Dental and Vision Benefits Go Better Together

Why should businesses offer dental, and vision benefits together?  Here are five reasons why.

Companies are Competing for the Best People

Companies are hiring and competing for the best talent. Businesses are offering better employee insurance benefits, including dental and vision. In a recent SHRM employer survey, 86% of companies responding believe employee benefits are very or extremely important to their employees. Among the most attractive are dental and vision benefits. In a Fractl employee benefits survey 88% of employees responded that a company’s dental, vision and health benefits are an important factor in taking a job. If you’re competing for top talent, it pays to offer dental and vision.

Engaging and Retaining Top Talent

Employee benefits, especially, dental and vision insurance help with employee retention. Retention is key, because employee turnover is costly.

The cost of turnover is extremely high; it’s estimated that losing an employee can cost 1.5-2 times the employee’s salary. Depending on the individual’s level of seniority, the financial burden fluctuates. For hourly workers, it costs an average of $1,500 per employee. For technical positions, the cost jumps to 100-150 percent of salary. At the high end, C-suite turnover can cost 213 percent of salary.

Not only are businesses forced to dedicate time and resources to recruiting, onboarding and training a new hire after an employee leaves, but a business simultaneously takes a hit internally while the role remains unfilled. 

Businesses can benefit in a wide variety of ways when they focus on employee retention. These include:

1. Reduced Employee Turnover Hassle

2. Improved Employee Morale

3. Reduced Employee Acquisition and Training Time

4. Dedicated Employee Company Experts

5. Increased Overall Productivity

6. Better Customer Experience

7. Reduced Hiring and Training Costs

All of these retention advantages ultimately contribute to healthier bottom-line profits for businesses.

More Productive Teams

Regular dental checkups can help keep your workforce stronger, healthier, and more productive. Workers lose 164 million work hours each year because of dental disease.1 Healthier employees help a business’s bottom line, especially since 77 percent of people with dental coverage report having a dental checkup in the past year which helps prevent more serious dental disease. 

Vision coverage is also a vital part of a benefit package for keeping a strong workforce, which means a better bottom line for you. In fact, employers gain as much as $7 for every dollar spent on vision coverage.2 Uncorrected vision problems can reduce employee productivity by up to 20 percent1 – that’s one day per workweek.

Affordable for Most Companies

As mentioned above, it is often more expensive when companies do not offer a comprehensive benefit package. When companies factor in the cost of employee turnover, loss of leadership and company knowledge, broken customer relationships and lost forward momentum, the cost dental and vision benefits pales in comparison.

Dental and vision insurance are really affordable for employers. Unlike general health insurance costs, which are constantly increasing, dental and vision premiums have increased at a slower rate. It is common to see two or three year vision premium rate guarantees.

According to research, dental coverage costs have risen by only 4 percent in the past years. Even better, vision coverage costs have actually dropped by 3 percent recently.

This makes dental and vision benefits extremely affordable for companies.

Overall Wellness of Employees

In addition to better oral health and wellness, dental exams can help detect serious illness, such as periodontal disease, as well as signs of other serious oral and systemic medical conditions. Studies have shown links between periodontal disease and life-threatening conditions such as diabetes, cardiovascular disease, pulmonary disease, and low birth weight for babies.3

You may have heard of the whole health advantages of regular dental visits, but did you know that signs of serious diseases and conditions like high blood pressure, high cholesterol, thyroid diseases, and certain types of cancers can be detected through an eye exam. In fact, the eyes and overall health are all connected. And eye doctors are frequently the first to detect signs of abnormal health conditions. 

From employee recruiting and retention, to general employee wellness and productivity, dental and vision benefits together help keep employees healthier and happier. Since the health of a business depends on the health of its employees, dental and vision benefits are critical for a business’ success.

1 Bertolami, C.N. “Health Care Reform Must Include Dental Care.” Roll Call, Inc. April 23, 2009

2 “Vision in Business Report,” Vision Council of America, July 2007

3 Romero, B.C., Chiquito, C.S., Elejalde, L.E., Bernardoni, C.B. “Relationship Between Periodonatal Disease in Pregnant Women and the Nutritional Condition of their Newborns.” Journal of Periodontology. 2002; 73 (11): 77-1183