Good Work Design: A Conceptual Framework

Good work design, underpinned by human-centred design, human factors, and ergonomics, is a concept that is emerging in Australian workplaces and supported by literature,[i] guidance material,[ii] and international standards.[iii], [iv]

It can be defined as:

The process of identifying opportunities and problems through inquiry and bringing people and teams together to create solutions that can be empirically demonstrated to provide robust, positive outcomes that advance human performance. It advances Total Worker Health®[v] and is underpinned by the tenets of human-centred design and participatory ergonomics.[vi]

The human-centred organisation, per ISO27500:2016, is guided by seven principles:

1. Capitalise on individual differences as an organisational strength
2.  Make usability and accessibility strategic business objectives
3.  Adopt a total system approach
4.  Ensure health, safety, and well-being are business priorities
5. Value personnel and create meaningful work
6. Be open and trustworthy
7. Act in socially responsible ways

The benefits of good work design span all levels and scope of business operations and performance; the activities may be undertaken by multiple business units and, preferably, involve the integration of these business units. The precepts of good work design often stem from work health and safety literature with work design suggestive of improvements in these areas, providing high levels of protection. The activities are thought to arise from the identification of hazards, analysis of risk, and management of hazards through design-based safety initiatives, with continuous improvement also an objective.[vii] However, to extend our thinking and enable the development of design concepts, features, and practice, it is useful to think about design for betterment, not just containment; to optimise a system, rather than just control or regulate a system – a salutogenic approach[viii],[ix] versus a problem-based, pathogenic approach (“what can be [even more] right”, versus “what’s gone wrong?”). In an organisation, this means capturing “near rights” or “work-arounds” (representing immediate design opportunities) and maintaining task-based registers to identify opportunity as much as it is important to identify hazards and analyse risk.[x] To translate this to the work health and safety professional, it means a radical shift in thinking. This might not be surprising because if significant changes are to be made, a consequential evolution must arise from frameworks for conceptualization, tacit knowledge, work culture, and practice.

Imagine if work was considered generative of opportunities to create health, well-being, productivity, social inclusion, education and learning, advancement, engagement, direction, life meaning, and sustainability. Once that appreciative approach is accepted, the conceptual framework for health and safety can be “flipped” so that work stimulates opportunity, different from the thinking that it generates risk requiring containment. This conceptual approach is illustrated in Figure 1: