As the digital landscape changes exponentially and companies contend with all the business and security issues involved in improving digital operations, has the need to care for the health and wellbeing of the individuals using that technology been forgotten?
Working with tech means spending long hours in front of screens, seriously impacting staff health.
Key Points
- Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are the most recognised negative health issues associated with the use of personal computers,
- Research shows sedentary work and poor postures lead to an increased risk of chronic illness and experiencing a decrease in subjective energy and increased feelings of helplessness and powerlessness.
- The cost of work-related pain, injury and health issues is too high to ignore…and we’ll show you why!
The Point In Detail
Musculoskeletal Disorders (MSDs) are the most recognised negative health issues associated with the use of personal computers, with over 86% of office and call centre staff experiencing some level of discomfort and over 11% trying to work while suffering from chronic pain. We also know those stats got worse when COVID-19 sent everyone home with laptops because there was a significant increase in trips to doctors and allied health professionals as staff tried to manage increasing pain and injury.
Beyond the physical toll of repetitive strain injuries and musculoskeletal disorders, there is also an added risk of chronic health conditions from our increasingly sedentary work and lifestyle. These include an increased risk of heart- attack, stroke, a range of cancers, and type 2 diabetes. There is also growing research linking the slouched postures of looking down at laptops and mobile devices to experience a decrease in subjective energy and increased feelings of helpless, hopeless, powerless and defeated thoughts.
What’s the cost to your business
Do your staff seem more disengaged or less productive? Are you seeing higher staff turnover and absenteeism? Are staff talking about a greater variety of health conditions affecting their work?
Let’s look at the cost to your business of one common injury associated with computer work: Carpel Tunnel Syndrome.
The American Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has developed the Safety Pays Estimator to provide examples of the potential damage to a business’s profitability from workplace injuries. Here are the numbers – These figures are the estimated cost of just one case of Carpel Tunnel Syndrome and the additional sales your company would have to generate to cover the cost of that injury based on a 15% profit margin and then converted into Aussie $.
Safety Pays Estimator |
US$ | A$ |
| Direct Cost | 30,930 | 45,452 |
| Indirect Cost | 34,023 | 49,997 |
| Total Cost | 64,953 | 95,449 |
| Additional Sales @ 15% profit margin (indirect) | 226,819 | 333,315 |
| Additional Sales (Total) | 433,020 | 636,333 |
So, this one increasingly common injury could cost your business over half a million dollars.
How do you feel about those numbers?
Remember, that’s just one of the many health concerns your business is likely managing. As these challenges grow, businesses must act now to raise awareness of the risks and provide the necessary training to build new self-care competencies. These self-care skills are essential for keeping staff productive, healthy, and fit for work—whether in the office or working remotely.
Do you want to run the numbers for yourself? | Here is the link to the Safety Pays estimator | https://www.osha.gov/dcsp/smallbusiness/safetypays/estimator.html
Three Easy WHS Ways To Support And Protect Your Staff
Giving employees an ergonomic checklist or occasional workstation assessments isn’t enough to prevent health issues, pain and injury from long hours of computer work. Physical and mental health risks in today’s workplace include overuse injuries, poor posture and increasingly sedentary behaviour.
Take proactive steps to build the new WHS skills by implementing these three simple steps to support healthy, productive work habits. These core elements—ergonomics, movement breaks, and increased physical activity—are vital in creating a well-rounded WHS program that promotes long-term well-being for your staff.
First | Ergonomics
One of the most common ergonomic mistakes, especially when using laptops, is setting the screen too high or too low.
Steps |
- Equipment | Ensure you provide a laptop stand, external keyboard, and mouse for staff working with laptops. | For additional ergonomic and work behaviour information to cover teams working remotely, Here is the link to a holistic Work From Home Checklist
- Conversation | Take staff through the easy action of checking screen height by asking everyone to hold their arm parallel to the floor and point to their screens. Their fingertips are now at the recommended height of 17.5 degrees below eye level, so they should be pointing to the centre of their screens.
- Follow-up | Visually check and offer help to ensure screens have been adjusted to the right height for the individual.It’s easy to talk and then forget to take action when people return to their work.
Second | Movement Breaks
Computer work is very mentally and physically demanding, and our body is very efficient at saving energy. So, as we focus on our work, our metabolism drops quickly, and we rapidly build up tension in our neck and shoulders. That makes these next steps essential regular habits.
Steps |
- Equipment | Having a handout as a prompt for break action options is the simplest tool | Here is the link to the Stretch at Your Desk Sheet.
- Conversations | Talk to your team about why it’s important to take quick breaks while working. These stretches release muscle tension, lift metabolisms and reset postures back to relaxed and neutral.
- Ideally, take a moment to stretch every 20 minutes. Suggest using a natural trigger, like each time they take a drink, as a prompt to create natural breaks without breaking concentration or workflow.
- Follow-up | As a leader, it’s important to remind and rehearse these stretches with your team and lead by example. Take the time to do the stretches yourself and discuss how that feels.
Third | Increase Physical Activity
It’s very easy to be inactive in our modern lives, and that one change in our natural behaviour has a big price on our mental and physical health. Encouraging your teams to be a little more active at and outside work is obviously hard. Still, with so many benefits to the individual and the business, these conversations must be a regular part of your planning at work.
- Equipment | Some businesses are lucky enough to have space for a breakout room, changing rooms and even gyms. But these are not essential. Walking during breaks and using stairs instead of lifts should be encouraged.
- Conversations | Talk to your team about the importance of taking a break from screens to give their bodies and minds time to recover from all the intense concentration and the small repetitive movements involved in computer work and screen scrolling. Sadly, sitting in front of the TV and scrolling through social media is not a break.
- It’s also important to get outside, especially into green spaces, to relax our eyes and minds. Going for a brisk walk, rolling shoulders and consciously relaxing your neck and shoulders will help with neck and back pain, and tension headaches.
- How about starting an Active 10 Club? | Here is the link to the NHS Get Active page | The Active 10 is as simple as a brisk 10-minute walk three times a day. Easy! 10 minutes on the way to work, 10 minutes during a break, 10 minutes before you step through the door at home (or better still, with family or friends). Getting a group together as support and community makes it easier for us to stay involved!
- Follow-up | Casually follow up in groups or individuals to ask about the sports or hobbies that interest them and how they make them feel. Again, don’t forget to mention the activities you are involved in and the benefits they provide you, even if it’s as simple as time for yourself or time to share with a partner or friends. | Here is a link to our Small Changes Project page for other ideas and free resources to support your team’s health and wellbeing at work.
Final Note
The Bottom Line—Movement is essential in addressing the discomfort and disengagement common among staff working with computers. A simple ergonomic checklist alone isn’t enough to create a comprehensive WHS program.
The steps I’ve shared are straightforward, but the real value comes when leaders consistently review, reinforce, and encourage these changes until they become ingrained self-care habits. Team Leaders play a critical role by leading through example and modelling the behaviours that transform these practices into automatic WHS skills.
However, Team Leaders also need the backing of their managers and peers to discuss, coordinate, and collaborate—ensuring everyone is supported and works together to see what’s working and make these new WHS actions stick.
If you found this article useful, please share it with colleagues who may also find this WHS information valuable.