Technically, ergonomics involves the process of designing or arranging components in a workplace, including all systems and products, in a way that’s most beneficial to those using them. Studies have shown that ergonomics is vital to the functioning of an office, as it has a direct effect on the occurrence of work-related injuries or illnesses and on the increase of efficiency and morale. Workplace wellness ideas and wellness programs at work have been increasing lately due to the same reasons.

Here are a few measures that can be employed to enhance health and improve wellness ideas in the workplace.

Provide Good Seating

Posture is an obvious determinant of the productivity of a person. Awkward seating positions that result from setup mismatches can affect the pace of the work and accuracy with which the tasks are being completed. They also increase the chances of employees being diagnosed with musculoskeletal disorders. This can be avoided by providing ergonomic office chairs to all employees. What makes a chair ergonomic is how adjustable it is to suit the needs of diverse employees and how well it supports one’s height, weight and lumbar. Investing in good seating improvements always turn out to be rewarding in the long run, as they prevent workplace injuries and keep employees efficient for a longer period.

Source Adjustable Desks

Even though basic ergonomic factors are adhered to while manufacturing desks, keeping in mind standard employee well-being initiatives, they might not suit all the users perfectly. In such scenarios, adjustable desks are the best options. Improper desk height can cause the employees to adopt an uncomfortable posture – including the extension of the neck and hands, hunched shoulders, or a slouched back. This can cause increases in exhaustion, muscle pain, and soft tissue fatigue, if continued for longer periods of time. The total comfort of hands, neck, shoulders and arms are to be ensured so that maximum productivity can be reached.

As sitting for long can produce MSDs, switching between sitting and standing positions is a good method to avoid fatigue. In such situations, standing desks can prove to be very handy. Most of the coworking spaces today come with built-in standing desks.

It is advisable that employees alternate between sitting and standing desks because too long at a standing desk could lead to ankle pains and joint aches.

Maintain Appropriate Computer Height

The positioning of laptops and computers are vital to the success of ergonomic employee well-being strategies. When deciding on how to arrange a computer desk, keep these pointers in mind:

1. Monitor – The monitor should be positioned at least an arm’s length away from the sitting position. It should also be kept such that the top part of the monitor is at the same level as the eye, and is above the keyboard, so that there is no strain placed on the neck.
2. Keyboard – It should be positioned directly in front of the user, and should be accessible without stretching the hands.
3. Mouse – The mouse should be close enough to the hand so as to avoid overreaching, and it should be close to the monitor so that no strain is produced by turning the head back and forth.

Use Adjustable Arm and Backrests

Since office-goers spend a lot of time in active sitting, it is essential that their limbs and backs are given adequate support to prevent long-term muscle pain and catches. The absence of support to the back and the arms can cause strain on different muscles, including the fingers, which have to adjust while typing constantly. Go for chairs that have armrests that support the mass of the arms and position wrists correctly and backrests to support the neck and spine.

Position Documents Accurately

Documents that are used for typing should be kept at appropriate distances from the monitor and keyboard, so that least amount of turning is required and thereby no strain is produced on the neck and back muscles. If there is lack of desk or cabin space, the document can be placed side-by-side to the monitor using a document holder or stand.

Employees also engage with other areas of the office as part of their day– the following tips can be implemented in said areas to increase productivity and wellness.

Maintain Separate Food Areas

Co-working spaces today have effectively made the boundaries between segregated working and eating spaces more and more redundant. Nowadays, one can never digest the thought of an office which do not provide canteens or other food services in its campus. Every office is expected to provide a food area with a respectable assortment of the essentials – tea, coffee and small. snacks at the very least. As fast-food chains and other giants in the field are taking over the spaces around corporate hubs, it’s essential that the firm strive to provide healthier options to their employees to benefit them in the long run. The presence of a readily accessible food area within the office can provide a significant boost to the employees and improve their morale.

Ask Employees For Feedback

Instead of ascertaining the shortcomings of the office space entirely on one’s own, it would always be prudent to reach out to the employees for their valuable input. As each working environment has its own set of ergonomic issues that need to be addressed, the best sources to know what changes are to be made and what issues need to be prioritized are the very people who might be affected by them.

