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Eight Guidelines for Work From Home Productivity and Success

Written by Steve Todd in News,Work From Home

It started with an employee or two asking to work from home maybe once a month. Then the word caught on, and, before you knew it, you had a handful of staff requesting to take several days a week to work from home. You’ve decided to let them, at least on a trial basis. What kind of guidelines do you need for your remote staff?

The following guidelines will keep you manage working from home employees:

  • – Create or update your confidentiality agreement
  • – Change your workplace policy to reflect new security rules
  • – Consider where the employee will work, as it’s a matter of health and safety
  • – Ensure each remote employee has the necessary equipment to work
  • – Plan for some means of remote tech support
  • – Track productivity with measurable metrics
  • – Set work hours and expect fast communication during those hours

In this article, we will expand on the guidelines outlined above, explaining each in detail. It may seem scary letting your employees go, but you’re far from alone in doing so. There are 3.7 million people in the United States working from home as of 2017, says FunderaOpens in a new tab.. Your company can contribute to that statistic and still maintain productivity.

Eight Guidelines for Work-from-Home Productivity and Success

1. Work on Your Confidentiality Agreement

When just a couple of your employees worked from home, you didn’t have to touch your company’s confidentiality agreement. Now that more and more have taken the plunge? It’s time to go back and review this document.

You of course have reasonable expectations about what your in-office employees can and can’t share with outsiders. How does that extend to your employees that work remotely? If one staff member spends their workday at a café, which documents can they open in front of others? Which phone calls can they take in public and which should be done behind closed doors?

These questions need answers, and you’re the one who has to do it. You must make clear that there are repercussions to breaking company confidentiality. Whether that includes a severe punishment or termination of employment is your choice, but you shouldn’t let it go without penalty. Then you risk employees regularly leaking company information, whether knowingly or unknowingly.

2. Include Security Provisions in Your New Workplace Policy

As your company grew, you opted to get on a more secure network, keeping your servers privatized. Again, you wanted to prevent information leaks involving your company and even your clients and/or customers.

That’s all fine and good if your employees work in the office. Then they too can use the secure network. What about when these employees start working from home? You can’t say for sure what kind of security they’ll have, even though they’re still working with private information.

If that makes you nervous, then rightfully so. It should. Hackers can crack into huge brands and companies without breaking a sweat, so what’s to stop your private company information from getting out there and disseminated?

Once you’re done amending the confidentiality agreement, you need to rewrite or add on to parts of your company policy. Create rules for employees and how they deal with private information. For instance, maybe you ban remote employees from using public Wi-Fi or you take some other proactive measure. Whatever works, make sure it’s in writing. This way, it’s enforceable. If you don’t change the company policy, then employees can do what they want. This will inevitably lead to an information leak or some other kind of trouble.

3. Get Involved in Selecting Your Staff’s Workspaces

One of the perks of working remotely is staying home, right? These employees can enjoy the creature comforts of their favorite place day in and day out. While that’s surely the reality for some employees who work from home, it’s not the case for them all. Some of your staff have a spouse who doesn’t work or children who need tending to all day. It gets hard for them to focus on their work and stay productive at home.

For that reason, these employees opt to work somewhere else. Perhaps it’s the aforementioned café or even a coworking space.

It doesn’t matter where your remote employees eventually settle; you must have a hand in it. Again, you want to reflect this change in your company policy. Make sure the place the staff member plans to work has your explicit approval before they begin their work-from-home setup.  (We have written a related article – How To Be Happy Working From HomeOpens in a new tab.)

You want to see this place in person. Perhaps you even opt to test for things like carbon monoxide protection, security from burglary, how well the fire alarms work, and if the place has asbestos or other health dangers lingering around.

You have to do this for the health and safety of your employees. If one of your remote staff members were to work from home or somewhere else for a few years and then get sick or injured, they could turn around and sue you for it. If you don’t have anything in your company policy about remote workplaces, then you’re out of luck.

Not only that, but this employee could ensure your company gets in hot water with the Occupational Safety and Health Administration or OSHA. It’s not worth the risk. Make sure your employees have a healthy place in which to work now, not later.

4. Provide the Equipment Necessary for the Job

When you hire a new employee, they get their own tech and equipment for working. That’s standard. This equipment often includes a desk phone and a computer. Some companies offer their employees laptops or tablets as well as smartphones for easy communication.

Whatever equipment your company hands out, when a staff member leaves the office, they’re leaving that tech behind, too. However, said employee still needs a computer, a phone, and other equipment to work from home.

It’s up to your company to determine which tech and equipment, if any, you’ll give these remote employees. Most people own laptops and smartphones, so you might let the employee use those. Whatever decision you make—you guessed it—put it in your company policy. Now you know the matter can’t come back to bite you later.

You might ask your employees to run speed tests on their computers before they start working remotely. After all, if they have an old clunker, then minor tech issues will keep them from getting a lot done each day. Companies sometimes also request that employees get an antivirus software and pay for higher-speed Internet so they can work as efficiently as possible.

5. Offer Remote Tech Support

Speaking of work computers, when something goes wrong with one, you have a tech guy or girl you can call on. Perhaps your IT person works right in the office or they commute over, but they always speedily resolve the issue so your office can keep on trucking along.

What about when a remote staff member’s computer goes screwy? Your IT person can’t exactly go door-to-door to fix everyone’s tech. No one’s expecting them to. For your remote employees, you can just as easily use remote tech support through your company. Maybe you contract your IT person for the job or hire a second IT pro for remoteOpens in a new tab. support.

Again, make sure all this goes into your company policy. Include the extent of problems your remote tech support can cover, the hours in which they work, and how your remote employees can reach out to the IT person to get help.

6. Review the Productivity of Your Staff

It’s relatively easy to determine the productivity levels of your average employee. Sure, you can’t have eyes on everyone at all times, but you can check Internet browser history and other data to see who’s actually working and who’s spending all day on their phone.

You lose all that the moment your remote employees start working from home. You like to think these staff members won’t spend all day on the couch instead of in front of their computers, but how can you know for certain?

You must have a means of tracking and reviewing productivity. Perhaps you go by how many clients the employee speaks with per day. If it’s a customer service-related job, then you could count the number of cases the employee closes. Similarly, you could track how many sales they make. Even the amount of time the employee spends doing any one task can indicate productivity.

You know what we’re about to say. When you do figure out how to measure productivity for your company, put it in your policy. Clearly explain these expectations as well as what will happen if the employee doesn’t meet them.

7. Select Working Hours for Your Staff

Your office opens at nine o’ clock in the morning and closes at five, give or take. Should your remote employees have the same schedule or will you give them more leniency? Maybe some of your employees work better later at night or earlier in the morning.

It’s up to you if you’ll accommodate special cases or if everyone works nine-to-five, no questions asked. Don’t let some people work one schedule and others another, though. You could create dissention in the office, and you don’t want that. Once you make your choice, update your company policy to match.

8. Maintain Regular Communication

You must also have communication requirements for your remote employees. It’s not like those staff who work in the office. With them, you can call or email, sure, but if they don’t answer? You could always find them at their desk.

You can’t do that with your remote staff. Visiting them at their home or office is a major inconvenience for you, not to mention it’s highly inappropriate. You’ll have to set some basic communication rules to ensure your remote employees don’t go dark when you need them most. Yes, it should go in your company policy.

For instance, if you do opt for a nine-to-five schedule for all employees, remote or otherwise, then you should expect your remote staff to respond during those hours. You have many ways to reach out to them, too, some more impersonal than others. For instance, there’s texting or instant messaging as well as email. You can talk on the phone, video chat, or even invite the employee into the office monthly for a meeting.

While you might feel like you have to overmanage remote employees at first because you can’t see them, watch how high you set your expectations. For instance, when you send an email, you shouldn’t demand the remote employee respond in two seconds if you don’t expect your office staff to do the same. That’s workplace discrimination in action.

