By Ben Reynolds, Director of Sales at EyeMed UK
Have you ever heard HR managers, line managers, or business owners explain their practice of claiming back vision care expenses? Often, it goes like this:
“Just go to an optician, have an eye-test, buy some glasses, but nothing too expensive, and give Finance the receipt and an expense claim form, and they’ll pay it back to you next month”.
It sounds simple, doesn’t it? The above sentence is spoken by a line manager or someone in HR to an employee regarding having an eye-test. But, before continuing with this approach, purely because “that’s how we’ve always done it”, what if there are more implications employers should be considering?
Allow me to paint a picture for you. One which may sound extreme but is a reality for so many people. Adam, an Account Manager and his wife Layla, a receptionist at a local hotel, live in a 3-bedroom house in Manchester with their 2 young children. Both Adam and Layla are employed and earn average salaries. Their mortgage has just been renewed at a much higher rate, costing them another £500 a month. Their cost of living, like everyone’s, has increased exponentially over the last 12 months but their salary hasn’t. Before now, they had £175 a month in disposable income, after all their bills had been paid. Now, they have to watch every penny and eat further into their overdraft every month.
For his job, Adam spends 8 hours a day in front of a screen, ending each day with tired eyes and often a headache. He thinks he needs glasses to help with this and knows under Digital Screen Equipment (DSE) legislation his employer, if asked, must pay for him to have an eye-test and, if needed to carry out his role, contribute towards his glasses.
Adam speaks to his Line Manager about this, who advises he should pay for an eye test and claim back the cost. This fills Adam with dread. He knows from previous eye-tests that it will cost him roughly £25-£35. And if he needs glasses this could easily add another £100.
Adam doesn’t have £135 spare, so he simply carries on squinting at his screen and dealing with sore eyes and a headache, not being as productive as he once was and taking time off with headaches on a regular basis. It’s affecting his mental health and he is worried about not only his financial situation, but also being pulled up by his employer for his lack of performance. The story could go on, but I think you get the picture here.
Some employers know about their responsibilities with DSE regulations, but most employees don’t know about what’s available to them. Many employers still ask their employees to self-fund vision care and claim back for it a month later. And here’s the problem.
As an employer, the responsibility lies with you to be DSE compliant. What if an employee, like Adam, doesn’t have £10 spare let alone £135? What if that employee has to choose between having an eye-test and buying glasses to do their job or putting food on the table, or the heating on at home?
Corporate Vision Care Benefits
Instead, what if we simply changed the process? The employer has the responsibility to be compliant and even if they offer expense claims or an EAP, will still have to pay for the employees’ eye-test and glasses at some point, in some form. With claim backs this is typically a month after the purchase – that’s a long time for anyone who is worrying about being able to provide for their family on a daily basis.
Wouldn’t it be better if they removed the financial obligation completely for the employee and provided the employee with a voucher that entitles them to the eye-test, and if needed for their role, glasses? These are bought either in advance and then distributed, or simply purchased as and when needed – the costs simply get moved from the end of the process to the start.
There are several clear benefits here:
1. The employee doesn’t have to fund the employer’s responsibility to be DSE compliant, albeit only temporarily.
2. The employer can manage spending easily with pre-paid vouchers – the cost is the same with no challenges over acceptable claim backs.
3. The employer removes the admin burden and costs for HR and Finance in managing employee vision care internally, and is easily able to demonstrate their duty of care.
4. The employee can get an eye-test sooner, meaning if corrective measures such as glasses are needed, it’s quickly identified and any other complications that can be found through an eye-test, such as diabetes or high blood pressure, are also picked up sooner meaning early intervention is possible.
5. The employee values their employer more, increasing their engagement and now they have glasses they are more productive and have less time off due to poor health.
The suggestion above isn’t radical, it’s simply changing the process slightly to bring the cost to the employer to the start of the process rather than at the end. The results are significant not only to the employee, but also for the employer, who can reduce and manage costs, and forecast better.
Corporate vision care shouldn’t be a tick-box exercise and shouldn’t be a burden on the employee, HR, or Finance. A better way of working is often just a tweak in the process, but in this case, that small tweak can make a giant impact to your employees and their welfare.
Contact our team today to see how EyeMed UK can help you and your team: https://eyemed.uk/contact-us/