Why do some young adults think it's cool to wear glasses without lenses? It might be because they don't undestand how to use their employers' vision benefits.

Vision benefits have become something of a standard expectation on an employer’s package of benefits, and 76 percent of employees are enrolled in such a program. There are two groups of employees for whom the value just isn’t there, however.

According to the most recent survey on vision benefits from Transitions Optical, millennial and Gen Z employees are significantly less likely to enroll in or utilize a vision plan than their older peers--just 50 percent of Gen Z and 75 percent of millennials reported being enrolled.

The ninth-annual Employee Perceptions of Vision Benefits offers insight and potential explanation for these findings, including employees’ lack of understanding the difference between a comprehensive eye exam and what might be provided during an annual visit with their primary care doctor. More than 20 percent of millennials and Gen Zs don't think they need to have a comprehensive eye exam if they've had a vision test performed by their physician. Among older generations, only 8 percent feel the same.

It should come as no surprise, then, that the two younger groups also rated having annual eye exams as less important than employees overall.

They might not understand vision health or their vision benefits, but the younger generations are keen on learning. More than half of Millennials surveyed (56 percent) said they would be "much more" likely use their vision benefits if they better understood them.

Transitions Optical Survey describes the age gap in employee vision benefits enrollment.

Other findings from the survey include:

Six in 10 employees say full coverage of premium lens options or enhancements would help motivate them to enroll in a plan.
More than half of employees would be more likely to enroll in their company's vision plan if they better understood that eye exams could provide early detection of serious health issues.

Of eyeglass wearers specifically, 85 percent of employees say they would be willing to pay more for a vision plan that fully covers premium eyewear options.

Looking trendy might also be an incentive to increase enrollment and utilization of vision benefits, the survey suggests. Nine in 10 eyeglass wearers (92 percent) say they would be more likely to schedule an eye exam within the next 12 months if their vision plan covered one or more premium lens options. So those young adults can still rock a pair of full-rimmed glasses (or whatever other style suits them) -- just with appropriate corrective lenses.

Instant Insights /

Younger workers not seeing the importance of vision benefits

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