Make Your Contact Center
Ergonomics Friendly -- Or Someone Else Will BY
NATALIE PEREZ, CONCENTRIC ENTERPRISES, INC.
Last June, I gained some very valuable insight from TMC president Rich
Tehrani. I've read Rich's columns in this magazine for years, often when I
would come across an issue while making a call center visit. On that
particular day last June, I skimmed through the magazine and found Rich's
column entitled, "Just
What the Dentist Ordered." I like Rich's columns; but on that
day, it was my fear of dentists that captured my interest -- how could
those drill-wielding maniacs be related to the contact center?
I learned two things that day. The first is that Rich is not a big fan
of preventive dental work and paid a painful price for it. The second
thing I learned, which has remained with me for nearly a year, is that a
typical work-related musculoskeletal disorder (MSD) can cost a contact
center approximately $35,000 per employee to remedy. I didn't read the
rest of that column at that time, distraught by both the business about
Rich's teeth and that staggering 35K number.
Before I began to write this article, I did a quick search for the word
"dentist" on TMCnet.com and read "Just What the Dentist
Ordered" in its entirety to find that it leads to a great article
written that month by Steven D. Rudnik (Magnitude Information Systems,
Inc.) entitled, "Improve
Your Call Center With An Ergonomics Makeover."
The fact is, most of us (except me) would rather be next to Rich at the
dentist before reading about ergonomics, but if you haven't yet
implemented a safe and comfortable work environment for your contact
center agents, read on. (It won't hurt a bit!)
What's An Ergonomist Anyway?
The first time I heard of a high-performance chair I almost fell off
my own, rather rigid, chair. High-performance chairs cater to the busy
executive who wants every part of his or her seat to be...well,
high-performance. This is truly the ultimate in ergonomics. As a term,
ergonomics sounds a bit like an illness many people live in fear of
contracting. Usually, not until someone experiences an injury resulting
from a mundane task such as typing does the topic of ergonomics come up
and the safety of the workplace get addressed.
In a literal definition, the word ergonomics was derived from the Greek
ergon, meaning work; and nomos, meaning laws. This serves as a good
present-day definition: work law. Alhough we often use the term ergonomics
to describe physical items (such as the high-performance chair),
ergonomics is actually a science. I find it most often referred to as the
science of fitting work environments to people. Ergonomics, as it relates
to the contact center industry, considers our physical limitations in
relation to our workspace.
Facing high costs incurred from work-related injuries, employers are
turning to ergonomists for advice in designing work areas that foster
comfort and overall well-being. The ergonomist has finally received long
overdue recognition and is as valuable a consultant as the person
designing your network.
Physical And Mental Ergonomics
In a perfect world, everyone would design their contact centers to foster
comfort and overall well-being -- but more often than not, contact centers
are designed simply to limit or eliminate the possibility of common
injuries such as carpal tunnel syndrome. That's just good business, and a
good enough reason as any to do the right thing.
The contact center's primary focus is physical ergonomics -- working
postures, repetitive movements and the like. Other areas of ergonomics
that are pertinent to the contact center include perception, motor
response and memory (all of which can lead to losses in an employee's
productivity resulting from stress and sheer overload). Mental ergonomics
should be considered, for example, when looking at technology that enables
agents to do 50 tasks in 15 minutes. While a complete technology offering
must be part of the call center if it is to be considered a full-service
contact center, failing to consider human factors when implementing
technology and delegating responsibilities to agents is not recommended.
Also related to mental ergonomics is lighting. A mental shift can
result from something as simple as a computer monitor with no anti-glare
screen. Hold a small flashlight to one of your eyes for a full 60 seconds
and see if you don't experience a mental shift -- or even a headache! This
example is more sudden and extreme than what an agent would experience,
but a decent comparison to the slow irritation caused by that funky bright
spot on the side of a computer monitor that an agent can stare at
(peripherally) for hours.
In terms of physical ergonomics, look around your own office for a
moment. The standard set-up in the most lightly furnished office has a
desk in front, a credenza behind and a bookcase to the left or right. This
set-up works well for our perception; it's comfortable and symmetrical.
After working on the computer or speaking on the phone without a break for
an hour, you can certainly imagine wanting to stretch your back.
Now the next bit of this scenario is the most important part to
visualize, or this exercise won't have the proper wake-you-up effect.
You are in the same office, but imagine now losing 50 percent of your
desk surface and the walls closing in on you -- leaving just about enough
space to hold your arms at your waist without elbowing someone else.
Pretty uncomfortable after a couple of hours -- or the average six and
one-half hours of actual "sit-down" time most customer service
reps endure each day.
Ergonomics And The Government
It's not exactly the split between Church and State, but in this era of
counting presidential votes with our fingers and toes, a moment to
demonstrate respect for governmental intervention in ergonomics is
appropriate.
