Member Article

Specsavers supports Hastings Direct at Wellfest

Specsavers Corporate Eyecare supported Hastings Direct at its 2019 Wellfest event. Hastings Direct, a fast growing, agile, data and digitally focused general insurance provider to the UK market held Wellfest to celebrate the anniversary of its wellbeing programme.

Wellfest was open to all employees at Hastings Direct, with over 1,300 people attending right across the business, from frontline call centre staff to company directors. Specsavers Corporate Eyecare attended across two of the company’s sites – the head office in Bexhill-on-Sea and its Leicester site.

Laura Butler, Key Accounts Manager at Specsavers Corporate Eyecare said: ‘We attended with an optician from the local store as part of our support of the Wellfest event. As we provide eye care to Hastings’ employees this gave us the opportunity to really bring the benefit to life. Communication is a vital part of benefits provision and there is nothing better than getting to speak directly to the employees to explain the many ways in which eye care can have a positive effect.’

Laura and Specsavers’ expert optician were able to discuss the benefits of regular eye tests. For example, that an optician will check the overall health of the eye, as well as vision, and can also help detect and monitor other conditions like diabetes, risk of stroke and cardiovascular disease.

Hastings Direct offers eye care to all screen users through the Specsavers Corporate Eyecare’s eVoucher scheme and all employees are also entitled to Premium Club discounts. The team from Specsavers provided literature on the corporate scheme and showed employees how to apply for vouchers online. They were also on hand to answer questions and concerns about vision and eye health.

Mark Winterflood, Inclusion and Wellbeing Manager at Hastings Direct said; ‘Wellfest brings various elements of wellbeing together that our colleagues told us were important to them, mental, physical, financial, social, careers and community. After last year’s launch event, which was also attended by Specsavers, the feedback was very positive and had a real buzz about it so the Wellbeing team decided that it would create Wellfest as an annual event going forward.’

Wellfest took place over two days with more than 45 businesses and charities exhibiting. Many rewards and benefits suppliers attended alongside Specsavers Corporate Eyecare, including healthcare providers, as well as charity and diversity partners.

Mark Winterflood continued: ’The principle surrounding Wellfest was to bring awareness and education to our colleagues about the services that the business and charities offer. We encouraged them to bring an activity or interactive element that our colleagues could get involved with - people love to go away with something, whether that is a statistic about themselves or a goody bag! Everyone was interested in having their vision screened by Specsavers as we had all been made aware that slow deterioration can often go unnoticed.

’We wanted to make sure that the day was fun for those who came, create a festival feel, and be inclusive to all. Wellfest was described to me in three words that probably captures the day nicely, ‘Busy, buzzy and brilliant’!

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Specsavers Corporate Eyecare .