Working in finance can be stressful. Employees face long working hours, the pressure to deliver excellent results, and the responsibility to make critical decisions, leading to productivity decline and burnout. As a result, 83% of finance sector employees have considered switching careers to preserve their mental health. Luckily, many financial organisations have taken steps to address this, including offering flexible working benefits. Over 72% of financial services firms have agreed this has benefited their employees’ mental health because it promotes better work-life balance.
However, these aren’t the only factors affecting workplace wellbeing and productivity – eye health can also contribute to it. Frequent use of computers can cause eye strain, while poor eyesight can lead to stress over difficulty completing tasks. If left unchecked, this could lead to declining productivity and employee retention.
To prevent this, here are some ways to prioritise eyecare for finance employees:
Offer eye exams
Genes, lifestyle factors, and eye conditions like cataract formation or farsightedness can cause low vision. If finance employees experience low vision or eye problems, it can make it harder for them to work because they cannot read text or numbers or input the correct values on a computer. It also means they have to strain their eyes to see better, causing discomfort.
There’s also a chance that poor vision can lead to other conditions, such as dizziness and sleep issues. If an employee is suffering from ill health due to their eye condition, it could mean a loss of working hours for the company – again, not good at all.
This is why offering eye exams as part of your health benefits is necessary. Through this, finance employees will find out if they need prescription glasses, surgery, or other procedures to address eye problems affecting their work. The NHS recommends eye exams every two years, so consider including them in your company’s employee health benefits.
Provide or recommend blue light glasses
Using digital devices is a norm in finance, as it’s used to analyse numerical data and input values on spreadsheets. Unfortunately, digital screens emit blue light that damages retinal cells. That impact can lead to conditions like age-related macular degeneration, which can cause vision loss. Employees can also develop computer vision syndrome: painful eye strain due to extended digital device use.
To address this, provide or recommend your employees use blue light glasses. These offer a protective shield against blue light by reducing glare to bring visual comfort. There are two kinds of lenses they can choose from: BlueReflect—helpful in reducing glare and unwanted reflections that can cause strain—and KODAK UVBlue, which offers greater contrast and depth perception for employees who need extra visual enhancement. The visual comfort these glasses provide can make for improved productivity and wellbeing in the workplace.
Use computer screen filters at work
The screen protector is another tool that can reduce blue light exposure and digital eye strain. It’s usually layered on top of a digital screen to filter and minimise the blue light it emits. This can prevent blurred vision and tired eyes, so employees can work more comfortably.
This tool is a great option to use on its own, but if leveraged along with blue light glasses, you can guarantee that finance employees receive the least amount of blue light possible. In the long run, this prevents them from developing eye conditions like strain, computer vision syndrome, and more. Given this, consider ensuring all digital devices in the workplace are equipped with blue light-filtering screens.
Encourage them to take breaks
Working in finance often involves long working hours due to the time and effort it takes to conduct research and curate reports for internal and external purposes. However, staring at a screen non-stop wouldn’t do your employees any good. Without rest, finance employees can suffer from tired or dry eyes—especially when they’re constantly staring or typing on a screen.
Aside from providing eye exams, blue light glasses, and computer filters, let your employees know they can take breaks from their digital devices. Encourage them to take a walk or play board games with one another during their time off so they’re not constantly exposed to blue light. They can also try the 20-20-20 rule, which involves glancing away from their screens every 20 minutes to look at something at least 20 feet away for 20 seconds. This can reduce eye fatigue and strain.
Prioritising eye care ensures that finance employees have optimal eye health. This guarantees their health and productivity in the workplace, so it’s worth considering implementing the steps above.