Also, don’t pester your remote staff after working hours. You might think, “well, they’re home, so technically, they’re at the office. They can do this quick little thing.” If you wouldn’t reach out to your office staff, then don’t bother your remote employees, either. Again, it’s discriminatory and will ensure your remote work plan fails.

Related Questions

Should employees be allowed to work from home?

If you remember the stat from the beginning of this article, 3.7 million US employees work from home. That data was from two years ago, so surely it’s even more now in 2019. That means many companies would say yes, employees should be allowed to work from home. Some jobs practically demand it, others not so much. What’s clear is more and more companies do permit it.

To figure out if yours should, you might want to start with an internal assessment. Which positions in your office would translate best to a work-from-home environment? Which ones absolutely must stay at the office?

Once you figure that out, review who has asked to work from home. You might bring them in for a sort of informal interview. Discuss why they want to work from home, what kind of tech and equipment they have, and what kind of workplace setup they could use. Then, after the meeting, you might review productivity and other metrics for said employee. If they’re a hard worker, then perhaps you let them work remotely. If they already have a tendency to slack off, then maybe you deny the request.

Before you let your employees take the dive fully, you might create a type of temporary work-from-home arrangement. For instance, perhaps you give a few employees three months to try working remotely. During that time, they follow all the above guidelines to optimize the success of the experience.

After those three months pass, sit down with each employee to talk about their experience. Did they enjoy it? Maybe they found working from home more challenging than expected. Look at their productivity metrics, too. Did they work better at home or did their productivity hit a slump?

If you’re happy with employee performance and your staff members want to keep working from home, then you may allow them to. You can also curtail remote work if it doesn’t suit your company.

Is it illegal for hourly employees to work from home?

What if you’re paid hourly and you want to begin working remotely? How would that work? According to HR resource SHRMOpens in a new tab., you must take into account the legalities of such a working arrangement.

For example, your hourly employees will have to get very good at recording their timesheets. They must also have a clear understanding of which tasks they do are work-related and which aren’t. Then, in most cases, your company remains within legal parameters.

Make sure you have an overtime policy as well. Once your employee exceeds 40 hours of work a week, anything they do technically counts as overtime. Thus, you’d have to pay them overtime. However, when a work-from-home employee does this and you’re not aware of it until they come asking for payment, this can create ill will between you both.

This overtime, which is unauthorized, must get addressed right away. While you can’t make your employees turn off their computer at five o’ clock on the dot, by reminding them that unauthorized overtime is not permissible, that should hopefully curtail the behavior.

Do keep in mind that, even if your employee has worked overtime when you said not to, and even if they don’t put the hours on their timesheet, you could still have to pay overtime. That’s true if you or someone else at the office have a hunch the employee has done extra work.

What is a Smart Building? (Benefits and Realistic Expectations)

Written by Steve Todd in News,Real Estate

If you’re like me, the first thing you think of when hearing the term “smart building” is the Disney Channel Original Movie from the late 90s called Smart House. While the concept of the smart house in the film is a bit extreme, the concept is the same. The building (or house, in the movie’s case) is developed to make things more simple for the people in it. 

What is a smart building? A smart building is an automated system that controls air conditioning and heat, the lights, security cameras, and other features. Think Alexa or Google Home on a bigger scale. 

The benefits of a smart building are more than just making life easier. In fact, a smart building saves money by decreasing consumption, boosting the level of efficiency, and making maintenance needs known ahead of time. Knowing exactly how these benefits occur can convince most with doubts about the advantages to the technology age and smart buildings in particular.

Benefits of a Smart Building

When considering incorporating a smart building into your business, a lot of hesitations can make themselves known. You might think of the cost or the time it will take to switch everything over to this new concept or to even build something completely new. These hesitations are common, but in reality, the benefits of a smart building far outweigh any possible disadvantage. Sure, when technology breaks down things can get complicated; when technology is used to the best of its ability, the complete opposite occurs.  (We have written a related article – Smart Buildings & 12 Awe-Inspiring Marvels)

1. Decrease Energy Consumption

Think about how often you adjust the thermostat. Do you leave it on an automatic setting – heat if the temperature drops below 68 or cool if it rises above 71? Do you change the settings when you leave the building at the end of the workday? Consider the savings that you would experience if you were to adjust the temperatures prior to leaving in the evenings. There is no need to heat or cool a building to comfortable temperatures when no one is inside. 

If you think about the savings that can come from altered heating and cooling settings, you can add to it by automatically turning off lights at a certain time or when no one is in the building. This means that the few employees that have a bad habit of leaving their office light on no longer have to worry about adding to the electric bill. 

The decrease in energy consumption that smart buildings experience makes a huge dent in the initial investment required for the technology, the company’s savings, and the positive effect made on the planet. By investing in a smart building, one can pay off the investment with the savings acquired. Depending on the size of the building, the initial investment for adding “smart” to a building ranges from $5k to $50kOpens in a new tab.. On average, an office building saves an estimated 18% in energyOpens in a new tab. by using motion sensors, smart thermostats, automatic lights, and technologically advanced a/c. 

2. Boosted Efficiency

While the above-mentioned aspects of decreasing energy usage in the office cover a lot of efficiencies, there is also another layer to it. All of the small tasks that once had to be done by a person can now be left in the so-called hands of the building. While this is especially efficient in larger buildings, many can appreciate the time saved when an employee does not have to go around making those adjustments.

For example, in a large office, it may be customary for the first person in each morning to go around and turn on all of the lights in the common areas. Depending on the actual size of the office, this can take several minutes out of the employee’s morning. He or she might have to check the thermostat, change the settings for security on electronic doors, or even manually unlock exterior doors so that others may enter. 

While it may not seem like much in the grand scheme of things, if you were to add up the time it takes, it is obvious how many other tasks could have gotten completed during that time. The added efficiency to the building makes workers’ workday more productive. They will be able to produce more in the time that was once spent turning on the office lights.

3. Maintenance Predictions

Whether maintenance is forgotten about until something goes wrong or it is not made a priority, having a smart building combats this issue. Not only does a smart building remind maintenance to check things out, but it has the ability to tell when something is not quite right. 

Imagine a quality virus scanner on your computer. It regularly scans for issues and informs you of those that you didn’t even know about yet. A smart building will do the same things for maintaining HVAC, lighting, security, and more. That ability to predict issues and concerns can prevent major expenses in fixing problems, as one problem tends to cause another. 

Realistic Expectations of a Smart Building

It’s true: smart buildings are paving the way of the future. However, there are some misconceptions that many people seem to have about the technology. While Smart House may have taught us to expect any wall to turn into a television screen, the immediate appearance of any food we want, or floors that absorb trash, we know to be a bit more practical than that. Having said that, there are some things to expect.

The ability of cost savings has been discussed in the above paragraphs. That is definitely realistic. What many do not seem to understand is that investing in a smart building is actually incredibly affordable. While it may cost several thousand dollars, most companies offering smart building technology use the savings as payment. For instance, if a company were to have smart technologies set up in their building and 18% was saved from previous months, the money saved would be used to pay off that investment. 

Others might feel that while a smart building would be a good investment, operating it would be too complicated. In truth, there is no need to hire a team of people to handle the smart building aspect of the business. With today’s technology, smart buildings are simple, user-friendly interactions that nearly anyone can monitor.

Without many excuses to avoid smart buildings, it is expected that 10 billion smart devicesOpens in a new tab. will be running buildings across the world by next year. Smart buildings are the future. With the many benefits companies (and residences) will see with the incorporation of technology into simple daily tasks, such as turning on the lights, it is clear as to why.

Related Questions

Do smart buildings pose a threat to security? Cybersecurity is a priority in the majority of companies these days. While smart buildings can be hacked, it is important to take the necessary precautions to prevent it. 

Will smart buildings take jobs from people? It seems to be a common fear that AIs will take jobs from people. In this case, it is that the HVAC guy is no longer needed or the security guard is not necessary. In truth, these jobs are still very much needed, as the regular maintenance is required on the HVAC and cameras might need monitoring.

What is Workplace Fatigue? (Signs, Impact, Types, Causes, and Dangers of Workplace Fatigue)

Written by Steve Todd in Health & Wellness,News

Fatigue occurs when you feel exhausted, sleepy or weary, which is as a result of insufficient sleep, elongated physical or mental work, or a lengthy period of anxiety or stress. Uninteresting and repetitive tasks can also intensify fatigue. It could either be acute fatigue or a chronic one.  These 50 Workplace Stress StatisticsOpens in a new tab. will amaze you.

Acute fatigue occurs from short-term loss of sleep or an outcome of short periods of intense mental or physical work. The consequences can be a short time and reversible with enough sleep and quality relaxation. (Check out our Glossary, “What is Workplace Fatigue?”Opens in a new tab.)

The syndrome of chronic fatigue, on the other hand, is constant. It is a severe tiredness state that cannot be relieved by sleep. The symptoms are similar to flu and last for over six months, and it affects certain activities. The leading cause of the symptoms remains unknown.

Is Fatigue a Severe Issue in the Workplace?

Business Owners and Managers ought to be worried about the effects of fatigue in the work environment as it is also a type of impairment which classifies it as a workplace hazard. Nevertheless, we cannot easily quantify or measure the level of fatigue, which makes it challenging to isolate its impact on accident and injury frequency. Some factors which can influence fatigue include balanced workloads, shift rotation patterns, resources availability, as well as, the workplace environment (e.g., ventilation, lightingOpens in a new tab., temperature, etc.).

Some studies showed that when employees have slept a maximum of 5 hours before work or when they have been active for over  16 hours, chances of making mistakes on the job as a result of fatigue increased significantly.

Fatigue has been discovered to affect performance in the workplace. It affects individuals differently, but it also increases their worker’s exposure to hazard by:

  • – reducing physical and mental functioning,
  • – impairing concentration and judgment,
  • – lowering morale,
  • – slowing reaction duration, and
  • – increasing risk-taking activities and behaviors.

Signs of Workplace Fatigue

Fatigue’s sign and symptoms include:

1. Tiredness,

2. Sleepiness which provides for ‘micro’ sleep or falling asleep without a plan,

3. Weariness,

4. Reduced alertness, memory, and concentration,

5. Irritability,

6. Depression,

7. Low morale,

8. Giddiness,

9. Headaches,

10. Digestive problems,

11. Loss of appetites, and

12. Increased vulnerability to diseases and sicknesses.

What Are the Impacts of Workplace Fatigue, and How Does it relate to Performance?

It is tough to distinguish the effects of lack of sleep or elongated working hours to changes in injury rates and incident as fatigue cannot be quantified.

Nevertheless, several types of research have reported the side effects of fatigue as:

  • 1. Reduction in the ability to make decision
  • 2. Reduction in complex planning ability
  • 3. The decline in communication skills
  • 4. Reduced vigilance and attention
  • 5. Degraded performance and productivity
  • 6. Reduction in the ability to manage stress and pressure on the job.
  • 7. Reduced reaction duration- both in thought and in speed.
  • 8. Inability to recall information or details or loss of memory.
  • 9. Failure to respond to environmental changes or details provided
  • 10. Inability to stay awake. For instance, feeling sleepy while driving or operating a machine.
  • 11. Increased forgetfulness
  • 12. Errors in judgment
  • 13. Increased absenteeism, sick time and rate of turnover
  • 14. Increased tendency to take the risk.
  • 15. Increased health costs, and
  • 16. Increased incidents rates.

What Causes Workplace Fatigue?

Factors relating to work include long work hours, the elongated duration for mental and physical activity, insufficient break duration between shifts, adjustment to jobs or rotation of shifts, insufficient sleep, multiple jobs, excessive stress, or a combination of two or more factors.

Changes in the home environment can affect sleep as in a new baby, alteration in routines and patterns. In some cases, a sleep disorder may result in fatigue.

Insomnia

Individuals who have insomnia usually complain of an inability to sleep or inability to sleep overnight. They may wake up at night and find it hard to sleep back if woken. They don’t feel rested either way.

Sleep Apnea

A condition known as Obstructive Sleep Apnea has been discovered to be the cause of most sleep apnea cases. It is a sleeping disorder caused by collapse or narrowing of the upper airway or throat during sleep. This collapse prevents or limits breathing during sleep as the air can’t flow inward or outward through the mouth and nose, although your body tries to continue breathing. Several interruptions make sleep to be unrestful. A lot of people usually complain of headaches early in the morning and unusual sleepiness during the day.

Sleep Apnea Symptoms include:

  • 1. Loud snoring
  • 2. Choking or gasping during sleep
  • 3. Unusual daytime sleepiness, as well as,
  • 4. Changes in personality or difficulties in thinking.

Restless legs Syndrome

With this disorder, a lot of employees have reported cases of crawling, pulling, creeping, or tingling, which lead to an unstoppable urge to move the legs. This movement usually takes place when sleeping. The person wakes up and has his or her sleep patterns disrupted.

Narcolepsy

Narcolepsy is a rare disorder connected with a sudden sleep attack where the individual has an uncontrollable urge to sleep unusually during the day.

Other Situations

The use of substances, such as nicotine, alcohol, and caffeine does affect sleep quality. Caffeine, which is most time present in most soft drinks, can remain in your body system for over 3 to 7 hours and can influence the sleep time significantly. Alcohol may reduce the time to sleep off, and later disrupts it in the night. Nicotine can reduce aggregate sleep time.

Other substances like over-the-counter prescriptions and medications have the potentialities to affect sleep time. For instance, benzodiazepines which are usually used to treat insomnia or anxiety can cause daytime sleepiness

How much sleep do you need to stay productive at work?

Studies recommended at least 7-9 hours of sleep time daily. A lot of researches have shown that night employees achieve 5-7 hours less sleep weekly compared to those who work the day shift.  (We have reviewed Why We SleepOpens in a new tab. by Dr. Matthew Walker)

Human beings follow a biological clock or internal clock sleep cycle, alertness, and wakefulness — external factors such as the sun rising and setting influence these circadian rhythms while the brain establishes this pattern. Most cycles last for 23-25 hours with the period when you usually feel sleepy even when you have fully rested. Read more on Circadian Rhythms in this article.Opens in a new tab.

How Can You Help Your Employees Stay Alert in the Workplace?

Workplace fatigue is heightened by:

  • 1. Dim lighting
  • 2. Restricted visual acuity as a result of the weather.
  • 3. High noise
  • 4. High temperatures
  • 5. High comfort
  • 6. Tasks which are required to be carried out for a longer duration.
  • 7. Tasks which are repetitive, long, complicated, paced, monotonous, and boring.

Workplaces can come to the rescue by providing the work environment with suitable lighting, reasonable noise levels, and comfortable temperatures. There should be changes in work all through the shift, and the tasks should make a variety of interest available. Human Resource Departments should also provide training and awareness education on the consequences of fatigue, why sleep is essential, exercise, and a balanced diet. They should also provide alertness tips at every corner of the work environment.

If extended working time is usual, always consider employees commute time, as well as time need to prepare a meal, eat, socialize with family, and prepare for next day activities. Workplaces can provide:

  • 1. On-site sleep pods
  • 2. Prepared foods for employees, and
  • 3. Rooms where employees can relax before they drive home to avoid accidents.

10 Dangers For Tired Employees

1. Improper Safety Implementation and Injury:  Most workplace incidents have been connected to lack of sleep. An investigation of the BP refinery explosion revealed that some employees had worked over 12 hours daily for nearly one month at a stretch.

2. Impaired Motor Skills: Several studies have found out that 17-19 hours without sleep produce the same effect as a 0.05% alcohol level in the blood. A worker’s time can be reduced by 50%, much like when the individual is drunk.

3. Risk taking and Poor Decision Making: Sleep losses can contribute to riskier behavior. Impulsive decisions could be made by employees without them realizing it.

