Workplace ergonomics has been defined as:
Workplace ergonomics aims to reduce the risk of work-related injuries like musculoskeletal disorders while also enhancing overall employee well-being. It does this by evaluating and designing or adjusting different aspects of the workplace, like equipment, furniture, or the work process itself. Changes that can effectively reduce the risk of workplace injuries resulting from prolonged exposure to awkward positions or repetitive motions common in poorly designed workplaces. 1
The McKinsey Health Institute’s 2023 survey of more than 30,000 employees across 30 countries found that employees who believed their holistic health was supported by their workplace reported increased innovation at work, and improved job performance.
The generally accepted dimensions of holistic health include physical, mental, social, and spiritual well-being. To get an idea of how you might address these all at once, consider the ergonomics of your workplace health and safety program. It is a systematized way of avoiding stress to the worker’s body, and can range from the type of office furniture you purchase, to support for repetitive motions, to how storage is designed, to even more complex considerations for skilled industrial labor. A holistic approach to worker safety seeks ways to systematize stress management not just for the body, but the whole person.
How a holistic approach is possible
Kevin Lombardo, CEO and president of DORN Companies, is a workplace safety expert known for his holistic approach to keeping workplaces safe and healthy. As a recent guest on my podcast, Headspace for the Workspace, he suggested employers think of their workers’ day in reverse: they go home from work, and because of an on-the-job injury, or a blow-out with a coworker or manager, they are unable to pick up their grandchild or keep focused on a difficult conversation with a spouse. The next day, they bring that stress back to the workplace, and the morale and anxiety is only exacerbated.
Instead of allowing the cycle of stress to continue, if you think of your workforce as a team of what Lombardo calls “industrial athletes”, you can create a holistic work environment that promotes their best performance by addressing what they need to recover from exertion, enhance their skills, and reach personal bests that will naturally contribute to the whole team.
“We do preventive maintenance on our equipment. Who’s doing it on the employees?” asks Lombardo.
Rather than address situations post-hoc, this future-forward way of supporting your employees anticipates what could happen if they are injured on the job in any capacity, be it physical or otherwise. Will they become depressed, or anxious about job security? Will they have adequate healthcare to help them recover? Will their productivity suffer? Preparing for questions such as these not only helps the worker stabilize more quickly, it protects your bottom line: McKinsey research also found that employee disengagement and attrition was much higher in workers with lower well-being, resulting in annual costs of lost productivity anywhere from between $228 million to $355 million for a median-size S&P company.,
There is federal support for this approach to holistic well-being in the workplace. The National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s Total Worker Health® (TWH) program offers “policies, programs, and practices that integrate protection from work-related safety and health hazards with promotion of injury and illness–prevention efforts to advance worker well-being.”
A good place to begin is with the suggested TWH audit in order to best delineate the individual worker’s experience at all systems and levels of their work day. From there, it will be easier for you to more effectively address overall safety and health challenges.
Suggested Questions for Company Audit
Do we regularly seek the input of our workers on the selection and design of our offered benefits?
How can we change or adjust management policies or programs to more effectively support improved safety and health?
How does the everyday physical work environment affect workers’ safety and health?
Beyond our workplace policies or programs that may be targeting safety and health, what influence do our workplace or organizational norms have on worker safety and health outcomes?
How do our efforts feed into the community at large? What sorts of resources outside the workplace, such as community support, would be useful in helping to reinforce and support our safety and health programs?
No matter what strategy you ultimately choose, the key to its success, says Lombardo, is to empower your workers, to include them at every level of the development and implementation of your holistic plan for their well-being.
“You will find you have optimally performing employees, people who are happy and healthy at home and at work. It bridges all the gaps,” Lombardo says.
Footnotes
1 "The Connection between Mental Health and Ergonomics," TuMeke Ergonomics, May 30, 2023.
2 Reframing Employee Health: Moving Beyond Burnout to Holistic Health, McKinsey, Future of Work Hub, November 2, 2023.
3 Reframing Employee Health: Moving Beyond Burnout to Holistic Health.
This article originally appeared on IRMI.com