Ergonomics vs Economics: today's workplace debate

The US Bureau of Labour Statistics recently reported that more than 650,000 work-related musculoskeletal disorders result in costs over 20 billion dollars to employers each year. These costs include Worker's Compensation and medical expenses, the latter of which are increasing 2.5 times faster than benefit costs.

Today's connected worker continually interfaces between a laptop, a tablet, a phone, or a combination of the three, and sometimes more, simultaneously. The challenge, however, is that many organisations have not updated their workspace requirements to meet these demands. According to the Steelcase Workspace Futures global study which focused on 2000 people in 11 different countries, a well-designed workspace can increase employee efficiency by 36%.

Richard Andrews, Managing Director of Inspiration Office comments, "there is a direct association between the ergonomics and economics of a business. If you speak to CEOs, they will tell you that around 80% of their budget goes to their people while 7% is spent on the physical space in which they work. If they were to double their spend on space to 14%, and it only produced a 10% return in efficiency on their largest expense (their employees), they would actually be investing 7% in money terms for an 8% return in efficiency."

Richard Andrews, Managing Director of Inspiration Office

In addition to increasing employee efficiency, of the 30 different postures that Steelcase researchers observed during the global study, nine were entirely new. Andrews explains further by saying that much of today's seating was designed to support the traditional one-task, one-technology, one-posture experience.

With our new age multiple devices, our bodies are forced to respond to these small technologies, leaving us unsupported. Work is an inherent social process that requires people to rapidly shift between individual, focused tasks and creative collaboration and that each new activity causes us to change postures.

Since today's worker sits in nine different posture positions than those of yesteryear, technology has changed the game and employees no longer work a 9 to 5 in one chair, doing one task. Productivity is increased if employees' work areas are arranged to suit them and the type of work being done. Appropriate ergonomic adaptations have also been found to effectively reduce the risk of musculoskeletal disorders symptoms.

"The space in a like-for-like company really is the deciding factor in attracting and retaining the best talent," says Andrews. "Issues in today's office environment which cost businesses money in lost production include, for example, time off work due to back ache problems and presenteeism - when an ill and absent employee reports for work but is in fact inefficient."

Probably one to the most underutilised words in today's business vocabulary, ergonomics is not the easiest to measure and not the first option employers' link to increasing profitability. Here, Andrews provides four reasons to make ergonomic changes to the work environment:

1. Ergonomics improves the safety and health of workers
   
2. It reduces a company's costs
   
3. It addresses productivity and quality issues
   
4. It also responds to regulatory concerns.