Eyesight and productivity share a very close connection, especially in the readymade garment industry.
This was underlined once again at a recent symposium titled ‘Clear Vision Workplace Symposium’ jointly organised by the VisionSpring and US Agency for International Development (USAID) in Dhaka recently, which maintained that ensuring affordable diagnosis and remedy (providing glasses) to the garment workers could boost productivity while also ensuring their safety.
In the symposium, report of a survey that was conducted amongst 18,000 garment workers of Bangladesh in 2018-2019 by the Clear Vision Workplace (CVW) was unveiled.
“At a minimum, one quarter of the world’s garment workers need eyeglasses,” said CEO of VisionSpring Ella Gudwin at the symposium adding, “Imagine threading needles, finding fabric defects, operating a handloom, or picking tea leaves with blurry vision. The great news is that this 700-year-old invention solves blurry vision, while boosting employees’ well-being and productivity globally.”
As per the CVW, garment workers who received spectacles under its programme and 62 per cent of those who have been surveyed and covered under the programme reportedly maintained that the CVW measure has eased their needle threading experience.
A whopping 79 per cent further reportedly maintained that it has helped them towards feeling less frustrated at work.
It may be mentioned here that VisionSpring, which is a social enterprise that makes eyeglasses accessible to more than 6 million persons globally, with the help of USAID, has undertaken initiatives to provide affordable diagnosis and eye glasses (costing between Taka 150-Taka 200) for workers of Bangladesh’s RMG sector to ensure their safety.
