Instituting A Teleworker Program
Instituting a teleworker program requires careful planning before implementation. If the proper planning is not accomplished before the program is put into place it could fail. From an ergonomics perspective, if your employees work off of their desks, tables or whatever they have available, and use their personal computer equipment, the potential for repetitive motion injuries goes up significantly. There is a good chance that they will be working in awkward positions and postures which will speed up the injury process. We have seen all manner of employee "workstations" including an ironing board and a plank between a washer and a dryer.
The other side of the coin is the home worker who never stops. They have difficulty knowing when they have done enough. This can also lead to overuse injuries and create many other problems. You need to have a policy in place with the ability to monitor and enforce reasonable limits.
If your injury rates increase significantly, what will that do to productivity and morale? How will you respond to these issues in an employees house? What equipment and desks will you provide if any and how will you support them? It will be of great benefit to you to consider theses issues before you roll out your program. Remember, when you hurt your productivity levels you hurt your bottom line.
Let ErgoANSWERSTM help you work through these issues and build a teleworker policy that meets your needs before you deploy.