engagement, you also create more successful operations with loyal team members and sustainable practices.