Ergonomics and workplace design : Enhancing workers productivity and well-being in a retail/grocery store

Abstract

Ergonomics in the workplace is an important issue in our world today. Many organizations around the world are physically demanding environments and an example is retail or grocery stores. This study explores ergonomics and its principles. The role ergonomics plays in a retail store and how it makes retail employees more productive at what they do. Using a qualitative approach, data was collected by survey and interview from a retail store with 19 employees in Pori, Finland. The research findings prove that ergonomics no matter the type either cognitive, physical or organizational has a significant advantage in making retail workers more productive. The knowledge of ergonomics and its principles is ideal in a grocery or retail store because it reduces musculoskeletal strain, improves productivity, and reduces fatigue, and stress from repetitive tasks. From the analysis and result, ergonomic training is essential and its introduction to retail employees should be a first point of knowledge. After the introduction, the use of ergonomic tools is explained to the workers as a big factor in helping them to be productive and this factor increased workers' satisfaction. The findings show that ergonomics is needed in retail stores where its principle guides the workers, optimizes their ability, and reduces their visits to occupational facilities. Further research can be done in the future to examine the long-term effect this study will have on another retail stores across different cities and countries around the world.