Allow For Micro-breaks

Deadlines are an inevitable part of corporate jobs but, as many wellness tips for employees dictate, so are breaks. As employees rush to get work done before a specified date, they sit or stand for long hours – sparing no time for breaks. This can often turn out to be counterproductive, both physically and psychologically. Staying in the same position for prolonged periods of time, with no movement, stretching or simple exercises, can cause MSDs and decrease efficiency. Taking micro-breaks now and then can help increase concentration as well as reduce health risks.

In Conclusion

Ergonomics is a simple, attainable and necessary ingredient of any thriving office space and gives a clear picture of how to promote wellness in the workplace. It helps improve workplace wellness ideas by understanding what fuels employee productivity and happiness, from the type of chair they’re seated on to how many breaks they take. Ideally, spaces should be designed to suit the needs of the employees, and not the other way around. Spending on implementing ways to improve employee health and ergonomic qualities can almost always be counted on as a win-win situation for the stakeholders.

Fortunately, you can take a few precautionary steps to beat work-related stress before it spirals out of control. CoWrks Mumbai recently hosted Thrive Global’s India Leadership Summit where several eminent industry leaders and public influencers spoke about ending the stress and burnout epidemic for individuals and corporations. 

Here are the key takeaways from the summit you can implement at work to effectively handle stress and be at your productive best.  

Practise mindfulness

Often times, stress tends to get aggravated when you dwell in the past events, possible future scenarios, or on factors that you have little control on. Mindfulness helps you switch off from these hindering thoughts and come back to the present. Mindfulness is essentially the ability to stay in the present and pay attention to your thoughts and feelings without judging them. Mindfulness can be developed by practicing simple meditation techniques or informal exercises. 

Relax and take a deep breath

Some times, you may feel that work stress is overwhelming and you cannot focus on anything else. The best thing to do is stop, sit back and take a few deep breaths.

If you are having a stressful day, sit quietly, loosen up your legs and hands. Close your eyes and take 11 deep breaths. It is simple and takes 2 minutes. The most important thing is, when you inhale, focus on the inhalation of the breath and when you exhale, focus on the exhalation of your breath. If you get thoughts, don’t worry. Just focus back on your breath.  

Sarvesh Shashi, founder and CEO, Zorba

Breathing techniques like this help you calm your mind and restore balance. 

Take care of yourself

It is easy to get caught up with things you “need to finish” and work deadlines. And the more you get involved, the more the stress gets onto you. What often adds to this stress is putting in extra hours to finish work and not spending enough time doing what you really enjoy doing. Not setting aside enough time for yourself not only hurts your health and personal life but also hinders your productivity in the long run. 

Hence, it is necessary to set aside some ‘me time’ away from work where you can unwind and do what you really love to do. This not only helps you recover and rejuvenate but also prepares you to take on new responsibilities.  

One of the most important projects of our lives is to care for ourselves. Every other project falls in place if you work on the most important project, that is you. I think when we are talking about self-care, the most crucial aspect of self-care is to start giving yourself time. Prioritise giving yourself time even if it is 10 minutes a day. Unwind from whatever you are going through, whether it is through meditation or whether it is through mindfulness.

Gaur Gopal Das, Life Coach

Develop positive habits

Dealing with work and life pressures can easily lead you to develop negative thoughts and conclusions. These can often lead to developing unhealthy habits and lifestyle. Hence, it is necessary to conquer your negative thoughts. To do it successfully, treat these thoughts as hypotheses and not facts. Simultaneously, try considering different possibilities and empathising with people. 

Develop positive habits such as meditation and follow positive people. Be thankful for the little things you have and get to enjoy. Developing these positive habits can help you defeat negative thoughts and emotions triggered by stressors.

“Stay away from toxic positivity. Seeing everyone’s perfect life can be depressing sometimes. So, follow some social accounts like Thrive and positive quotes that make you happy. Even if you are online, it gives you a little bit of a break from the hecticness of it all”.

Malini Agarwal, Entrepreneur & Digital Influencer

Seek help

If you feel that the steps you have taken to handle work-related stress are not helping you, then it is time to seek help from a professional. Most physical, mental, emotional and behavioral disorders found in today’s working professionals are the direct result of unchecked work-related stress. 

