What most employers do not realise is the fact that the average ROI associated with any employee wellness program is 600 % meaning for every dollar invested, the returns could be as high as 6 dollars. Apart from that employers will also be faced with much lesser employee healthcare costs when the company establishes wellness programs organisation wide. Among the wellness programs that could offer such employers a host of benefits include office ergonomics. Towards understanding the science of ergonomics as an employee wellbeing program, it revolves around the creation of work environments using elements and systems that employees require in order to be not just healthy, but also highly productive whilst being comfortable in their workspaces. This article presents two types of primary benefits that employers gain from an ergonomic workplace that consist of ergonomic office furniture, ergonomic office chairs and desks and as well as tools such as ergonomic keyboards and mouse.
Reduction in Various Costs
The primary or main objective of any given business’s establishment is to make profits and one aspect of making profits is to keep cost low and keep unnecessary expenses at bay. A non-ergonomic working environment generally led to employees being lethargic and even fall ill due to musculoskeletal disorders which does not only cause employees to become disengaged and not attend work due to illness, but also result in losses due to lower productivity, medical bills or even compensations for employees because of work-related injuries. A study in the UK revealed that carpal tunnel syndrome alone cost businesses about AUD 100,000 per person. Such ailments could be easily avoided if businesses embrace ergonomic solutions which only require ergonomic office furniture and equipment such as ergonomic office chairs and electronic equipment such as ergonomic keyboards and an ergo mouse which costs about AUD 120. This will ease muscle strain, reduce wrist pressure significantly and improve posture.
Enhanced Productivity
Studies have revealed that the lack of productivity results in annual losses estimated at more than 1.7 trillion AUD globally? This number is huge to say the least, but it is a fact and businesses that ignore ergonomics in the form of office furniture and accessories are bound to become a part of this statistic. There are numerous reasons as to why employees become less productive and among them include low wages, bad policies, injuries and discomfort. Investing into ergonomic office furniture and tools would enhance comfort for employees and reduce the potential for injuries due to poor workplace ergonomics which has been cited by some studies as the leading contributor towards low productivity.
Summary
Investing into office ergonomics will firstly improve the wellbeing of employees in general which leads to significantly higher productivity. Well-designed work environments that factor ergonomics allow employees to perform more efficiently as they will be subjected much lesser exertion and muscle strain and will be able to cope with repetitive motions more effectively and all this would ultimately lead to increased employee engagement which is always a positive factor for businesses.