If you’re looking to reduce employee stress and healthcare costs for your company while boosting productivity and improving your business, you should be considering how to create an ergonomic workspace. For any company looking to improve the day-to-day running of their business, researching and implementing ergonomic strategies should be at the top of the to-do list.
What Is an Ergonomic Workspace?
Workplace ergonomics depends very heavily on the workspace itself. The pursuit of an ergonomic workspace means designing a space that works as smoothly and efficiently as possible.
The workspace should take into account the capabilities and limitations of its workers and support them to complete their work as easily as possible to the highest standard possible. Whether the company in question is a financial company, a company helping people access to finance and credit (read more here) or even a company with call centre staff, making sure staff are comfortable is key to their health.
An ergonomic workspace might mean making sure that employees have ergonomic chairs and desks that support them and limit any back and neck pain. If you work in a more practical environment it might mean making sure tools are well organised in a system that allows everyone to find what they need. It could be a case of changing where people work, so that having a conversation with a member of your team doesn’t require you to walk over to the other side of the building. Creating an ergonomic space is all about looking at what you need, where time and energy are wasted and improving those issues.
A poorly designed workspace will rarely lead to a productive and happy workforce. More likely, it will lead to fatigued workers, even dangerous and costly accidents. A well designed ergonomic space will make a world of difference to your business and your workforce.
Once employees can see that their time and energy are valued and that their safety and wellbeing are of the utmost importance to the company, you will have a more motivated and committed team. This applies to working from home too, whether you are helping people get home improvement loans or working on your own projects, a comfortable workspace will help you make better decisions.
Why Is an Ergonomic Workspace So Important?
- Improve Productivity – Some studies have shown that workplace productivity can be improved by up to 25% when companies invest in ergonomic solutions. By designing a workspace to encourage good posture, less exertion, fewer motions and better heights and reaches, companies can improve productivity and make employees more comfortable. When you begin to consider the ergonomics of a job and work space, you can improve efficiency.
- Improved Quality – When a job is physically taxing, workers quickly get fatigued and frustrated. Poor ergonomics can mean that employees do not perform their job to that highest standard. When the task being performed is ergonomic it becomes efficient and easy for the employee to do the job to the highest possible standard, improving the quality of your product and the satisfaction of your team. Ignore so mean employees are less likely to make mistakes saving you money on time and resources.
- Better Safety – An ergonomic workspace is key in protecting the wellbeing and safety of your staff. When workspaces are safe, efficient and easy to use employees are less likely to strain or injure themselves.
- Less Employee Turnover – When employers take the time to create an ergonomic workspace employees feel valued and respected. An ergonomics workspace has been proven to reduce employee turnover, allowing companies to retain valuable employees.