Okia, a Hong Kong-based eyewear service provider, has integrated corporate social responsibility (CSR) with the company culture, and has engaged in various community services through the years.
The company's 'free eyewear service' programme, introduced in July last year, has provided eye examinations for more than 1,000 people and new glasses for more than 300 people. 'Our staff saw the need for such services in the community and we decided to launch the programme,' says Arthur Cheung, chief operation officer at Okia.
Working with non-profit groups and schools in Hong Kong, Okia provides assistance to people with financial difficulties and accessibility problems that have made visiting optical shops difficult. The company delivers services through a mobile optical shop, offering eye examinations for colour vision, stereopsis and macula lutea, to providing glasses without any charge.
Okia collaborates with charities such as Orbis, a non-governmental organisation dedicated to blindness prevention and treatment. It is also involved in charity sales, donation days and marathons. The activities aim to fulfil the five core elements of the company's CSR initiatives: engagement, commitment, participation, involvement and motivation.
'We participate in most of the activities organised by Orbis because we have a similar vision,' says Orwell Wan, Okia's human resources and administration manager. 'We try to raise public awareness of the importance of protecting their eyesight.'
More than 90 per cent of Okia's employees have participated in the company's charity activities, and more than 50 per cent of staff have taken part in vision-friendly community services.
'We aim to arouse people's awareness and encourage our staff, their families and friends to contribute to society,' Cheung says. 'We want to use our knowledge to help others.'