Key Learnings for Ergonomics Success

Ergonomics initiatives come in all shapes, sizes, and expectations for success and are established from the information provided from varying teams in the organization—from HR to EHS to IT.  Understanding the variation is important, but learning to define best practices, which can apply to all our customers, is a cornerstone of the work done by the customer success professionals at VelocityEHS.

Consider new customer A, whose goal is to assess all the jobs at his facility to understand the range of risk, while customer B wants to assess a subsection of jobs and start improving them right away. Both are valid processes with different metrics and results. However, three critical elements for success are the same:

• establishing and documenting the goals within the organization,
• ensuring a trained team and resources are available to accomplish them, and
• measuring and monitoring for success.

Our team of Customer Success Managers focuses on ensuring that our customers are successful, from watching trends, to annual goal planning and business reviews, to informing customers of important news. The team has grown alongside our ergonomics software and has learned with our customers.  From each discussion comes a renewed sense of what matters most.

These are our three key learnings for success.

Be prepared

Jumping into any process without a sense of purpose can be the downfall of even the best execution. As my colleague Christy Lotz mentioned in her recent e-book, Deploying an Ergonomics Process Year by Year, “The key to long-term success in ergonomics is to build a strong foundation with solid planning.” Essential to preparation is garnering buy-in throughout your organization, communicating the plan, and establishing the goals that will define success. What’s key, though, is establishing realistic resource plans and a team to support the work. It’s not about spending money; it’s about supporting the best ergonomics improvements to deliver the highest ROI for your organization.

Stay engaged and finish what you start

We know most companies get excited about doing assessments and can do a great job completing baseline ones. This is especially true when effective, user-friendly, and easy-to-learn tools are available. However, the top organizations we work with are not the ones who do just baseline assessments. They work toward their goals, continuously reduce risk, and make workplace improvements year after year. Reviewing completion metrics, risk reduction reports, and other tools will guide and track the progress.

Hold everyone accountable

It seems easy to assign an ergonomics team to deliver results, but what is essential is that everyone, at every level, is responsible for the success. When a senior stakeholder is asked to show the value of an ergonomics process, they must also understand the basics of what the process looks like, how to use the tools to collect the metrics, and what makes a successful team. While the Customer Success Managers can help draw the lines to these elements, the customers with the most successful ergonomics processes have senior stakeholders who “get it” and “own it.”

We are proud of our customers for teaching us that the most effective ergonomics processes are those grounded in preparation, engagement, and accountability. These companies demonstrate the return on investment, year after year, and the value speaks for itself.