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Published on: May 31, 2021
Ergonomic office design and aging: a quasi-experimental field study of employee reactions to an ergonomics
Douglas R May1, Kendra Reed, Catherine E Schwoerer
1Department of Management, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, NE 68588-0491, USA. dmay1@unl.edu
Abstract:
A naturally occurring quasi-experimental longitudinal field study of 87 municipal employees using pretest and posttest measures investigated the effects of an office workstation ergonomics intervention program on employees' perceptions of their workstation characteristics, levels of persistent pain, eyestrain, and workstation satisfaction. The study examined whether reactions differed between younger and older employees. Results revealed that workstation improvements were associated with enhanced perceptions of the workstation's ergonomic qualities, less upper back pain, and greater workstation satisfaction. Among those experiencing an improvement, the perceptions of workstation ergonomic qualities increased more for younger than older employees, supporting the "impressionable years" framework in the psychological literature on aging. Implications for human resources managers are discussed.
