Worksite International Blog

When the pandemic started and we had to shelter in place, I knew it was going to be important for people to have someone to answer questions about working at home with good ergonomics.

From that moment on, the Home Office Ergonomist was born! I'm the Home Office Ergonomist, aka Alison Heller-Ono PT, MSPT, CPE, and much more. 

Studies have shown time and again that good ergonomics in the workplace produces happy, healthy, and productive employees. Many business leaders have thus invested time and money to create an ergonomic office and reap its benefits. But now that the current health crisis has pushed a huge part of the workforce into remote working arrangements, what can managers do to make sure their teams will practice good ergonomics at home? In this post, we’ll take a look at why ergonomics matters and how remote workers can achieve it.

What will our lives be like when the virus is gone? Nothing like before, because that is not how it works. You've heard the expression, "Gone, but not forgotten!"  Our old way of living and working will be different for sure. We have no choice but to change. 

I was recently inspired to think about the future of work from an article I read by the BBC Visual and Data Journalism Team called, "This is what coronavirus will do to our offices and homes." Let's design the future of work together!

This country has been in a big “reset” lately! Everything has changed. To survive in our new economy, companies have had to become more mindful of the impact COVID-19 has had on their employees and customers. Companies thriving right now demonstrate agility, resilience, and a unifying purpose within their organizations and externally to their community. There is a significant emphasis on holistic wellbeing to include mental, physical, financial, and social wellness.

Up until a few months ago, 2020 was looking good! Many of us were at the top of Maslow's hierarchy of needs pyramid working on how we can maximize our careers, our businesses, our finances.

If you are contemplating learning how to perform ergonomics evaluations you might be asking yourself, “What is the difference between a Certificate vs. Certification in Ergonomics and are they necessary?”

The way we work is changing rapidly. We are spending so much time with our technology, it's become like a family member... AKA Alexa! But what is all this exposure doing to our brains, our eyes and our bodies?

As the pandemic continues, technology and service workers around the country continue to work at home.

The longer they work, they are discovering how uncomfortable the desk or table used for intermittent letter writing, meals, bill paying, or web searching is inadequate for the eight to twelve hours of actual computer work.

They realize the inexpensive, big-box store, home office chair, or worse, kitchen chair, is insufficient to support excessive, prolonged sitting.

A sore back and buttocks are driving the need to stand up! The quick-fix pillow hack for support is getting old!

Recently, I had the opportunity to record my first podcast with James Crow of Posture Stars. Not only was it a lot of fun, but I was able to answer some important questions about posture. As a physical therapist and ergonomist, posture has come to mean different things to me when I observe and assess employees in the workplace. Did you know there are many kinds of postures?

Listen in to my thoughts on posture, it's significance in our daily work life and a bit of thoughtful advice for listeners. 

James asked me the following questions: 

I've come to the conclusion, it's not so easy working from home. We just aren't used to being home 24/7. Maybe you found it to be kind of boring, too?  There are only so many times you can walk between the kitchen, living room, bathroom,  bedroom and back to the kitchen!