Though governmental regulations enacted to gently nudge companies into
providing their employees with improved comfort were just recently
overturned by the current presidential administration and Congress, the
likelihood of government regulations remains high.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) of the U.S.
Department of Labor has stated that musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs)
account for the majority of lost workdays. MSDs are injuries and disorders
of the muscles, nerves, tendons, ligaments, joints, cartilage and spinal
disc. Think lower back pain and neck pain on the average, quickly followed
by the popular rotator cuff syndrome and carpal tunnel syndrome, a
condition caused by repetitive motions such as typing. This seems a little
more serious when we look at OSHA's estimate of 1,713,242 annual cases of
MSD in the U.S. alone.
If you try to consider every possible human factor when designing a new
contact center or outfitting your existing center to meet the new
ergonomic standards, you will quickly find yourself between a rock and a
hard place. The way to tackle it is to seek compliance by looking at the
potential causes of injuries in your contact center, and working your way
from there.
The Price Of Compliance
If you're designing a new contact center, you can now find many low-cost
alternatives in the areas of comfortable and ergonomically sound
workstations and
chairs, as well as video and/or display terminals. Among the benefits of
an ergonomic-friendly design in a new contact center is safe employees,
which has been known to actually increase agent productivity.
The new contact center has it easy. During the process of building, it
doesn't take a great deal of time to consider the following factors in
ergonomic design:
- Display monitors/screens. Ensure that monitors are protected with
anti-glare filters.
- Lighting. Ensure that lighting is adequate and doesn't cause further
glare or lend itself to reflections on computers and other equipment.
Agents should be able to comfortably see everything within their work
areas.
- Workstations. Ensure that your workstations aren't built for a
6-foot-tall person with a 1-foot wingspan. Workstations should further
take into account that people, like snowflakes, differ in shapes and
sizes.
- Peripheral equipment. Consider workstations that have adjustable
keyboard drawers. If the desktop PC is a standing tower under the
agent's workstation and results in a monitor the agent must look down
at, consider an adjustable monitor arm. If agents perform data entry
for extended periods of time, a document arm is also recommended.
- Chairs. They need not necessarily be the Rolls Royces of chairs, but
do ensure they are adjustable and comfortable.
- Sound. Furniture vendors often advise on workstations that absorb
and/or deflect sound. It's hard for agents to do their jobs when all
they can hear is the conversation in the next cubicle.
Now for the issue of existing contact centers. When incorporating
comfort into an existing environment, think small and simple measures.
Ripping every workstation from the floor is probably not necessary.
Working around what you have may prove to be easier than it sounds. Adding
wrist, foot and back rests, for example, will provide cost-effective and
well-received comfort to your agents. If the workstations do not have
wrist rests that adjust to various heights, your chairs should adjust so
that the wrists (and forearms) are properly elevated in relation to the
keyboard.
If you believe your existing contact center is non-compliant, you
should quickly opt to follow OSHA's "Quick Fix" recommendations.
OSHA states that "often the problems that result in musculoskeletal
disorders can be fixed easily and quickly and at very little
expense." OSHA proposes that a job-based ergonomics program, instead
of a facility-wide program, be implemented. The benefit of the Quick Fix
approach is that if you correct one problem (or "job") that has
caused, or has the potential to cause, an injury, there is no need for
additional action and related expense.
Quick Fix requirements, according to OSHA, are as follows:
- Promptly provide MSD management to employees with covered MSDs.
- Observe, consult with and seek recommendations from employees in the
job to identify risk factors and recommendations for eliminating the
MSD hazard.
- Put controls in place within 90 days and review them in 30 days to
verify that they are working.
- Keep a record of Quick Fix controls.
- Provide the required hazard information within 90 days to any
employee in the job.
- Institute a full ergonomics program if Quick Fix does not work or
another MSD occurs in that job within 36 months.
I cannot stress enough the value of speaking with your agents
consistently. This communication will enable you to discover what is
making them most uncomfortable, and will also give you the opportunity to
remind them to practice good posture as well. It's good for their vocal
tone as well as their safety.
The expense of developing a proper ergonomic environment from scratch
or outfitting your existing environment with ergonomic accessories is
minimal when compared to the expenses associated with a possible injury.
Look out on your contact center floor and visualize $35,000 for every seat
you can see. If that doesn't work, think of the painful wisdom teeth Rich
might have avoided if he had heeded the advice of prevention. Good luck to
all.
Natalie Perez is president of Concentric Enterprises, Inc., a
contact center technology and operations consulting firm. For an
electronic copy of the OSHA Final Ergonomics Program Standard (29 CFR
1910.900), contact the author at [email protected]
or contact OSHA's Ergonomics Team at 202-693-2116. You may also visit the
OSHA home page at www.osha.gov for
additional information.
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