Employees are restless and job hunting again after more than a year of feeling stuck in place. The quits rate, which measures the number of employees who leave companies of their own accord, hit an all-time high in April 2021, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
With competition for talent becoming increasingly fierce, employers are stepping up their game to attract and keep good talent. Benefits packages are a key focal point. After a year of making employees' health and safety a top priority, employers are now taking a closer look at how they support the overall wellness of their workforce moving forward.
How are things changing? MetLife's latest U.S. Employee Benefit Trends Study found that 66% of employers have plans to extend the range of employee-paid benefits, or voluntary benefits, they offer; and 75% are planning to provide greater customization of benefits packages.
Establishing the right mix of benefits sets a certain tone: when benefits packages meet employees' needs, they are more likely to have trust in their employer's leadership and feel more resilient, according to the MetLife study. Those factors can heavily influence how someone feels about their job.
Further, employees increasingly want the ability to customize their benefits. Voluntary benefits like vision and dental are a great opportunity for employers to demonstrate their commitment to employee wellbeing, while also enabling employees to select the benefits that best fit their needs.
The range of voluntary offerings is vast, but one of the most widely appealing is vision insurance. Its potential impact on overall health is worth closer examination.
A Window Into Your Health
Vision problems rank among the top 10 disabilities among adults 18 years and older and its economic impact in the U.S. is massive, totaling billions of dollars annually. One of the most prevalent causes of blindness is diabetes; yet as many as 9 out of 10 cases of blindness caused by diabetes could be prevented with early detection and treatment.
Giving extra attention to eye health right now is imperative, following a year during which many individuals pushed off routine eye and wellness appointments. An estimated 93 million American adults are at high risk for serious vision loss, but only half of American adults visited an eye doctor in the past 12 months.
Routine eye exams are critical to early disease prevention and detection; if conditions like glaucoma or diabetic retinopathy are caught early enough, it can help stop the progression of disease or sight loss.
James Reid is the CEO of 
