Discovery
A financial services organisation approached ViVA health at work to help them understand design opportunities in their retail concept stores, with a focus on the exposures to workplace violence, aggression, and incivility, while addressing general productivity and health concerns. In addition, advice was sought to help them in the selection of office chairs for 3,000+ employees.
A comprehensive study was undertaken in the concept stores, focussing on five roles, including those involved in customer service, value-creation, lending, and team leadership. Empirical studies were undertaken with site observations and interviews including identification of cognitive, human factors, psychosocial, and physical work demands, and systems analysis. Empathy and journey mapping were undertaken. Online surveys were issued to a small work sample per a valid psychometric tool to determine psychosocial safety climate considerations, and a review of the up-flow chain of management approaches that were perceived to provide a sense of emotionally and psychologically supportive and safe work environments. Scientific literature was referred, and specialised risk assessment was undertaken for some tasks involving manual, cognitive, and psychosocial demands.
Design
Five detailed job analysis and job capacity checklists were developed to inform the facilities management, recruitment, workforce strategy, health & safety, and occupational rehabilitation teams. Recommendations were contextualised within a framework of good work design (an organisational approach) that is human-centred (that focuses on human use, applicability, and performance for those that work within the system). The design concepts were proposed with 31 strategies to support psychological wellbeing, innovation, technology needs, environmental conditions, sustainability, equipment procurement, crime and security needs, and pandemic concerns with communicable disease management strategies.
For the office chair selection, initial internal working drafts of chair selection criteria were reviewed, contrasted with literature review and ViVA resources to provide guidance, applied per a decision-making support system matrix.
Realisation
The business was given the opportunity to review design strategies for ongoing implementation. Facilitated workshops were advised to verify the recommendations with the workers, operations, support, and design teams, before planning for implementation phases.
A significant revision to office chair procurement selection criteria was proposed, with transparent, weighted decision-making that could be tested per ViVA’s chair selection procurement tool. A tiered phase of decision making was recommended, involving focus group trials.