At Hindustan Unilever Ltd (HUL), there are teams on the prowl observing employees silently. They're not checking if employees are doing their job. They're checking whether they are seated right. After all, a lot of time and effort has gone into educating employees on the right posture to adopt at their work stations, among other things, for their own benefit. And healthy and happy employees will deliver better.
The right posture on the right chair, the desk at the right height, the position of the screen, the position of the mouse and the keyboard, the temperature, the right kind and amount of light… all factors are critical to Dr T Rajagopal, Vice-President, Global Medical and Occupational Health, Unilever, and his team. His team in India alone comprises three full-time doctors, five executives and 40 part-time medical officers.
Increasingly, companies are spending time and engaging specialists in planning every little detail of the work place, with the twin and related objectives of making employees comfortable, and improving their productivity. Work ergonomics is not just to reduce back aches or strain on the eyes. There are practitioners who contend that comfortable and efficient work places can lead to a more positive state of mind, boosting employee morale.
On the evolution of ergonomics in the work place, Dr Rajagopal says, “Ergonomics is still an evolving discipline in India. There are very few institutions that offer an advanced course in ergonomics. Traditionally it is the industrial hygienist who looks after ergonomic aspects, and these are also very few in number across the country. However, trained occupational health specialists have, over the past decade, undertaken ergonomic assessments at the workplace.”
HUL claims that office and factory ergonomics have always been a priority for Hindustan Unilever. The company has been conducting ergonomic assessments since the early 1990s.
Are investments in ergonomics measurable? HUL says they are. In the erstwhile tea factories, a modified tea plucking instrument significantly enhanced tea plucking while minimising repetitive strain injuries, according to the company.
Ergo, By Design
At IT companies, more than anywhere else, employees spend more time interacting with their screens than with their peers. Every effort is being made to make the work station comfortable. In the case of Directi, while designing the workplace specifications, the founder and CEO, Mr Bhavin Turakhia, got into every detail personally. But Directi also reached out to specialists and took professional consultancy.
While Hafiz Contractor was put on the project for the super structure, the internal structure and plan was handled by ANJ Architects, who also advised on the ergonomics.
The process of selecting chairs and desks was understandably rich in its detailing. Directi chose to go with mesh back chairs (meant to absorb shock), with lumbar support, gas lift, synchro tilt, and more. Care was taken to make sure they last long and are strong enough to handle weight of all sizes. The desks are height-adjustable.
“We realised that the standard workstation dimensions accepted by most companies are not conducive to taller individuals. On the reverse side, we found the same affliction for shorter folks. The net result: a new specification to our workstation vendors, to provide us with desks whose height can be adjusted to suit the occupant,” explains Ms Margaret Rodrigues, Associate Manager, Corporate HR, Directi.
The desk space is also designed keeping in mind different teams. Sales and marketing teams have been given longer desk space with partition that absorbs sound, while product development teams have been given a square space with more scope for collaboration.
Since most of the work revolves around computers, the desks are of light colour to keep the focus on the computer and not stress the employee with a contrasting colour.
“Research says 50 per cent of the vision is focused on the floor, 25 per cent on the wall, and 25 per cent on the ceiling. So it's important for the carpet colour to be soothing. Therefore, the carpet at Directi is light (beige) and is dyed end-to-end to last long,” explains Ms Rodrigues.
Research again showed that an extra monitor can boost efficiency by 15 to 35 per cent. So every employee was given two or three 19 or 22 inch LCD monitors, depending on his or her requirement. Senior management has up to six.
Another recent research project on the work place front at Directi culminated in a new adoption.
Having provided dual monitors, the company realised that for certain tasks (such as software development/support) one can achieve greater productivity by rotating the monitors 90 degrees and using them in a vertical (portrait) orientation.
“We have now sourced swivel arms that we will be installing across all workstations which enable rotating, tilting, moving, extending and retracting the LCD screens at any angle and position.
This has an added advantage of leaving the desk clear for placing laptops, cell-phones and documents, since the monitors are now suspended above the desk by a swivel arm,” she adds.
It's Not Just the Employees
When Amway India moved into its new office in Mumbai in January this year, it wanted to ensure that it was more than the functional and transactional offices it occupied earlier. The Mumbai office now serves as an experiential centre, in addition to being an office housing employees.
It is obvious that work ergonomics is top of mind when the regional head for Maharashtra and Goa spends time overseeing the interiors, which took over three months, right down to the choice of chairs. It seems to have worked. Amway claims that a lot of its employees are spending a good amount of time in the new offices, in Mumbai and Pune.
“From the lobbies to the seating spaces, we had to change the design concept, at both our Mumbai and Pune offices.
From natural lighting focus to LEDs to the chairs, it was critical for us to think everything through,” explains Mr Shishir Jha, Area Manager – Maharashtra and Goa, Amway India.
At the experiential centres, customers end up spending an average of 30 minutes seated, notes Mr Jha. The company went with different chairs for employees and customers, given the different usage anticipated.
A design consultant was brought on board and the latest ergonomic chairs with adjustable handles, lumbar support and the works — different from the fixed chairs at the old Amway offices — welcomed employees as they moved in.
From TFT screens to seating to work stations, interior design consultants worked with the Amway team to arrive at the right choices.
Pro View
Prof Venkatesh Balasubramanian, Associate Professor of Engineering Design at IIT Madras, and a member of the Indian Society of Ergonomics (ISE), observes that ergonomics at work needs to go beyond the aesthetics.
“The three aspects that need to be looked at are the physical dimensional requirements, the operability requirements and the aesthetics. Unfortunately, aesthetics takes precedence sometimes, and then companies look at post facto remedies rather than pre-emptive ergonomics,” he says.
He also contends that processes that enable ergonomics at work to work, need to be in place. Prof Balasubramanian adds, “I have seen companies buying the latest beautifully adjustable chairs (a BPO) but none of the employees knew how to adjust them. This is just to show that you also need the processes in place beyond the design elements and the physical infrastructure.”
The need for ergonomics to focus on usability is evident, and is explained by the ISE choosing the topic ‘Innovation and usability in product development' for its 2011 conference. The Humanising Work and Work Environment conference will be held at IIT Chennai this December. From Apple's iPods to cars, usability will add value to every product, notes the ISE member.
In the work place, there is acknowledgement of the need to intensify holistic ergonomics thinking.
Prof Balasubramanian sums it up: “Given the sedentary lifestyle and nature of work a lot of corporate employees are in, they end up with a physiotherapist at some point. Good ergonomics can help, but it needs to go beyond the obvious chairs and tables.”