The impact of working environment on employee productivity.

Introduction

In today’s context, people have become more important and vital than anything at work (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2010). Past observers predicted that the near future will be concurred by the machines but today, with the authority to drive machines, people have become the priority and the key asset of any organization (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2010).

The Human Resources Management is focused on being recognized as an effective and relevant strategic partner to the business (Snell, Bohlander and Vohra, 2010). Employees constitute a vital asset of an organization and the cutting edge for competing and thriving in the highly competitive environment prevailing at present. Most organizations believing that the HR Policies are based on few pillars widely referred to as values (Bizmanualz, 2015). The defined policies are mostly derived from the values (Sharma, 2016).

A motivated employee devoted to working towards the organizational goals which will resulting in productivity and leading to organizational effectiveness (Villamin, 2018). The challenge for a manager is to create ways and sustain motivation in the workplace (John Cunningham Wood, 2004). These can be achieved through a work atmosphere including correct ergonomics that enhances productivity (Villamin, 2018).

The concept of productivity, generally defined as the relation between output and input, has been available for over two centuries and applied in many different circumstances on various levels of aggregation in the economic systems (Tangen, 2002)

The combination between the input and output as the result of the productivity in the above definition by Tangen (2002) of understanding the concept of productivity.

 Figure(i): Productivity behavior (Tangen, 2002)

Figure (i) illustrates the slope of productivity. When the effectiveness and efficiency reach to their higher rank, the productivity also will rise up. But on the other side both lower ranks will be affected on the downward of the productivity slope (Tangen, 2002) Defining productivity, it is the summary measure of the quantity and quality of work performance with resource utilization considered (Schermerhorn et al, 1986).

Found below are some of the situations that productivity and working environment leading to different aspects of results.

Working environment and Hawthorne Studies

Creating an ergonomically designed office is not all about purchasing required furniture like chairs and desks. Moreover, the working environment makes a big impact for the design of the workstation. Safety methods in designing, protection and comfort also should be encouraged in order to achieve the productivity as well as the wellbeing of the staff (Dainoff, 2007).  

As per the views of George Elton Mayo and his Hawthorne Studies, he was the first to find out that working environment has an impact on performing a job role. George Elton Mayo is the father of Human Resource Management was conducting some experiments on human behavior carried out at the Hawthorne works of the General electricity company in Chicago in 1924-1927 (Gitman, L.J. et al, 2018). His Findings were very useful for the organizational development in the terms of human relations and motivation theory (Gitman, L.J. et al, 2018).

The Hawthorne studies comprise a long series of investigations into the importance for work behavior and attitudes of a variety of physical, economic, and social variables. The principal investigations were carried out between 1927 and 1932, whereafter economic depression caused their suspension (Cole, 2004). The Hawthorne experiments can be divided into 5 major parts.

·         Experiments on Illumination.

·         Relay Assembly Experiment.

·         Mass Interviewing Programme.

·         Bank Wiring Observation Room.

·         Personnel Counseling (Jex, 2002).

Ergonomically designed environment is a must factor which affect the employee behavior, even in the ergonomic analysis of work. For example, task analysis methods typically focus on the work content and the physical actions involved in performing work, and cognitive task analysis, work load measurement, and error analysis methods focus on the mental processes involved in completing the tasks yet such methods typically neglect the consideration of the physical environment design changes that either positively or negatively impact the work processes (Hedge, 2016).

Working environment, seating facilities, and other ergonomic designs should be considered in an office environment as well as the surrounding of the workstations, enough lighting, comfort and protection should carefully address as it has a direct impact on the employee’s productivity which source the ROI of an organization. For example, if an employee’s chair is too low for the desk, it might result in having neck sprains and back paining where the employee might not focus on his duties and resulting to a low productivity. If the incident happened in a garment factory, the production line must be affected with this one employee due to the slow productivity. In the same way, as an example, improper lighting at a workstation is very much important for any job role. Specially, for an employee who engages in designing, drafting, mechanical testing etc. 

As a recommendation for these hazards, author suggests that re-designing workspaces with proper lighting systems if the lighting is poor, long term resulting into poor performance of the employee with a poor eyesight., and ergonomically designed office furniture should be provided for factory workers. Author has experienced personally at a reputed commercial bank, at the teller counter, for three cash tellers, there were only one cash counting machine was provided, where at least two counter staff must walk many times during busy hours and wait to use the counting machine. The result was long ques with discontented customers and slow efficiency. 

During the period, per day served customer count was lesser too. The incident was escalated to the management later and one more cash counting machine was placed as a solution. During a post analysis after solution, per day customer serving rate was significantly climbed up. Therefore, author would like to conclude the fact considering that working environment has an impact on the employee productivity.

References

Bizmanualz, I., 2015. Human Resources Policies and Procedures Manual. 2 ed. s.l.:Bizmanualz, Incorporated, 2015.

Cole, G. A., 2004. Management Theory and Practice. illustrated ed., Cengage Learning EMEA.

Dainoff, M. J., 2007. Ergonomics and Health Aspects of Work with Computers. 1 ed. Beijing, China: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg.

Hedge, A., 2016. Ergonomic Workplace Design for Health, Wellness, and Productivity. illustrated ed., CRC Press.

Jex, S. M., Britt, T.W, 2002. Organizational Psychology: A Scientist-Practitioner Approach, 2 ed., Routledge.

John Cunningham Wood, M. C. W., 2004. George Elton Mayo: Critical Evaluations in Business and Management, Volume 1., Taylor & Francis.

Gitman, L.J., McDaniel (Jr.), C., Shah,A.J., Reece, M., Koffel, L, Talsma, B., Hyatt, J.C., 2018. Introduction to Business, OpenStax College, Rice University.

Snell, S., Bohlander, G., Vohra, V., 2010. Human Resources Management, A South Asian Perspective. 1 ed. India: Cengage Learning.

Sharma, D. F., 2016. Human Resource Management. Latest ed. India: SBPD Publications.

Villamin, B., 2018. Employee Motivation and Organizational Effectiveness. (Management Principles and Dynamics), p. 3.