REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE
Employees are one of any organization's most crucial resources, as the
organization's production is greatly influenced by the quality of its workforce. This entails
that the importance of human and ergonomics has evolve from time to time. The
benefits of ergonomics has continue to influence employee’s behavior, performance and
satisfaction. Work ergonomics and human factors design equipment to boost human
capabilities and reduce human limits in connection to work. Workplace design should
accommodate and effectively support an employee's demands as they relate to
completing a task. This is the goal of work ergonomics. According to Exemplis Corp.
(2014), it is difficult for an employee to be productive when physically uncomfortable.
Any office provisions (including furniture fittings, level of noise, workstations, lighting,
temperature etc.) that makes employees uncomfortable in the short or long period, can
affect productivity. The main objective of the research is to fully understand the
relationships of Ergonomics to Employee’s performance/productivity, job satisfaction
and retention.
Relationship of Ergonomics and Employee Performance/Productivity
Making the workplace as comfortable as possible to prevent accidents, stress,
and other long-term conditions that could affect an employee's well-being is the goal of
ergonomics. Lack of good ergonomics results in higher absenteeism and sick leave
rates, which ultimately lower staff productivity and have a negative impact on the
company's profitability.
In Pakistan, (Hameed and Amjah, 2009) investigated the impact of office design
on employee productivity as a case of banking organizations of Abbottabad. Thirty-one
bank branches from thirteen different banks were employed in the study to determine
the link between office layout and productivity. The study's findings showed that
improving staff productivity depends greatly on workplace design. It has been
discovered that an ergonomic and comfortable office layout improves worker
performance. According to (Saleem et al., 2012), office design is crucial for increasing
employee productivity. As a result, a happy and comfortable working environment
encourages workers to perform better.
(Asante, 2012) investigated the effect of workplace ergonomics on worker
performance in Ghana using 98 employees of the Ghana National Petroleum
Corporation. The performance of employees was found to be severely impacted by
ergonomic factors such workplace design, décor, lighting, noise levels, and furniture by
a factor of 20 to 80 percent. A small number of workers were also discovered to have
musculoskeletal disorders, which they claimed on their furnishings. Because the survey
found significant office ergonomic shortcomings, the researcher claimed that Ghana
National Petroleum Corporation had yet to take use of its work environment as a way to
inspire and improve staff performance.
Relationship of Ergonomics and Employee’s Job Satisfaction/Retention
According to the definition given by Frank, Finnegan & Taylor (2004) employee
turnover is the “unplanned loss of workers who voluntarily leave and whom employers
would prefer to keep.” PricewaterhouseCoopers (2004) noted that “Today, employee
retention has become the major concern of every fast-growing company and the priority
issue to be tackled” (as cited in Frank, Finnegan & Taylor, 2004, p.13). The elements
that influence a person's intention to quit have been the subject of several research
findings. According to a model developed by Mobley (1977), intent to leave is a series of
processes starting from job dissatisfaction to the thoughts of quitting, looking for
alternate employment opportunity and finally the decision to quit. From work discomfort
to thoughts of resigning, seeking for alternative career opportunities, and eventually
making the choice to quit, the desire to leave is a sequence of stages.
Several studies show that work ergonomic can support the problem on job
dissatisfaction that might result on problem on employee retention. The application of
ergonomic interventions at the work place reduces the scope of injuries and enhances
workers' productivity (Bohr, 2000). Analyses of the work environment and identification
of risk factors and the measures to eliminate them have been the traditional goal of
ergonomics (Westgard & Winkel, 1997). However, much research has been done on
the effectiveness of ergonomic treatments to boost employee retention by lowering risk
factors in the workplace.
