With cost-limiting currently a high priority, most companies are keen to maximise benefits and essential employee care but minimise the associated expenditure. With this is mind the AA has switched their corporate eyecare supplier to Specsavers Corporate Eyecare. They are offering visual display unit (VDU) vouchers to all of their 2,000 administrative staff. The main reason they decided to use Specsavers is for the cost-savings; the VDU voucher costs just £17 and this covers the eye examination as well as VDU glasses if needed. The voucher system also enables the AA to comply with their legislative requirements as well as offer a consistent service to all their employees.
Optical benefits are increasingly viewed as a valued benefit by staff, and with Specsavers being voted the most trusted brand for the last 7 years by Readers Digest, the AA are offering a supplier that their employees can feel confident in using.
Health and Safety (Display Screen Equipment) Regulations require employers to provide all employees who use VDUs with eye tests, when requested, and glasses, if required. Whilst the standards for meeting this obligation are set in stone, the costs are not. Research* from Specsavers Corporate Eyecare reveals that 84% of employers believe, perhaps from bitter experience, that the total cost of an eye-test and glasses would be over £50, when in fact vouchers to cover the total cost are available for just £17.
Jim Lythgow, Director of Strategic Alliances for Specsavers Corporate Eyecare says, “We are delighted that the AA has selected Specsavers Corporate Eyecare. We believe this choice is due to not only our highly competitive prices but also to the superior level of care the AA knows its employees will receive.”
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