According to the Vision Council's 2008 report, Vision Care: Focusing on the Workplace Benefit, vision disorders cause nearly $8 billion in productivity losses each year.  To help address these productivity losses, reduce healthcare costs and improve employee loyalty, employers should take a closer look adding a vision plan to their voluntary benefits strategy. MetLife's new white paper, Seeing Eye-to-Eye on Vision Benefits, offers a practical guide for what employers should consider when choosing a vision benefit. To download a copy, visit metlife.com/visioninfo.

Vision benefits are highly valued, with 76% of consumers saying that a vision plan is very or somewhat important to them, according to the Jobson Optical Research report, 2011 Consumer Perceptions of Managed Vision Care. In addition, according to MetLife's 10^th annual Employee Benefits Trends Study, 51% of surveyed employees overall are interested in a wider array of voluntary benefits; that percentage jumps to 57% for Gen Y and Gen X workers.  Adding vision coverage to an existing voluntary benefits plan can help ease the burden of employees' financial stress due to rising healthcare costs and help reduce long-term costs due to serious health problems for both employees and employers. Vision plans can also provide extra value to employers—these plans typically cost one-tenth of medical benefits, according to the Vision Council's Vision Care: Focusing on the Workplace Benefit report.

"Because so many people are depending on their employers to help them with their financial security, it makes sense for employers to add a vision plan into their voluntary benefits," said Michael Schwartz, vice president of Dental and Vision Products for MetLife.  "As a voluntary benefit, vision can be part of a benefits strategy that helps successfully leverage non-medical benefits as a way to attract and retain employees.  It can also save employees money by providing them with the care they currently need, preventing costlier issues that may occur down the road through early detection."