The Cigna TTK Health Insurance survey showed that about 75% of the survey respondents felt uncomfortable talking to a medical professional about their stress. Hence, it is absolutely necessary to seek professional help to combat work-related stress. 

Fortunately, many organisations have recognised the growing levels of work-related stress and have started taking the necessary steps to help their employees destress. Some of these steps including implementing a flat, more open and more flexible work culture. Some of them have also implemented in-house employee support and counseling programs to help their employees destress. 

“A lot will depend on the culture of the organisation. A culture which is highly autocratic, highly performance-oriented, that puts in a lot of pressure on performance and the need to achieve, and punishment if you are not achieving does not work out. There is a lot of fear there”.

Harsh Mariwala, Chairman, Marico Limited

He continued further saying that to help employees combat work stress, Marico has setup in-house call centres where employees can call and seek help in dealing with stress in an anonymous way.

Parting words

A growing trend of coworking spaces plays a significant role in combating work-related stress. Coworking spaces provide the necessary infrastructure and atmosphere that allow organisations and their employees to relax and destress while still be at their creative and productive best. Organisations and employees can take advantage of the opportunities provided by these coworking spaces to improve their well being while unlocking their creativity and capacity for effective decision-making.

But take it easy, we weren’t simply going to trot out the problem without providing you with a more than potent solution. A solution which the greatest business minds have embraced as much as adopted as a friend for life. A remedy that has seen them take on the tough times, and come out triumphant and rise above. That friend being mindful meditation!

What?

Simply put, mindful meditation is just the sense of being aware of what you’re experiencing or currently going through. Think of it as a sort of hotline to your senses, your thoughts and emotions, and involves setting aside sometime everyday to practice it. It sounds simple enough though, doesn’t it? But it’s not that easy! That said, if you’re willing to put your mind to work, you might just be richer for the experience. Meditation is great for a huge number of things, as I’m sure you’ve heard, so let’s see what it could do for you and our kind – the first being stress! (How did you guess?)

Un-stress

Mindful meditation helps you relax. It gives you THAT key moment or moments where you step back, see the bigger picture, and realise that whatever it is that’s getting you down at work isn’t quite the ‘be all and end all’. It puts things in perspective, and lessens the burden. This gives you renewed confidence to take the challenge on head on, and succeed while you’re at it. Now, that’s really something, wouldn’t you say?

Eyes on the prize

You know exactly how it is, you have something urgent to get done, but you’ve got all sorts of things cramming up your RAM, and inevitably slowing you down to a snail’s pace. Now, decluttering, and defragmenting your muddled noggin could be the key to laser-like focus at work, and that’s where our good old friend, mindful meditation tip toes into your workplace. Mindful meditation puts you right in touch with the things that are most important to you in the current scheme of things, it helps you concentrate, and helps you toss aside almost anything else like an old shoe. Now, you can get your head down, put the blinkers on, and go to town on the task at hand.

Uncompromisingly creative

Think about it, there’s often so much baggage holding you down and bringing you crashing down to earth everyday that there’s hardly any way to let your heart and mind soar, and let your creativity juices flow with abandon. Meditation can unshackle you from these unsightly bonds and all of these unnecessary nagging thoughts, and let you be the best you can be. Significantly also, it can soothe any niggling doubts that could hamper and hinder your creativity, leaving you hamstrung in the process. So now, you can let your creative spirit soar, and accomplish a lot more.

Come across better

Meditation helps calm your jangled nerves! Now, while that’s simply awesome for you, and your state of being at work, it also puts you in the perfect frame of mind to interact better with everyone you come in contact with at the office. In effect, you come across more ‘interested’, genuine and empathetic. May we also mention, that this calm and often soothing demeanour could get easily transmitted like a virus (you know, one of the good kinds) from person to person, making for a calmer work atmosphere, overall.

Productivity powerhouse

There’s no running away from it – the modern work day demands that we do more than one thing at a time, and in the process, we hardly have anything to show for our troubles by the time closing time comes around. But now when you factor in the several advantages that mindful meditation provides, including, a stress-free workplace, something approaching razor-like focus and a sense of unhindered creativity, you are liberated to do more and achieve more.

You’d do well to follow our lead and practice a bit of mindful meditation every day. In time, it could be something you look upon most fondly, something that helps elevate you, and could be the secret weapon that helps you rise above the ordinary!