4. Poor Neural and Data Processing: Employees may find it hard to focus and retain new information. In a job that demands cutting-edge problem-solving skills, lag in cognitive function could be a severe problem.

5. Falling Asleep on the Job: Employees find it hard to respond to a critical situation. This was precisely what happened in 1989 during the Exxon Valdex Oil Spill.

6. Special Risk for Shift Workers: Tired workers are prone to accidents between midnight and 8 am. Elongated and rotating shifts create a severe health issue than the typical 8-hour shift.

7. Inability to Manage Stress: Sleeping for less than 7-8 hours in the night can affect stress and mood levels. (We have written a related article – Reduce Stress and Anxiety at WorkOpens in a new tab.)

8. Deprivation of sleep reduces performance: The United State loses over $136.4 to reduced productivity as a result of sleep deprivation. Output decreases as work time increases.

9. Sleep deprivation affects employees in the long run: Chronic deprivation of sleep can worsen diabetes, cause obesity, depression, cancers, digestion problems, cancers, reproductive problems, and heart disease. Fatigue reduces immunity against notable viruses and increases the chances of spreading flu.

10. Overlooking Signs and Symptoms of Fatigued Employees:  Some industries lack specific regulations as regarding work shifts.

Four Helpful Tips to Avoid Workplace Fatigue

1. Do not use alcohol, nicotine, and caffeine several hours before you sleep.

2. Reduce naps to ensure you are tired before bedtime.

3. Stay away from electronic gadgets an hour before you sleep at the very least.

4. Sleep on a cozy mattress, in a relaxed and dark room.

Related Questions

Is Fatigue a severe issue in the Workplace?  Fatigue affects performance and workplace productivity. It affects individuals differently, but it also increases their worker’s exposure to hazard.

What causes Fatigue?  Factors such as insufficient break duration, adjustment to jobs or rotation of shifts, insufficient sleep, multiple and hard jobs, and excessive stress.

The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st Century By Chris Lewis and Dr. Pippa Malmgren

Written by Steve Todd in Book Reviews,News

Chris Lewis, an entrepreneur and author of the bestselling book on ideas and creativity Too Fast to ThinkOpens in a new tab. and Dr Pippa Malmgren, an economist, an entrepreneur and the author of the bestselling economics book SignalsOpens in a new tab., in their book The Leadership Lab: Understanding Leadership in the 21st CenturyOpens in a new tab. argue that the old models of leadership are inadequate for the new environment of uncertainty.

(Sign up for Audible and get The Leadership Lab plus one other audiobook for FREE – click here)Opens in a new tab.

Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren assert that there is an imbalance in leadership thinking. Their hypothesis is that our over-reliance on analytical, reductive thinking is part of the problem, so they are after all, trying to show the bigger picture. The LAB Kythera is their response to this challenge.

The eight ‘I’s model or ‘Kythera’

The Kythera is a tool to help leaders navigate complexity. This is to be imagined as a 360-degree sphere spinning. The objective is to keep the sphere upright on its axis and balanced. The faster the technology changes the faster the sphere spins.

The first obvious element of the Eight ‘I’s model or Kythera is that it is divided into a light and a dark side. This shows both the progressive and the reciprocal negative effects being created by change.

Next, you will notice the eight ‘I’s, which correspond to the first eight chapters of this book.

1.Information and Inundation

Since the turn of the century, we’ve seen a massive increase in information overload. There’s more information around us than ever before. In this chapter, we look at how the volume and type of information are changing leadership culture.

“The problem is that we think we’re choosing the information we want without realizing that, in so many instances, it’s already been chosen for us.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

The scale of the information overload and disruption is enormous. This makes us the most distracted audience ever. We’ve stopped paying attention to anything other than basic headlines and what’s front and center.

“Creativity is the residue of time wasted.” Albert Einstein

The data overload forces us to filter towards information we see as important or relevant.

  • – We filter in news about the family.
  • – We filter in news about friends.
  • – We filter in stories about violence.
  • – We filter in news from sources that agree with us.

The longer-term, more qualitative information is often missed, for two main reasons.

  • 1. The interruptions force us to move faster, thus prioritizing only what we need right now.
  • 2. It also forces us to an analytical mind set because when we are constantly interrupted, we operate in ‘compare, contrast, analyze’ mode.

Of course, information can be useful and a great boon for efficiency. Unfortunately, it also comes with side effects which have a negative impact on behavior. The overwhelming amount of information leads to overload which narrows our attention into more analytical, short-term, tangible thinking at the expense of longer-term, softer, less measurable qualities.

“The facts do not always speak for themselves because imagination is more powerful than knowledge.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

We may not be immediately aware of this, but over time the change is becoming clear. We have become more:

  • – Frightened
  • – Angry
  • – Distracted
  • – Bored
  • – Intolerant
  • – Impatient
  • – Cynical
  • – Opinionated
  • – Informed (but not always helpfully).

The internet has created equal and opposite effects. It is both good and bad. The more information we have, the more we can understand. The opposite effect, though, comes when we allow the internet to be our main source of communications and server of news.

To make sense of it, we need to zoom out to a higher level so that we can look across to take into account everything that is happening in the world, from geopolitics to economics to sociological analysis and key cultural changes.

Our understanding of the world is limited if we try to make sense of it day by day. The overload thus has profound effects on our thinking. By swamping us with information, it’s removing the time and opportunity for asking questions.

We need to keep imagination and doubt alive in the boardroom. Leader’s job is to ask questions, not confirm assumptions.

“The future belongs to people who are curious.” Ian Leslie

2. Internationalism and Insularity

This chapter will help leaders strengthen their awareness of the world economy as it actually is, not as it was, or as one hopes it might be. Often, we’re too busy dealing with the waves to see the tide, often too busy with their everyday business to notice the changes on the macroeconomic horizon.

How can leaders better manage a fast-changing macroeconomic environment?

The LAB’s answer is that they should stop trying to predict the future and start preparing for it instead.

The persistent feature of the economic landscape is that it keeps changing. We fear because the old ways are not working well, but the new ways are hard to understand.

When confronted by unexpected change, fear drives people towards one side of the Kythera – the side that involves insularity, nationalism and protectionism. Leaders can, instead, understand the fear, face it down and inspire people towards the more positive side where we find internationalism, greater communication and trade.

The economy is international and global. Data about the economy are domestic but transaction flows are international. Policies in one country can affect economies abroad. International trends may overwhelm national policy.

“Globalization is set to persist in the longer term, but it is occurring in new ways.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

3. Immediacy and Impatience

The efficiency and speed, offered by internet, have created an expectation that everything else should now be as quick and easy. The internet has contributed to an ‘I want it now’ web-driven impatience.

Web-fed impatience can be tracked all the way through its beneficial effects of efficiency and real-time information up to the erosion of trust and confidence at the strategic level.

“Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing ever happened.” Winston Churchill

Impatience is defined as an irritation with anything that causes delay or a restless desire for change and excitement. Impatience atomizes teams. It is difficult to respect long-term values with impatience.

There is a causal link between impatience engendered by the internet and the risk of a breakdown in relationships on a personal, domestic, corporate and political level.

Patience is ‘waiting without complaint’; to be patient is to endure discomfort in silence. This enfolds three other virtues such as self-control, humility and generosity. It is an amalgam of being disciplined, considerate, unselfish. It is long-term efficient. It fosters long-term unity and trust.

“The patient educates, feed and contribute to the community.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

  • – Patience is required in just about every walk of life.
  • – Patience is also inherently tied to justice.
  • – Democracy depends on patience.
  • – Construction requires patient planning of all environmental considerations.
  • – Teaching requires an understanding that not everyone learns at the same pace or in the same way.
  • – The human virtues of caring, nurturing, even parenting itself all depend on patience.
  • – It’s required for inspiring leadership as well.

