Learn how ergonomics can help your organization solve the employee engagement problem.

In 1943 Abraham Maslow published “A Theory of Human Motivation” and introduced Maslow’s hierarchy of needs.

The earliest and most widespread version of Maslow’s hierarchy of needs includes five motivational needs. You must meet the lower, more basic needs before progressing to meet the higher level needs.

Every person is capable and has the desire to move up the hierarchy toward a level of self-actualization. Unfortunately, progress is often disrupted by failure to meet lower level needs.

How does this relate to ergonomics and employee engagement?

The employees at your organizations are capable and have the desire to move up the hierarchy of needs, but they can’t unless their basic physiological and safety needs are being met. When the work environment doesn’t match the capabilities of the employee, their most basic needs are not being met. They are stuck and will disengage.

Ergonomics can help your organization meet the needs of its people and engage them up all the way up the hierarchy of needs towards self-actualization.

How the ergonomics improvement process engages employees

The ergonomics improvement process engages employees in simple and productive ways:

It shows employees you care: Often overlooked, this is a great reason on its own to implement ergonomics in your organization. It simply shows employees you care about their health and well being.

It shows employees their input is valued: We recommend engaging employees early on in the job improvement process. By observing employees perform the job and getting their input on how their work can be improved, you can show them that you value their opinion and they have valuable contributions to make in the process.

It educates employees: Humans are wired to learn and grow. Ergonomics training and education empowers employees to perform their work better and to contribute more and better ideas for the ergonomics improvement process.

It provides a tangible benefit that improves their lives: Ergonomic improvements make employees lives better by making their work easier and more productive. This is not another platitude hanging in the conference room or a safety slogan on a huge banner — it’s a tangible change to the workplace that proves your organizations is willing to act on the lofty words of the safety program to make the workplace better.

Benefits of engaging team members in the ergonomics process

Beyond improving the massive employee engagement problem, engaging team members in ergonomics produces many benefits for the ergonomics process itself.

If you engage your team members in the ergonomics process, you will:

Heighten ergonomics awareness: An engagement process around ergonomics will heighten the awareness of the program and bring ergonomics top of mind.

Generate improvement ideas: Because ergonomics will be top of mind more often (and team members will be trained in ergonomics), more improvement opportunities will be identified and brought to your attention. More ideas and opportunities will lead to more ergonomic improvement projects.

Build a positive safety culture: Engaging team members in ergonomics is a perfect opportunity to shape the safety culture of your organization. The ergonomics process is about lessening fatigue and discomfort for your team members. It’s an action you can take to improve their work and life, and actions shape culture faster than any safety slogan ever can.

Ensure team members will embrace improvements: By engaging team members in ergonomics from the beginning, you greatly improve the chances they will embrace improvements when they’re made.

The value of ergonomics + engaged employees

Employee engagement doesn’t always show up on an ergonomics cost-justification sheet, but it is one way ergonomics can add value to your organization. Engaged employees perform better and can add value back into the ergonomics process, creating a virtuous cycle of continuous improvement.

Further reading

• 5 Proven Benefits of Workplace Ergonomics
• The Value of Ergonomics — How Ergonomics Lowers Costs
• The Value of Ergonomics — How Ergonomics Improves Productivity
• The Value of Ergonomics — How Ergonomics Improves Product Quality