How to reduce employee eye strain

This article is on how you as a manager or employee can reduce employee eye strain. Now, you might wonder why on earth you as a manager or as an employer should be worrying about the eye strain of your employees. But I am going to ask you to sit back and think a minute about yourself. You are probably reading this article on your computer. Now, how long have you been looking at your computer? How long have you been working at your computer, going through budget spread sheets, scrolling through information, working up presentations, going over orders, looking up information on how you can better manage your workplace and workforce, comparison shopping for equipment that your office and/or warehouse or wherever you work needs. Now close your eyes. Do they ache? Is your vision strained at all? Do you have a headache? When you go home at the end of the day, do your eyes feel tired and strained? Do you ever, in the middle of the day, find that you just have to lean back and close your eyes and rest them for a little while? Nobody is immune from the strain and damage that computer screens do to eyes. Some people experience the strain and damage worse than others do-for example, if I am looking at a computer screen for an extended amount of time straight, I end up with a migraine that puts me in a dark room for about 48 hours trying to recover. That's one way to stop looking at a computer screen!

There is actually a medical condition used to describe what happens to your eyes when you are looking at a computer for too long. It is called Computer Vision Syndrome, abbreviated as CVS. While Computer Vision Syndrome affects everyone who uses a computer to some degree or another, it can be more acute in some people, and chances are that there are a ton of people in your office who have pretty severe Computer Vision Syndrome.

So what can you do as a manager or employer to reduce the level of eye strain and damage in your employees? Because, to be blunt, if your employees are suffering from Computer Vision Syndrome, you are eventually going to be losing money. Computer Vision Syndrome is another physical condition that affects the productivity levels of your employees. It will also hurt the morale of your workplace, if every one is suffering because they are working in Dilbert like conditions, where managers and employers do not care about the well being and comfort of their employees. Now, doctors recommend that every single hour of the day, you should take a 10 to 15 minute break to rest your eyes. Now, combine the amount of time taken for eye breaks with the amount of time taken for restroom breaks, instant messaging breaks, and other things, and you are losing a lot of money. In 1997, in fact, companies across the United States lost more than $25 billion in direct productivity losses. And if you have to pay workers comp to employees who have to take time off because of severe Computer Vision Syndrome, that is even more money that you are going to lose.

Well, the good news is that capitalism is working once again. There are a number of different products that are out there that you as a manager or employer can purchase and install so that your employees and yourself suffer less from eye damage and strain. The majority of these products reduce the glare of the computers, which is what causes the damage to your eyes. Now, there are some products that you can purchase, such as Eye saver, that you install directly onto the computers that enable you to simply click on an icon in your task bar so that you can change the color scheme on your computer and reduce the strain on your eyes. The color change gives your eyes the break that doctors recommend without losing productivity. You can also buy special computer glasses that are coated with an anti-glare material. You can purchase an eye shield. Or you can purchase some sort of alarm that keeps track of when an employee should take a break. The point is that protecting the eye sight of your employees increases productivity not just because your employees are healthier, but also because they are happier in their work environment and feel more comfortable.

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Categories: Employee Performance,

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