Mind over matter in your workforce!

Hi folks,

Despite it making tasks a lot easier, I’m not going to teach you how to turn your workforce in to Jedi’s. However, in the more recently published research papers on the management of musculoskeletal conditions (lower back pain, repetitive strain injury, etc), emphasis has been put on the mind of the worker – their attitudes. It’s easy to see how physical exercises & ergonomic aids can reduce such conditions but how can their psychology impact on them?

Here are a few of what we call ‘yellow flag’ psychosocial characteristics:

Ø     Believing that any physical injury is harmful long-term & leads

            to severe disability.

Ø      Avoiding activities in fear that it may cause injury / staying inactive.

Ø      Refraining from communication / social interaction with colleagues & management.

Ø      Believing that prolonged rest is a better management strategy than being active.

If an employee’s mindset ticks the boxes above then they are putting themselves (& those they influence) at a higher exposure to developing work-relevant physical health conditions.

As you can see, much of this is about creating a positive mindset to health & work in each employee, therefore breeding a new workplace culture – not any easy thing to do. The best way to achieve this is by investing in your employees & engaging with their individual job experiences through my Occupational Fitness Workplace Workshops. This type of training has proved a fantastic rate of return, so in this tough economic climate the question is “Can your company afford NOT to have this training?”

Thanks & have a great weekend

James