The Cost of Computer Vision Syndrome

If you are an employer, you might be interested to know that studies suggest company profits can be increased by providing vision care benefits and computer glasses to help boost worker productivity, increase accuracy and reduce worker disability claims.

Computer Eyewear and the Bottom Line

According to studies, the economic benefit to employers of providing computer eyewear to their employees can be determined by measuring the average gain in productivity for computer workers over a one-year period, and dividing this productivity gain by the costs associated with the eyewear.

For example:

  • If an employer pays a computer worker $100 per day to process claims, and that employee completes 100 claims daily (with the correct eyewear), the cost to the employer would be $1.00 per completed claim.
  • If working without computer glasses decreases the productivity of the computer worker by 5% (a conservative estimate in light of previous study results), the worker would complete 5 fewer claims per day.
  • The loss of those 5 claims per day results in a cost to the employer of $5.00 per day.

The annual cost to the employer over the course of a year (250 work days) in this example would be $1,250 per computer-using employee.

Studies also suggest that computer vision benefit programs can add economic benefits to companies with large numbers of computer-using employees. Study results show that:

  • Employer-provided computer vision care to all employees who use computers, even those who are not experiencing CVS symptoms, results in significant productivity gains and cost savings for employers.
  • Employees performing tasks with particularly demanding visual requirements, such as accounting, CAD (computer-assisted design) work, document editing, and electronic design could benefit even more from computer eyewear than the average computer worker.
  • A computer vision benefits program could reduce the incidence of workers' compensation claims among computer workers.

For more information the effects of CVS on worker productivity, visit AllAboutVision.com's section on computer vision syndrome.