For some time, we have been working with employers to help them to communicate their eye care policy as we strongly believe that this is one of the best ways to ensure it provides value for money.

Eye care enables the early detection and monitoring of serious health conditions like diabetes and high blood pressure, and also helps with more minor ailments like headaches and migraine. It can, therefore, help towards improved health and wellbeing in the workplace, which in turns supports productivity and morale, but for businesses to benefit, the employees need to understand the offering and its advantages.

To show the link between communication and awareness, we researched the most popular methods for communicating an eye care policy. The figures show that this is in the staff welcome pack – the method used by 47% of employers.

Despite the rise of technology in the workplace, the intranet is used by just 43% of employers to communicate their policy and 35% send emails. More traditional methods of written information on notice boards and eye-catching posters are used by 32% and 29% of employers respectively.

So how does this link to awareness of the eye care policy?

Our research shows that less than two-thirds (57%) of employers believe all staff are aware of their policy and 40% believe most are aware of their policy. What, therefore, is working and not working, when it comes to communication methods?

The research reveals:

65% of businesses that communicate via their staff welcome pack say all of their staff are aware of their eye care policy.

64% of businesses that communicate via their staff intranet say all of their staff are aware of their eye care policy

60% of businesses that communicate with written information on noticeboards say all of their staff are aware of their eye care policy

60% of businesses that communicate via emails say all of their staff are aware of their eye care policy

57% of businesses that communicate with posters say all of their staff are aware of their eye care policy

Staff welcome packs are seen here to be the most successful method for communicating a policy, followed closely by the intranet. It is interesting that this is a mix of such opposite methods in terms of technology. We believe that the message here is that communication is important and that it should be across a wide variety of channels. One method of communication alone will not ensure full awareness of a policy.  

There are many options open to an HR professional. These include things as simple as downloading pre-prepared posters, or as comprehensive as providing a well-being information day for all staff. We encourage all HR professionals to give thought to the way in which they are currently communicating their eye care policy and to consider whether employees and the business alike could benefit from greater awareness.

Jim Lythgow – Director of Strategic Alliances, Specsavers Corporate Eyecare