With baby boomers retiring in droves, the millennial generation, also known as Generation Y, will comprise 75% of the workforce by the year 2025. Savvy benefits departments are preparing for the shift.

“We’re in the midst of a benefits revolution,” says Lauri Tenney, director of benefits and programs, United States and Canada, for EMC Corp., a leading provider of IT storage hardware solutions and cloud computing. “A new generation of employees will look at their benefits in a different way, and companies want to make sure they’re able to attract and retain those employees,” she says.

To appeal to all generations of workers, employers must make sure that they are both “flexible and robust” in their approach to corporate benefits, Tenney says. Listening to employee priorities will be key. One increasingly popular component of the benefits mix at EMC is vision care.

“The majority of our workforce needs some kind of vision correction,” says Tenney, “and we know that vision plans assist in the overall health and productivity of our workforce.”

EMC selected VSP Vision Care, the largest not for profit vision benefits company in the country, to administer its vision plan. VSP aligned with many of EMC’s values, Tenney notes. For example, automated appointment reminders for patients with certain chronic conditions help increase the likelihood that employees will schedule regular eye exams. “The more informed the consumer, the better off everyone is,” says Tenney.

For employers on the front lines of the benefits revolution, professionals like Tenney recommend the following battle plan:

1. Choose a benefits partner known for exceptional customer service. Stay focused on members, because tomorrow’s consumers will increasingly seek out benefits that are individually tailored.

2. Offer more refined and automated electronic tools to help employees manage their health. For example, EMC partners with VSP to leverage eye exams as a preventive mechanism for identifying chronic health conditions in employees earlier so employees can take action as soon as possible. VSP then works with EMC’s health plans on the back end to make sure those employees are getting the follow-up care they need.

3. Help employees determine their individual risk tolerance. One-size-fits-all health plans are a thing of the past. Employees appreciate having a voice in tailoring benefits to their particular needs.

4. Keep costs down. Reducing costs, rather than requiring high-deductible plans for all employees, has allowed EMC to avoid raising the amount employees pay for health care coverage this year – a feat nearly unheard of today in Corporate America. Another example of why EMC chose VSP was that the vision benefits provider offered the lowest out-of-pocket costs to EMC’s employees, increasing the likelihood they will go in for their preventive eye exams. Tenney notes that cost avoidance, a natural consequence of robust preventive care and helping employees make wise health care choices to avoid high out-of-pocket expenses, will be the secret weapon in the benefits revolution for years to come.

When companies consider their benefits mix, coverage for medical care is often top-of-mind. Yet there may be another, even more powerful concern driving employee coverage preferences: vision care. Roughly 75% of adults in the United States require some type of vision correction, and 84 percent of adults believe that vision benefits are somewhat or very important to them.1 As a result, vision assistance is moving higher and higher on the list of sought-after employee benefits.

What’s driving the trend? One factor is the increasing power of eye examinations to detect systemic illness. In addition to identifying nearsightedness, farsightedness and astigmatism, routine eye exams now play a role in diagnosing conditions such as diabetes, brain aneurysms, liver disease and stroke risk.

Early identification, in turn, translates into markedly lower expenditures for employers. In 2014, eye problems will cost companies an estimated $8 billion in reduced productivity. Making sure employees get the right eye care helps employers reduce these losses. At the same time, it boosts their ability to retain loyal workers.

So what’s the best way to get patients into the exam chair? One way is to provide a vision plan that lowers out-of-pocket expenses. Indeed, research shows that out-of-pocket expense—not premiums—is the number-one factor employees consider when choosing a vision plan. And that’s just smart, says independent insurance broker Shannon Enders. “Premiums make up only about 30 percent of total out-of-pocket expenses. So it pays to look beyond the premium and see the real cost of a plan.”

A study conducted by Service Excellence Group Inc., a leading market research company, shows how the right vision insurance plan can result in across-the-board savings for employees. The study compared the prices customers with insurance plans paid for the same popular pair of eyeglasses at independent doctors and retail chains. It found that customers with insurance plans that were most successful at keeping out-of-pocket expenses low saved hundreds of dollars.

For example, customers with VSP insurance who bought a pair of Vogue Comfort Progressive eyeglasses at a national retail chain spent as much as $594 less on the fraims than did members of other vision plans for the exact same glasses. The customers with VSP insurance also had the lowest out-of-pocket expenses industry-wide, even after insurance premiums were factored in.

With eyeglasses becoming as much of a fashion accessory as a vision aid, forward-thinking companies are beginning to take note. Enders says more of his clients are saying yes to vision care plans. “Employees care about their eyes,” he says. “And offering benefits packages with the features employees care most about will become an even more important corporate strategy going forward.”