Karnataka - Bangalore   

Focus is now on happiness quotient

Special Correspondent

Bangalore: Making the work place healthier and less stress-producing is what many human resource (HR) managers are looking at now.

"Limiting daily working hours at normal times, making sure employees get holiday time and that not many staffers spend time at the office beyond an average of 10 hours a day all contribute to better health and less stress'' says the HR manager of a mid-sized auto components manufacturing company.

While inventory control and tight delivery schedules are most important, employee health is important, he has found. Especially on the shop floor, fatigued workers lose concentration, forget safety precautions, take risks and end up with injuries or worse. At the office level, eyestrain, back and neck pains, feelings of exhaustion and the inability to stay focussed, all affect productivity. Mistakes are made and become costly to rectify. Industrial safety consultant K. Shankar says he keeps finding even basic safety measures lacking in many industries. "Stringent controls to reduce exposure to toxic substances, including tobacco smoke, good ventilation and lighting and a generally more aesthetic working environment are often absent," he says.

Repetitive movements, even on a computer keyboard, can result in muscle and tendon inflammation, and staring too long at monitors cause headaches. This is one reason why most supervisors have been trained to give breaks to the staff every two hours."

Periodic health check-ups and talks by experts on effective stress management are essential. The stressed out employee cannot function at his or her best and could bring down overall productivity of a team.

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