The Unbelievable Benefits Of An Ergonomic WorkplaceWhat is ergonomics?What are the benefits of an ergonomic workplace?

When operating a busy business, you’ll tend to spend most of your time thinking economically rather than ergonomically. All your attention is on making money and how you can improve your business to do just that. As it happens, you could be missing out on one simple thing that’s been under your nose the whole time.

It’s simple, turn your attention to your workplace. Regardless of whether you rent/own an office, or work from home, you need to think about the ergonomics of your workstation. Plenty of people have heard the term ‘ergonomics’ before, but they either don’t know a great deal about it or assume it has no relevance to their business at all. However, you’ll be surprised at how beneficial an ergonomic workplace will be.

That’s what we’re going to discuss today; how working ergonomically can help be the driving force behind increased business success. But first, we’ll start things off by talking about ergonomics in a little bit more detail, so everyone is on the same page and understands what it entails.

While it may sound similar to economics, there is no real relation between the two things. Economics is all about studying money and finance, while ergonomics is the study of the human body in relation to efficiency at work.

Essentially, ergonomics is all about how people sit at their desk and do their daily work. Some people conduct various studies to figure out the best ways for someone to sit at a desk and type at a keyboard, etc.

The concept of investing in ergonomics for your business revolves around buying things that make you and your employees more efficient. You purchase items and adjust the working environment, so everyone is more comfortable and working to their peak capacity.

Now that we’re all on the same page, it’s time to look at what you’re all interested in; the benefits of an ergonomic workplace. In this section, you will be presented with plenty of reasons that show you why ergonomics is important for your business. Prepare yourself, as you will be amazed at some of the points and evidence provided.

This is one of the more obvious benefits you’re likely to see from an ergonomic workplace. By creating a more ergonomic work environment, you make everyone at work way more comfortable when they’re at their desk. No longer will people be fidgeting around trying to get into a comfortable position – that includes you. We’ve all been there; sat at your desk for an hour, only to stop what you’re doing and try to click your back or stretch. It can be very uncomfortable when you’re sat somewhere that’s not designed to help you feel at ease. As a result, you’re prone to distractions, and productivity wavers.

But, with an ergonomic setup, you will stop feeling uneasy and start feeling more relaxed. You don’t have the urge to get up as often, and you haven’t got niggling pains eating away at you. So, you’re more inclined to work at your peak level of productivity, and this applies to all of your employees too. Not only that, but the mere fact your office is designed to be ergonomic means it makes tasks easier. Every little thing is built to be easy for you to do, requiring less action and physical effort. Consequently, your desk becomes more efficient. A productive office is an office that potentially goes on to make more money as well.

Believe it or not but spending some money on improving the ergonomics of your workplace can help your business save money on the whole. This is because it will help your employees avoid injuries at work. If someone has been sitting in your dodgy desk chair for months, and it gives them a bad back that results in costly surgery, they can claim compensation from your business. You’ll be surprised at how many compensation claims could be stopped purely by improving the ergonomics of your workstations in the office.

The main reason people choose to avoid investing in ergonomics is that they don’t want to spend money. The thought of paying more money for expenses chairs, desks, keyboards, and so on, is too much for some owners. In fact, they’re often taught to cut costs and buy cheaper office furniture. However, as it shows in the office furniture section on the Simply Best Of website, you’ll see there are different levels when it comes to buying things like ergonomic chairs. Some are very expensive, others are more affordable. The same applies to every other thing you buy as well! Plus, you have to remember that this in an investment. You will get something out of spending a little extra on ergonomic furniture. It benefits your business and saves money in the long run.

Anyone that owns a business will testify the importance of keeping employees happy. It might seem like a trivial thing, but happy employees will do so much for your business. Again, there are links between happy employees and more productivity, but that’s not the main focus of things here. When you have good ergonomics in the workplace, your employees start to enjoy coming to work more and more. It no longer feels like a chore as they aren’t dreading sitting in a hard chair for hours and leaving with pains everywhere. They work with a smile on their face, and are more likely to stay after hours if there’s more work to be done.

By having happy employees, you will also improve your employee retention rates. Your turnover will be a lot less as you can keep the same team together for longer. Why would someone quit their job if they enjoy it? By keeping them happy you won’t have to go out and hire new employees every few months or so, and try to patch a new team together. Everything stays as it is, which is so important for business success.

Another unknown benefit of ergonomics in the office is that they can also improve the quality of the work that goes on. Yes, it improves productivity, so you and your employees do more work, but the standard of that work also goes up too. Again, this is all down to how you feel while you’re working. When you’re positioned ergonomically, work comes naturally to you. As a result, you find it easier to do certain things and also don’t feel compelled to rush through them.

On the whole, you spend more time on certain tasks and can perform them to the best of your abilities. This means clients and customers get to enjoy improved work from you, which will lead to happier reviews, helping you find more customers. You see, ergonomics can have a massive domino effect that ends up with your business benefitting quite dramatically.

This final point links into the ones concerning productivity and employees getting injured. With an ergonomic office, you will see fewer absences at work because people aren’t getting hurt at work. They won’t feel the need to stay at home for a few days because their back needs a rest from sitting in a chair all day.

As any business owner knows, absences can damage your company. They lead to wasted days, and then a lot of chasing and catching up. Think about it, imagine you run a business and someone phones in absent, but they have a client meeting on that day. Now, you have to try and reorganize the meeting, which could cause the client to get annoyed. Imagine this happens more than once, and they might take their business elsewhere, costing you money. All this just because an employee was absent due to pain from their setup at work. Reduce absences exponentially with an ergonomic workstation for all employees.

It’s clear from these points that there are plenty of benefits to having an ergonomic workplace. When you add everything up, the benefits surely outweigh the costs. Companies tend to avoid doing this just because it costs money – or they’re not even interested in improving comfort and safety at work. They just see it as another big business expense designed to slow down their cash flow.

But, it’s clearly much more than that. This isn’t an expense that you’ll see nothing out of – like regular office furniture. It’s an investment that brings a lot back to your company. Plus, you can always regain some money by selling your old office furniture too. This immediately helps bring back some of the costs of creating an ergonomic workplace, before you factor in future savings and earnings brought in as a result of this endeavor.

The bottom line is; if you’re looking for a way to improve your business and see more success, then you need to create an ergonomic workplace.

[Editor’s note: This is a partnership post.]