VISION HEALTH AND THE FUTURE OF WORK: An Underrecognized Priority for Governments and Employers in the 21st Century

This report highlights the growing importance of preventing avoidable visual impairments and the cascading consequences across healthcare and the 21^st century workplace should visual impairments remain unaddressed.

The infographic calls for multiple levels of action to address avoidable age-related visual impairments through:

• greater action by policymakers and employers to support employee vision health,
• increased employee awareness of their own vision health and the importance of prevention, early diagnosis and care,
• further research on the impacts of age-related visual impairments on employee productivity, participation, and quality of life.

The workplace of the future is already here.

People are working differently and working longer. Widespread unaddressed visual impairment has important implications for workplace productivity. Failure to address age-related visual impairments will increasingly define and limit the future of work.

• Presbyopia is a common and often unaddressed visual impairment that worsens with age and results in an inability to focus at near distances.
• The effects of presbyopia and other age-related visual impairments often begin around age 40, when many people are in the prime of their working lives.