“Power and patience walk hand in hand.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

4. Intelligence and Insurgency

The death of patience is upon us and with that comes the potential for great ignorance. Learning and listening require patience. When that is lost, experience and knowledge are also undermined and we enter a modern age of educated ignorance.



Intelligence is the ability to acquire and apply knowledge. Howard Gardner has supported that there are several types of intelligence

Few if any of these qualities are referenced or codified in the traditional models of primary, secondary and tertiary education. The orthodox emphasis is much more on the logical-mathematical (science) or linguistic-historical (arts) vectors.

“The leader’s job is not to be the most intelligent person in the room. The leader should make everyone else feel as if they’re the most intelligent person in the room.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

The promulgation of one type of hierarchical intelligence (short-term, drill-down, academic, data-based and so on) creates vulnerabilities. It shuts out potential and imagination. It excludes the long-term, diversity and opinion, which destroys hope and creates a causal chain of frustration, impatience and anger.

The anger could also be about a set of perceived injustices, such as income inequality, gender unfairness, sexual harassment or racism.


The axis of leadership challenge was evolved for personal balance, but it has useful applications in an organizational sense. The objective is to keep as close to the origin of the axes as possible.

This balance model is important in that it recognizes that overemphasis of one area – typically the logical axis – is, of itself, destabilizing to the overall balance.

Above all, leaders must recognize the growing tide of frustration and cynicism and work to create more harmonious outcomes. This means recognizing and resolving conflict and focusing teams on shared goals and values.

Mindfulness is an important tool in this respect. According to Jon Kabat-Zinn, a scientist, writer and Professor of Medicine Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts Medical School mindfulness is when ‘Paying attention in a particular way: on purpose, in the present moment, and non-judgmentally.’ It’s about being more in the present and thereby being able to do everything with more discipline and focus.

“The biggest benefit of mindfulness is its direct impact on the development of emotional intelligence.” Monica Thakrar

Megan Reitz and Michael Chaskalson, have identified three areas of leadership perspective:

– The first they called Metacognition or ‘the ability to simply observe what you are thinking, feeling, and sensing so you can actually see what’s going on’.

– Second, allowing for ‘the ability to let what is the case, be the case. It’s about meeting your experience with a spirit of openness and kindness to yourself and others.’

– Finally, they identified curiosity, ‘or taking a lively interest in what has shown up in our inner and outer worlds’.

5. Infrastructure and Isolation

Leaders in the 21st century cannot afford to take anything for granted. They need to think about the competition for scarce resources, the rise in defense spending and the seeming loss of trust in the international rule system.

We are being driven to defense spending for economic and nationalistic reasons. Sometimes this is to gain access to resources. More often, it’s because the original 20th-century infrastructure benefitted only the nations that established it.

The physical geography of the world is changing as well. Countries like China are building new transport connections and the United States and Europe are building new walls. Some places are becoming more competitive and others less so.

People are on the move. Migration continues to be one of the most important defining features of the geopolitical landscape, as is the ongoing competition for scarce resources. Borders are fluid and moving, too.

Now governments are being torn in two directions.

  1. 1. First, they are having to deal with a new nationalism, with its implied threat of isolation and tariff barriers.
  2. 2. At the same time, the trend towards internationalism is clear and the global economy is redistributing wealth and economic power at an unprecedented rate, based on ever more open trade.

Governments and their militaries remain large, influential players. They fundamentally reshape the leadershipOpens in a new tab. environment and the economies that surround them. Their decisions affect citizens in many ways.

Leaders of all types therefore need to be internationally and geopolitically fluent at the same time as being aware of the pain caused by economic change. This is quite some balancing act.

6. Innovation and Intimidation

New technologies such as the Internet of Things, the Data Sphere, the Artificial Intelligence, the bodyNET, the Drones, etc. are offering wonderful new developments that will benefit our communities, extend our lives, make them more fulfilling and allow us greater efficiencies.

“We’re entering a new dimension where everything is connected, virtualized and triangulated.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

These will be used to cause great changes which have also the potential to be negative. Because change is always perceived as a threat to the community our enemies are fear and prejudice. Our weapons are understanding and familiarity.

Fear of the new can drive us into an incapacitated state, unable to make decisions and fearful of the future. Familiarity and awareness of the opportunities could have the opposite effect.

Learning and leading must go hand in hand. This means the leader must encourage an attitude that experiments and anticipates new ideas and looks for ways to apply it.

“Technology creates profound opportunities but also vulnerabilities.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

7. Inclusivity and Inequality

Leaders need to create the conditions under which collective endeavor can be maximized. They need to be able to unify people in the pursuit of common goals and create a collective identity, cohesion and efficiency.

One of the largest of all group sub-identities in the workplace is gender. Most organizations remain hierarchically structured irrespective of the gender of board directors.

Let’s look at the basics of gender as applied to leadership.

  • – Height and authority

  • – Confidence and loudness

  • – Are women more agreeable?

  • – Is a ‘hidden’ patriarchy to blame?

  • – More interrupted, less listened to

  • – More judged on looks

  • – The cult of the individual

Dr Dan Goleman asked whether Women Are More Emotionally Intelligent Than Men. He supported that emotional intelligence has four parts:

  • – self-awareness
  • – managing our emotions
  • – empathy
  • – social skill

Empathy is another key skill. There are three kinds.

  • Cognitive empathy understands how the other person sees things.
  • Emotional empathy feels what the other person feels.
  • Empathic concern is ready to help someone in need.

There’s another way of looking at male–female differences in emotional intelligence. Simon Baron-Cohen at Cambridge University says that there’s an extreme ‘female brain’ which is high in emotional empathy but not so good at systems analysis. By contrast, the extreme ‘male brain’ excels in systems thinking and is poor at emotional empathy.

The LAB Brain Model puts together what we already know about Western Reductionist thinking – the so-called left-brain process with its ‘compare, contrast and analyze’ functions – and juxtaposes it with the right-brain process and its imaginative, divergent qualities. These processes belong to both genders.

According to the authors, we need an inclusive approach that encompasses new types of thinking. Enlightenment and education to create efficiency are better ways of improving leadership. Joining up the genders and improving our capacity to move between feminine and masculine thinking strengthen our ability to contend with the future.

8. Inspiration and Inversion

The promise of the future is exciting and inspirational. If we get it right, we’re looking at an infinitely more sustainable, fairer, productive, efficient world, with greater access to education and information.

Despite more material wealth, we have rising inequality, isolation, ignorance, impatience, anger and unhappiness.

In an atomized, rational, tangible, left-brained process world, the thing that could grant us greater happiness is what the left-brain process abhors. The right-brain process feels the unity. The overload and the interruptions all push us more towards the left-brain process, and this has profound implications.

At a superficial level, the world appears unchanged to many leaders. It has, though, undergone arguably some of the most profound technical, commercial, cultural, social, behavioral, moral and economic changes ever.

“This is not just a case of leadership becoming aware that one or two vectors have changed. It needs to recognize that the majority of the vectors have changed.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

When we step back and survey the landscape, it becomes ever clearer that there are many inversions of our values. We can summarize these ‘inversions’ as shown in The LAB table of inversions.  

‘Good’ used to be… ‘Good’ is now…
‘We the People’ ‘Me the People’
Communities/groups Groups and groupthink are bad. Individuality is more admired
Thoughtful, clear, measured responses Twitter at speed, jargon and emojis
Long-term careers Work gigs, internships, ‘experiences’, fast turnover, side hustles
Simple truth Spin, messaging, weaponized information. Fake news
Study Hacks and shortcuts
Education Work experience
Debate No-platforming, anger, dictums
Restraint Bingeing and excess
Saving Spending
Buying Sharing
Dress up Dress down
Etiquette and protocol Huddles and hang-outs
Marriage and commitment Promiscuity and Tinder

The greatest irony of all is that the great age of inversion has had its most enduring effect on leaders themselves. Rather than being seers of events, they have become victims of events.

