What Are The Keys To Effective Ergonomics Systems In The Short And Long Term? Part 2

This is the second of the 4 part blog series on the 4 M’s to Effective Ergonomics Systems in the Short and Long Term.  The second “M” is Marketing.  By marketing I mean that the ergonomics systems and associated projects should have a brand.  Consider the following:  What company name comes to mind based on the following:  a Swoosh and the tagline “Just Do It”?  Or what company comes to mind if I tell you the logo is a red bullseye?  If you said Nike and Target you’d be correct.  What about the company you work for?  Does it have a brand—a logo and/or tagline?  Do any of the departments, systems or initiatives in your company have a brand?  One initiative or “program” that companies often brand pertains to wellness.  Wellness programs are branded to get the attention of employees.  This is because wellness programs typically are voluntary and having a noticeable brand is one way to get employees’ attention and hopefully increases their participation into the program.

The ergonomics system should have a brand.  Consider the following two examples.  A large company that I worked for had been receiving low customer satisfaction scores.  The company decided it needed to raise its scores and decided to implement a “customer service initiative”.  Nearly everyone in the company had to go to the “customer service training”.  Initially people were talking about it and were pretty enthusiastic about it; however, there was no real brand to it.  The first couple months after the training the scores were higher but soon thereafter they started to drift back down.  After a few months people rarely talked about the initiative and a year later the company moved onto doing another type of customer service initiative.

The second example happened at the same company.  This time it involved myself and one of the departments within the company.  This department had really high injury and workers compensation numbers.  The numbers for the previous year for lost work days were close to 200 and restricted work days were just over 900 which considering the department had just over 140 employees was quite extreme.  As the corporate ergonomist/injury prevention specialist it was my job to “fix” this department.  The first thing I did (and still always do when I work with a company or department) was to “take its pulse” of the department, i.e. determine the culture, politics, history and mindset of the management and workers.  Needless to say the safety culture was poor.  There was a little bit of us vs. them mentality between management and employees.  Management thought the workers weren’t working safely and the workers thought they were understaffed and had poor, not easy to use equipment.  Without going into more detail, it was apparent the attitude of the department needed an adjustment along with changes to equipment, work assignments and work flow.  I used the need for a new attitude as the basis for brand I was going to create for the initiative in this department.  This “How’s Yours?” attitude campaign became a fun way for managers and employees alike to question each other.  Other posters were produced that showed employees with their new tools/equipment and attitude.  It lightened the tone between management and employees, got both groups on the same page in thinking of safety and injury prevention and kept safety at the front of their minds instead of it being an afterthought.  We created a joint management/employee injury prevention committee, purchased new tools/equipment that were ergonomic and modified work flow and assignments.  I must admit the change didn’t happen overnight but over the course of a year the injury numbers improved dramatically.  Lost work days dropped to just over 30 and restricted were just under 60.  But that wasn’t the only improvements.  Gains were also achieved in work efficiency and employee engagement.  The time it took for workers to perform certain tasks were reduced on average by 10%-15%.  The gains (ROI) were dramatic financially and in terms of employee satisfaction/engagement which was priceless (although employee engagement certainly has a financial component).

Compare those two examples—one with a brand and the one without a brand.  I can’t say for sure that the customer service initiative would have been successful if it had a brand but it certainly wouldn’t have hurt it.  A brand helps people become more easily attached and engaged to a product, service or project than without it.  The definition of the word brand will help you to see why branding it important:

• Definition:  unique design, sign, symbol, words, or a combination of these, employed in creating an image that identifies a product, service, project that differentiates itself from its competitors

The ergonomics system and/or projects are just one of many within an organization.  A brand is needed to differentiate it from the others so it stays front of mind and creates a level of credibility, quality and preference from the target customers.  Without a brand the system/project can suffer and become irrelevant.  Quite possibly, the approval and success may depend on it.

4 Questions to Ask

I highly recommend that the system has a brand; however, there are four yes/no questions to ask that will help determine if a brand is necessary.

1. Is it related to strategic initiatives of the organization?
2. Are you (or whoever is leading the project) a good project leader?
3. Is the project viable?
4. Is the customer highly valued within the organization?

If you can answer “Yes” to all four questions your project/system has a high chance of success with or without much branding.  However, if you answer “No” to 1-3 of the above questions means that your project will need and benefit from having a brand.  If you answer “No” to all 4 questions then a brand is a must have.