Loud, Uncomfortable Workstations Are For the Birds
You have to remember that people who work in a loud place are easily distracted, easily prone to error, and easily prone to being lazy thus exerting less effort in problem solving and or ergonomic adjustments. The result is a harried, achey worker who dreads coming to work the next day...and, in fact, doesn't. And whether it's a sick day or turn-over, the cost of replacing that worker factors in to the $600 billion a year that businesses lose as a result of distractions and stress.
Thus to this we say, have you considered looking at the more practical and ergonomic side to things such as surveying your office and its current status, productivity wise and with corporate goals in tact? Sure it's easy to tell someone to do their best, but have you thought about their working conditions a little and how you can possibly help to make it better?
Ergonomic Ways for Health & Productivity
Be sure to have all laptops and monitors at eye level. This will ensure that your employees will not be suffering from eye strains, headaches or neck pains any time soon.
If your employee has back problems, then an adjustable ergonomic chair would be essential due to its comfort. Keeping their feet on the ground as well as having good back support is essential for every worker, thus adjustable chairs are widely loved.
In order to prevent Carpal Tunnel Syndrome, using a wrist rest and knowing how to use it matters a lot. Wrist rests are actually pretty confusing, because it's not actually for the wrist in general; it's actually a resting spot for your palms between periods of typing.
Ergonomically inclined keyboards. Even if your employees are using laptops or PC's, having an ergonomic keyboard around still makes a difference especially when it comes to the efficiency of typing their work. We all know that people can get quite attached to their laptops, but when working, it needs to be elevated in order to avoid eye strains; so you'll be needing a replacement keyboard to do it. Thus, an additional keyboard is required, so you might as well get a well-designed ergonomic keyboard. It's all up to the user's preference to find one and try it out. You can usually order a couple, try them out, and send back what doesn't work as well.
It's also important to keep whatever keyboard you have centered and right next to your mouse. Keeping the two together helps minimize movement and over-reaching, and also aides in avoiding wrist-cocking. Many find that a left-handed keyboard or a mini keyboard enables them to achieve this positioning.
Sound masking is also very important to take away the distraction as well as to protect privacy. It is estimated that companies lose hundreds of billions of dollars to distraction and that the average worker is distracted more than 2 hours every day. A simple sound masking system could solve a large portion of that problem.
Just by improving speech privacy and making a few ergonomic adjustments, you could save your business thousands of dollars in terms of distractions and health problems.
Published March 11th, 2011
Filed in Business