When you hire a “consultant” you expect to pay for their time. You’re really paying for the expertise that they offer, which is like paying for all the time that they’ve invested to learn what they know so that they can help you.
While we call ourselves “ergonomists” rather than “ergonomics consultants” (read why here), we are similarly charging you for our experience, knowledge, processes, and reporting templates. But our regular ongoing clients (who we call “On-Site Ergo” clients), get other free stuff included in our fees. Does your ergo consultant give you these?
Ergo thoughts. Every week, we publish a new “ergo thought” that you can post, on a bulletin board or electronic display. The thoughts are a mix of riddles, little-known-facts, best practice tips, ergo design tips, and work, home and sport applications of ergonomics.
Monthly ergo bulletins. Every month, we publish a series of 5 slides on a specific topic of ergonomics relevance. We publish the themes in advance, so clients can select an alternative topic from our archives if the topic doesn’t fit well with their organization. Each calendar year includes at least one bulletin for each of the legislated topics of strain/sprain hazard identification, early recognition, and heat stress prevention. This month, for example, our bulletin is titled, “5 things your kids need to know about ergonomics.” The bulletins and ergo thoughts can be displayed electronically, or on paper.
A board to put it on. We bring a bulletin board to your site. It’s optional, but it includes space for the ergo thoughts, the monthly themes, and it also displays a photo of your ergonomist(s) with information about how to contact them and when they are typically onsite.
Ergo contests. Twice per year, we create a fresh new ergo contest (with a pre-published theme), and we print handouts for all of your employees. They complete the contest and enter a draw, and we supply “swag” prizes. These contests aim to generate ergonomics awareness and buy-in.
Hundreds of pages of ergo awareness content. Yes, hundreds. We combed through 25 years of newsletters, blogs, ergo contests, and bulletins, and we created one-page summary documents. These can be copied for in-house wellness fairs, safety contests, job coaching on specific topics, and more.
How do we supply all of this for free? We plan ahead; when our ergonomists have time between projects, they work on “On-Site Ergo” content development. On average, we spend about 2 days per month on these efforts, but since we have many regular clients, we’re leveraging this time to help many clients at once. All content is developed or peer-reviewed by a certified ergonomist.
Why do we do this? Increasing employee awareness about ergonomics helps all of us; ergonomists become approachable and familiar to employees, and employees begin to think about ergonomics in new contexts. If we can get one employee to:
– seek treatment before their ache becomes an injury
– suggest an improvement for their job before someone gets hurt
– share an idea at home to help a family member, or
– start a conversation at lunch time about a possible solution to a longstanding issue
…then awareness initiatives will also benefit employers, by preventing injuries at work and home!
If you’re not an “On-Site Ergo” or “On-Site Ergo+” (with novice/mentor ergonomists) client yet, set up a meeting with Carrie@TaylordErgo.com, to discuss how you could become one. We also offer the awareness program as a standalone service, here.