Survey reveals poor vision health knowledge among employees

A recent survey conducted by Transitions Optical Inc. revealed that few employees are aware how various lifestyle choices can affect their eye health, but suggested that they would be more motivated to change poor habits if their awareness levels rose, according to a company press release.

According to the survey results, while most employees knew that aging could affect their eye health (83%), fewer understood the detrimental effects of UV exposure (70%), poor nutrition (66%), lack of sleep (64%), use of medications (60%), smoking (55%; 85% of which agreed that they would take steps to quit if they knew that it hurt their eye health) and pregnancy (19%).

At the same time, many employees incorrectly believed that spending too much time in front of a computer (70%) or watching TV (48%) could affect their eye health in a permanent manner, the release said.

However, only 16% of respondents reported that they had received education from their employer related to their eye health, only 80% of respondents were enrolled in their vision plan and, of that group, more than 36% did not use their plan to get an eye exam, according to the release.

To support employers in their eye health education efforts, Transitions Optical offers complimentary employee education materials through the “Transitions Healthy Sight Working for You® program, in the tools section of healthysightworkingforyou.org.

Available resources include the Healthy Sight Calculator, which allows employers to determine potential health care cost and productivity savings possible for their workforce through a comprehensive vision benefit. An individual version of the Healthy Sight Calculator is available to share directly with employees, the release said.