“We need our leaders to be better, not just do better.” Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren

The Global Leaders Narrative

The spokes used in the Kythera – information and its overload, economics and its effects, behavioral changes, geopolitics, technology, gender and the generally inverted nature of things – provide the key challenges to leadership.

The Global Leaders’ Narrative

  • – The first task of all leaders is to recognize that uncertainty is the primary characteristic of the 21st century.
  • – The second task is to recognize the deep paradoxes illustrated by the Kythera. The pull towards polarity is a centrifugal force constantly offsetting leadership efforts.

Leadership must see the limitations of the left-brain process. We need our synthetic skills to contextualize and parenthesize. Leadership needs to:

Learn the lessons of the past

  • – Weak leadership lacks imagination, not analysis
  • – Overconfidence is a problem
  • – The dangers of ‘big is better’ thinking
  • – Lessons from a general
  • – Guard against short-termism, it can destroy everything
  • – Control the information flows, before they control you

Study the present

  • – Study geopolitics and the physical world
  • – Guide capitalism, don’t guillotine it
  • – Consult conspicuously, communications are expected
  • – Know your team, see the gaps
  • – You cannot defend yourself with the facts alone

Prepare for the future

  • – Culture eats strategy, so lead with values
  • – Lead by values
  • – The ‘J’ word still matters more than anything
  • – Failures are more visible and often due to fear
  • – Use trust to kill fear, otherwise it will kill innovation

Commit to the leadership spirit

  • – Leadership is more than management/Leadership can always be better
  • – Serve the widest community
  • – Cultivate inclusivity, it breeds unity
  • – No alternative but to embrace the future
  • – Faith matters
  • – Situational fluency
  • – St Augustine of Hippo

In this book Chris Lewis and Dr Pippa Malmgren aggregated and paraphrased the opinions of many global leaders on how the world is changing and how leadership, in all its forms, is evolving. Their view is about not just what has happened, or what is going to happen, but what is happening to the way leaders think and perceive the world around them.

(Sign up for Audible and get The Leadership Lab plus one other audiobook for FREE – click here)Opens in a new tab.

Check the latest price of The LEadership Lab on Amazon HEREOpens in a new tab.

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How does Worker Well-being Impact Employee Performance?

Written by Steve Todd in Health & Wellness,News

Have you ever wondered how the top performers at your place of work get so much accomplished? Or do you think about how things might be different if the company placed an emphasis on employee well-being? If you have had these questions, you are not alone. Not surprisingly, the two topics are related. 

How does worker well-being impact employee performance?  Studies show that workers that are in a good state of well-being are most commonly the employees that have a greater job performance. The impact wellness has on a person’s mental capabilities, motivation, and overall health is clear.

Grasping the parts of work that these factors affect is central to understanding the true impact of well-being. In the coming paragraphs, it will become clear what a worker’s cognitive abilities, drive, and general health do for work performance. By learning about these aspects of well-being and the impact they present to the workplace, employers can better understand how to improve productivity. 

Well-being in the Workplace

In order to fully grasp the meaning of well-being, it is important to go beyond the simple definition. In fact, Google’s definition is “the state of being comfortable, healthy, or happy.” While this definition contains a broad spectrum of wellness and well-being, an employee’s mind, enthusiasm for the work, and comprehensive health is far more specific and definitive. 

Mental Capabilities

The use of your mind is a large portion of doing any job. Even when your job is considered “mindless,” that term is hugely exaggerated. Our bodies’ most basic functions are controlled with the brain. When more complicated uses of the brain, such as creativity or logical thought, is added to the equation, an employee’s well-being becomes more of a priority for employers.

Consider how much brainpower goes into the creative process. Most creative business ideas begin with a brainstorming session or the desire to address a problem. Each idea is then drawn out and potential effects are determined. Next, a decision is made regarding which idea(s) to move forward with. The next phase of creativity involves group feedback of sorts. Once the idea has been improved upon with the input of others, it is put to work, thus ending the creative process for this particular thought. 

What is it about well-being that improves cognitive thinking? For one, physical activity inspires our brains to have more variety when it comes to thoughts. Exercising is a scientifically proven way to have a mental breakthrough, which then allows us to expand from our usual thought processes. 

Laughter also has a great effect on our cognitive abilities. In addition to the impact on cognitive thinking, laughter and humor also work wonders on our mental health. Many might be surprised to learn that laughter has a medicinal effect on the brain and lessens depression and anxiety by simply altering the chemistry of the brain. 

A person that laughs often is sure to be more productive because of the improved mood he or she will find themselves in. A positive mood creates an environment in which the worker and his/ her coworkers can thrive. Not only will a positive mood motivate the one laughing, but others in the office will likely find the mood to be contagious, boosting their own job performance. 

Ergonomic furniture and equipment is a large contributor to workplace comfort. Comfort in the office is a direct line to energy and, thus, productivity and mental capabilities. When we find ourselves uncomfortable in our office chair, we often focus more on attempting to relieve the ache, searching for a more comfortable position, and trying to find the energy to get things accomplished. Not only does ergonomics lend to comfort, but it helps with our physical health as well. Proper posture is important in avoiding back and neck pain. (We have written a related article – How Does Ergonomics Affect Employee Performance? (Physical, Cognitive, and Organizational Ergonomics)Opens in a new tab.)

A healthy body and a healthy mind go hand in hand. Ensuring that the human body is comfortable and well taken care of allows the mind to focus on other things. For example, rather than constantly thinking about the body’s aches and pains, other, more positive thoughts can naturally occur. A person’s overall physical and mental health is central to happiness in the workplace. Ultimately, a happy employee is a far better-performing worker.

Motivation and Drive

Well-being and motivation are two parts of life that can easily be connected. Imagine how frequently workers do an internet search on how to find motivation. Those workers that struggle to find any drive could possibly use some well-being. What is the connection between the two? 

Think about the things that motivate you. For many, it is learning something new or advanced in your field. The continued education of employees is a huge motivator and it contributes to one’s well-being. How so? Bettering your education relates to well-being in a few ways. 

First, it keeps the mind sharp. Learning new things even late in life contributes to combating memory problems and diseases like Alzheimer’s. Second, learning new information can directly relate to employee well-being. For instance, workers might be offered a course on handling work stress or anxiety. A break from work to take such a course during the day can be motivational and beneficial to the well-being of the employees.

Other forms of motivation can come in team-building activities. While the opportunities for bettering well-being exists in a variety of activities – from sports to trivia night – the social aspect involved contributes to a whole other level of well-being. Communication and social interaction, in general, can help to boost moods and employee skill sets. Additionally, by becoming more comfortable with coworkers outside of regular office engagements, employees can discover working together becomes far more seamless.

Further seamless office partnerships with an upbeat and positive office culture. Not only will doing so boost motivation levels across the board, but it will decrease stress levels significantly. Discourage negative comments and make work a happier place to see a real change in employee performance. Doing so will not only improve stress levels in the office, but it can improve employee health overall. 

Overall Health

Take into consideration the work that gets accomplished when an employee is at their best compared to what gets done when he or she is feeling ill. The difference can be staggering. It should be obvious, but the changes in performance when a non-healthy worker becomes healthy are many. 

Physical fitness and health is a big part of one’s well-being. An obese employee is likely to miss up to 2 more days of work each year than a person of average weight. Given that nearly 40 percentOpens in a new tab. of the American population is obese, it is likely that companies are missing out on a lot of work. Regularly missed workdays in addition to the 2 days per year add up over time.

Take a small business, for example. It might have 15 employees, which would mean statistically that 6 are obese. In a single year, those 6 employees would account for a total of 12 more missed days than average. If workdays are 8 hours, that’s 96 hours of missed work. For a small business, that number can be debilitating.

When obesity is less of an issue, job performance can soar. Consider the known health-related effects of obesity: high blood pressure, sleep apnea, diabetes, and struggles with mental illness. To think that these concerns are just a fraction of the possibilities that an obese person might have is eye-opening. Think about how health problems like these can change the workday. 

