Osmond Ergonomics

This article was originally emailed as issue 136 of our monthly eBulletin at 11:30 on 10/03/2021. You can register here to receive them monthly.

CAUSE FOR OPTIMISM – TIME TO PLAN?

With a return to school, the immediate opportunity for limited outside interaction and the prospect of further easing soon, many of us now feel that we are starting to ‘get our lives back’. Alongside these personal feelings of cautious optimism, businesses are reviewing future plans. Organisations large and small are reassessing their homeworker arrangements, thinking about how the office space will be used and taking a long, hard look at their real estate.

Many employees have adapted well to homeworking whilst others have struggled. Undoubtedly, the end of home schooling has dramatically reduced pressure for some households but there are many with inadequate space, insufficient support from their employer and mental or physical health issues that need prompt attention. Your organisation may not knowingly be employing L.O.S.E.R.S. (Laptop On Sofa, Employment Rights Suspended) but now is undoubtedly the time to be checking and responding to the issues that come to light. We can help with these issues in both proactive and reactive ways.

Once again, we are also having conversations with employers about how to use their office space in both the short and long term. The reality is that none of us fully understands how our needs will evolve so flexibility is the key. It is probably safe to say that we shall ‘need fewer desks’ but, beyond that, the key is to think about your organisational culture and how your people work, think and interact. We have talked about the 4Cs approach for several years and it is as relevant now as it ever was. Contact us if you would like to discuss these topics further. For another perspective on this complex topic, my colleague, Alice, has also written a blog of her own thinking about a partial return to the office.

COMPACT HOMEWORKER DESKS

One of the many things we have learned from our extensive homeworker experience is that space is nearly always an issue! We have been looking at this problem for some time and, finally, I am pleased to say that we have both fixed height and sit-stand solutions. We have decided on 900mm x 650mm as a compact worktop size that can offer reasonable ergonomics if well managed and, especially, if combined with a monitor arm and/or laptop stand.

By using a single leg frame, our Motus Monorise sit-stand desk is also very competitively priced. Our Goal Post fixed frame desk is well made in the UK and very easy to assemble. Click here for our brochure (which links directly to the relevant product pages on our website).

VIRTUAL DSE ASSESSOR TRAINING

As well as our Open House events which have been so well received, we are now rolling out our virtual DSE Assessor training to our corporate clients with equal success. As you’ve probably heard me say before, the IIRSM rated this one of the best courses the reviewer had ever seen when we received our Approved Training status from them and the course has now also been accredited by the CIEHF.

We are offering our Open House courses monthly with a few Supersaver tickets available at £20 or £70 each over the next quarter. Check here to see what is available or contact Stuart Entwistle, our Training Manager, for corporate enquiries.

HEALTH & WELLBEING CONFERENCE

At this time of year, we would normally be meeting many of our industry and professional contacts and friends at the NEC for the annual conference and exhibition. Indeed, you may remember bumping elbows with us on our stand or in the aisles last year, only days before the first lockdown.

For obvious reasons it is a virtual event for 2021 so we shall not be exhibiting. However, I shall be attending as a delegate so let me know if you will also be online and perhaps we can arrange a virtual coffee (I can always send you a Zoom invitation)!

TRUST PILOT

We get lots of excellent feedback from customers and, when we occasionally screw up, we are quick to address our mistakes and do everything possible to put matters right. Most of the feedback we receive comes direct to us by email, phone calls or LiveChat and we have an internal awards system to recognise our team members when they provide great customer service.

We have never particularly promoted Trustpilot in the past but our Marketing Coordinator tells me that good feedback from one of the established platforms helps our social media presence and search engine optimisation so I am doing so now! If you have a few minutes to comment on your experience of dealing with us, either on an ongoing basis or for a specific transaction, please do so here. Many thanks.