When it comes to high blood pressure, office stress is not good. Having said that, with high blood pressure as a result of obesity on top of high blood pressure from work, getting it regulated can be difficult. It can be hard enough to focus on improving one area of one’s life. However, learning to lose weight and manage work stress simultaneously can be a lot for some people. That added stress of trying to figure things out can make accomplishing tasks at work difficult.

Sleep apnea is a condition in which a person’s breathing stops and restarts while sleeping. It often results in poor sleep and feeling tired upon waking. If an obese employee suffers from sleep apnea, it is likely that they spend their working hours yawning, taking too many coffee breaks, and unable to focus. Without adequate sleep, working can be hard and progress can be slow. (We have written a review of Why We SleepOpens in a new tab.)

There are a number of effects that come along with diabetes, as well. While many people have their diabetes under control, type 2 diabetes (a result of obesity) requires a lifestyle change. For many, this means tracking food and beverage intake, regularly checking sugar, and taking medication. This can add a whole other task to achieve while working. Although it may only take a few minutes to accomplish these things, failing to do them can mean symptoms such as confusion, headaches, or anxiety, to name a few. 

Mental illness is not only something that affects the brain, but it can affect the physical aspect of the body as well. The desire to sleep constantly comes with depression, altering the ability to work. Depression can contribute to obesity or eating disorders. Mental illness can also cause self-harm or suicidal thoughts. Each of these parts of mental illness would clearly have an impact on work in general, but especially the quality of work performance. 

Ensuring that health is made a priority is central to one’s well-being and in turn, job performance. Because of the connection between the two, it is not only a good, human thing to care about the well being of employees, but a smart business decision. Grasping the concept of well-being in the workplace is fairly simple, but knowing how to boost well-being as an employer can get a bit harder. 

How to Boost Well-being

There are a large number of opportunities available for employers to increase well-being. While many options might depend on the kind of work, there is always a way to put employee well-being on the list of priorities. Think about the struggles that employees face in specific industries and careers. What can employers do to help? Do all programs work for all employers?

It is important (and a good start) to learn what it is that employees are looking for specifically. If possible, use the needs of the employees as inspiration. Most commonly, employees desire a flexible work scheduleOpens in a new tab.. In fact, 86% of employees want this. However, only 50% of employers offer it. Workers also want to be able to work from home, but even fewer employers offer that perk. 

Because of the capabilities in many industries, the above-mentioned requests are not always possible. There are, however, options to encourage well-being that can be done in nearly all workplaces. One of which being healthy snack options. Many vending machines in offices contain standard soda pop, chips, and chocolate bars. By swapping out those machines for ones offering granola bars, fruits, and healthy drink options, employers can inspire employees to make better choices. By offering free healthy snacks, many more employees will choose the better option. 

Providing employees with an on-staff or on-call therapist or counselor is sure to help with stress-related issues. While this would be more frequently necessary in careers like first responders or hospital employees, many industries could make use of a trained professional to speak with as needed. With the attempt to “end the stigma” associated with mental illness that is happening in today’s society, employees would likely feel appreciated with such an offering. (We have written a review of The Healthy WorkplaceOpens in a new tab.)

Other potential well-being programs to offer might be an in house daycare, smoking cessation assistance, or a wellness room. These options allow employees to stress less, improve health, and feel important to the business. The potential for boosting well-being in the workplace is truly massive. Tapping into the needs of a workplace’s people in crucial to finding the most effective programs for that company. 

By considering the needs and wants of employees and offering up solutions, a workplace has the ability to increase job performance on a large scale. In addition, employees are more likely to stick around for a longer period of time when he or she feels appreciated. Long term employees impact productivity in their own way. Adding business-smart programs to employee benefits is a win-win for both employee and employer. 

Related Questions

Are wellness programs and well-being programs the same concept? While the idea behind the two is related, wellness and well-being are not necessarily interchangeable. Wellness is an aspect of well-being. Well-being encapsulates an entire lifestyle. 

Is an on-site gym a wasted expense? The use made of an on-site gym often depends on the size of the company and the size of the gym. While healthy employees are sure to perform better at their jobs, it is not generally necessary to spend several thousand dollars on a gym for a handful of people to use.

What activities can be done to keep the mind healthy? Continued education inside or outside of a classroom setting, puzzles and brain teasers, regular exercise, and plenty of sleep are just a few ways the human brain can stay sharp. Doing these things regularly at every age is important in keeping a healthy mind, but especially important as we get on in age. 

How Does Ergonomics Affect Employee Performance? (Physical, Cognitive, and Organizational Ergonomics)

Written by Steve Todd in Health & Wellness,News

There is nothing that affects productivity like an uncomfortable work environment. Incorporating ergonomics at work is a small price to pay for a highly engaged workforce.

How does ergonomics affect productivity? Ergonomics is all about making the work environment as conducive as possible to avoid injuries, stress and other long term conditions that may have an effect on the well-being of an employee. Without proper ergonomics, there is increased absenteeism and sick leaves which ends up reducing the productivity of the employees and eventually affecting the profitability of the company. For instance, an employee who is constantly experiencing back pain because of the office chairs will miss work on some days to seek medical attention which means that sometimes targets will not be met.

Through ergonomics, employers, as well as employees, can collectively brainstorm on ways to transform the work environment to be conducive for everyone without affecting productivity in the process. To better understand how ergonomics affects the productivity of employees in any company, it is important to first understand what ergonomics is in the first place.

Ergonomics refers to ways of adjusting the work atmosphere and practices to prevent injuries as well as mental stress such that the company’s profitability won’t be affected due to sick days and other forms of absenteeism. (We have written a similar article – what is workplace wellness ergonomicsOpens in a new tab.)

It is estimated that organizations spend about $300 billion every year to cover costs brought about by absenteeism and health care that results from work-related stress; a figure that doesn’t even include money incurred from lowered productivity when there are disengaged employees.

Most employees spend hours on a computer which increases the risk of developing backache problems, tension headaches, eye problems, and carpal tunnel syndrome. Both employees and employers can reduce these through specific ergonomics techniques like the positioning of computer screens more than 20 inches away from the eyes or away from bright lights and using anti-glare on computer screens.

Work desks and chairs also affect productivity in that, chairs that offer better support can reduce back problemsOpens in a new tab.. If you want to create a comfortable work environment that will allow employees to put in their best, there is a need to choose chairs that support both the upper and lower back.

Ample cushioning in the seats also reduces lower body and hip pain. For the employees, encourage them to adopt postures that prevent back problems like typing when their arms are at a 90-degree angle and raising and lowering the chairs to achieve the right and comfortable posture.

While loud sounds or music in the office may disrupt work, sometimes soft soothing sounds can help employees relax and reduce tension. You can install speakers in the walls or play classical sounds thought out the day to not only keep employees relaxed and calm but to prevent fatigue and help employees remain engaged in what they do.

Aspects of Ergonomics at Work

Ergonomics is very broad and involves several aspects that all play a role in the productivity of employees when at work.

1. Physical Ergonomics

Physical ergonomics have to do with both physical and physiological aspects of work that affect the body and how adjustments can prevent injuries in the long run. Physical ergonomics, therefore, involves issues like sitting posture, motions, keyboard design, and generally overall workplace safety.

2. Cognitive Ergonomics

This leans more on human errors than injuries like the shape of the knob and the right direction it should turn and how much force a keyboard needs to respond. It is about making things a little bit more intuitive so as to prevent errors that may occur and affect productivity.

3. Organizational Ergonomics

This is basically the workflow of the company on a macro level so as to optimize the company structures, processes and policies. Organizational ergonomics focuses on teamwork, telecommuting, work systems, and virtual organizations.

Ergonomic Factors that Affect Productivity

In any organization, there are several factors that affect the productivity of employees. Since productivity translates directly to the profitability of the company, it makes sense why employers should be concerned about this issue.

However, even employees need to concern themselves with ergonomics since as an employee, your productivity determines how long you will have a job at the company and also how much you get to enjoy what you do.

1. Aptitude

Ergonomics mainly involves fitting the work environment to the employee. It is usually done through efficient organizational systems or specialized tools. One of the most important factors that affects productivity is aptitude which involves fitting the mental work to the employee.

What is the employee good at? Where does their passion lie? What do they like doing that you know they are good at? This will help you match the employee’s aptitude to their duties rather than just having random people working in various departments even though their passion lies elsewhere.

Matching the aptitude of an employee to the work they do can have a huge impact on their morale and can eventually boost productivity. At the end of the day, an employee is likely to excel at their job and remain in the company if their strengths are utilized where they matter.

When hiring rather than hiring someone who has the educational qualifications and skills that you are looking for, find someone who can not only do the job but actually wants to do it. Such employees will not require a lot of training and in the long haul are more likely to stay at the job and be productive. Check our previous article on what is a sustainable workplace? (6 ways to create a sustainable work environment)Opens in a new tab.

2. Level of Skills

One of the factors that most employers don’t consider when hiring is matching the skills of the employee to their expected output. When that doesn’t happen, it creates a culture of tired and burnt-out employees because the company is asking for more than they can deliver based on their skill level.

Burn-out and fatigue are some of the ways productivity reduces, creates room for errors and not to mention is a stress trigger. The opposite is equally true. Underutilizing employees especially your top talent can lead to lowered productivity in the end which will finally result in such employees leaving the company for greener pastures.

Assigning work to an employee just because they have the skills is not enough. You need to consider both skills and aptitude. At the end of the day, employees are more productive when they are handling roles that they are good at and love doing unlike when doing something they are good at but are not passionate about. While there are times that you will require such an employee to do something that they don’t like, for the overall good of the company, you should keep those to a minimum and only let them handle such roles when it’s absolutely necessary and on a short term basis. 

3. Environment

An ergonomic work environment takes into consideration not only physical aspects of the job but the psychological impacts as well. Some of the physical elements that may affect productivity either directly or indirectly include the office furniture, lighting as well as temperature.

Studies have it that maintaining a comfortable temperature in the office that allows employees to concentrate on their jobs affects productivity by 10 to 15 percent. As for lighting, the direction of the light, light levels, type of light sources and color has an impact on the eyes and if not taken care of can cause eye strain in your employees. (This complete guide to office lighting best practicesOpens in a new tab. provides more insights on the same)

Then there is the issue of artificial odors that are too strong or bad odors in the office which can affect how much concentrating the employee gives to their work. One of the ergonomic factors that most employers however overlook is noise which can be a distraction. Some lesser factors include the material of the walls, floor texture, the office layout, and positioning of doors and windows. Such factors that affect a person’s senses, should be put into consideration.

4. Furniture

In terms of office ergonomics, furniture involves matching of work tools to the environment. For those who work in the office all day, it is the landscape as well as the chairs. The depth, height, shape and even the color of the desk can have a significant effect on how much gets done at the end of the day and the morale of your employees after that. The office desks need to be enough to hold everything from monitors, phones, keyboard as well as paperwork.

The chair also has a significant effect on the productivity of the employee. For those who work in the office from nine to five, the chairs need to be comfortable enough to avoid such issues as back pain and in the long run stress. (We have written a related article – 25 desks your office needs for health & wellness)

5. Office Tools

The whole aspect of work ergonomics is providing employees with the right tools to do their jobs. As an employer, it is important that you analyze different tasks and what tools are needed and operations required from the employee. In doing so, you can then try and get the right tools that can help the employee do their jobs not only faster but efficiently. Employees who have the right tools to do their jobs are more likely to give their everything in what they do and remain loyal to the company.

For most employees who work in the office, some of the common tools that they need is a mouse, computer and a working keyboard. Adding other tools like a copy machine, telephones and adding machines will only make the environment even more conducive for work.

6. Compensation

While compensation is not a direct ergonomic factor, it plays a huge role in the psychological aspect of self-worth that employees assign in themselves and at the end of it all affects their output.

Case and point, an employee who doesn’t feel like what they do is valued or their productivity isn’t appreciated is more likely to reduce the efforts they put in what they do and in the end, it may affect their well-being. At the end of the day, how a person feels about themselves due to how others treat them is the most important aspect when it comes to productivity.

Ergonomics and Employee Performance

Most organizations have realized just how important ergonomics are in the office and have put in place measures to tackle the health and well-being of employees before productivity is affected by absenteeism.

While the workplace is often viewed as just the office, there are so many ways you can make the environment as comfortable as possible for each and every employee from the highest ranking official to the interns. In dealing with ergonomics, you can reduce injury risks and in the end reduce the number of sick days and costs of absenteeism. Here are seven ways ergonomics affects employee’s performance;

1. Boosting Productivity

By designing the work environment ins such a way that it allows for fewer motions, less exertion, good posture as well as better reaches and heights, the work stations become more efficient and productivity increases which enhances employee performance.

2. Improved Quality of Work

A toxic work environment only increases the chances of errors. If the environment or work tools provided don’t allow the employee to do their jobs efficiently it can lead to frustration. For instance, a job that is too mentally or physically draining can make the employee become disengaged and less productive. In the end, if they don’t concentrate on their jobs and their attention reduces, the quality of work is affected.

3. Enhances Employee Engagement

When a company takes the health and well-being of their employees serious, the employees are likely to notice. If employees feel cared for and don’t experience any kind of frustrations or discomfort when at work, in the end, it reduces absenteeism, improves morale and engagement of the employees in company initiatives and in the long term can have a positive effect on the retention of employees as well as hiring.

4. Creating a Culture of Health and Safety

Work ergonomics is one of the best ways employers can demonstrate their commitment to the health and safety of their employees. When there is strong safety culture in an organization, it leads to healthier and vigilant employees who are a valuable asset to the company and in the end can nurture a healthy culture that increases performance. Learn more on workplace health and safety, business productivity and sustainability (10 strategies to build a sustainable workplaceOpens in a new tab.) in our previous article.

5. Identifying Ergonomic Risk Factors 

Risk factors that are related to work activity and ergonomics can make it hard to strike a balance and can lead to a disengaged and less productive workforce. 

6. Task Repetition

A majority of the time, most tasks are repetitive and are controlled by hourly or daily work targets and processes. While this is necessary to increase the company’s productivity, when high task repetition is combined with other factors like awkward postures and high force they can contribute to physical injury and mental stressOpens in a new tab.. A job is considered repetitive if the cycle time takes 30 seconds or less.

Some of the ways you can control this are by allowing highly repetitive tasks to be performed efficiently without risking injuries by ensuring that you do everything to eliminate such things as excessive force and bad postures when working.  Also, provide your employees with safe yet effective ways of completing their tasks as repetitive as they may be through training on proper techniques and putting in place welfare procedures.

The most effective way of dealing with task repetition, however, is by encouraging job rotation to ensure that one person doesn’t perform the same task over a long period of time. At the same time encourage your employees to take breaks when working so that they can avoid the physical strain that will affect their productivity.

7. Force Exertion

Most tasks require high force but this can be changed. For one, you can improve ergonomics by eliminating that use of excessive force by adding adjustable work stations and height lift tables. You can also improve work processes by using carts to reduce heavy lifting as well as other carrying demands. Employees can also be trained on how to use proper lifting techniques to reduce the force required to complete a task.

Related Questions

How important is ergonomics to the overall health of an employee? Ergonomics is extremely important in not only the productivity of the employee but in their overall health. This is because, when an employee is doing their job and they are seated in an awkward posture, there are extreme temperatures in the office and they are doing the same thing over and over again, it can affect their morale, love for their job and overall is a leading cause of not only physical injury but stress.

What are the principals of ergonomics? There are several principals of ergonomics in the workplace and they include, making it possible for employees to work in neutral postures, keeping everything within reach, proper height when working, reducing excessive motions and force, minimizing fatigue, pressure points, and static load, taking breaks and overall maintaining a comfortable work environment that allows employees to be productive.