For many large companies, 2024 has been a year of growth while also working through projects of belt-tightening, streamlining or right-sizing as some employee-survivors optimistically call it. Within the most successful organizations, the crucial question before the trigger is pulled is “will the company emerge stronger and better able – or just be the same company with a smaller payroll“.
Companies whose life-blood includes their knowledge-workers (people using computers) have options in 2025 in the form of high-return low-hanging fruit available to be harvested through their continuous improvement architecture.
Our article here explores the knowledge worker health and productivity risks associated with unmanaged computer use behaviors, drawing insights from research studies published in 2024 which highlight the physical and psychological impacts of high-risk computer use behaviors. Understanding this data is crucial in the requisite next step of implementing effective sustainable programs to promote healthier work habits, more productive environments and higher employee morale.
While computers and AI are an integral part of our daily lives, transforming how we work, communicate, and entertain ourselves, it’s become well-understood how the dangerous endemic rise in sedentary behavior and prolonged static postures harms our bodies including a palpable myriad of health risks that are often overlooked.
From musculoskeletal disorders to eye strain and mental health challenges, deleterious computer use behaviors (such as prolonged static postures as just one example) pose a significant threat to employee health, well-being, and the productivity of the organization. Further, this directly impacts their employer’s bottom line financially.
In our case for safety professionals, your intrepid author’s steadfast attention is myopically focused today on exploring high-quality scientific studies published in 2024 involving tens of thousands of people working on their computers.
Ahead of briefly exploring these studies, let’s decisively inventory serious knowledge worker health issues cited in a recent article at Better Health (from the Australian government) which inventories well-documented effects of prolonged static postures such as are the norm while working on our computers, “The dangers of sitting: why sitting is the new smoking“. While you may not relish the article title, the content is very well done, based on irrefutable medical science.
- "Legs and gluteals - Sitting for long periods can lead to weakening and wasting away of the large leg and gluteal muscles."
- "Weight - If you spend a lot of time sitting, digestion is not as efficient, so you retain those fats and sugars as fat in your body."
- "Hips and back - Just like your legs and gluteals, your hips and back will not support you as well if you sit for long periods. Sitting causes your hip flexor muscles to shorten, which can lead to problems with your hip joints. Poor posture may also cause poor spine health such as compression in the discs in your spine, leading to premature degeneration, which can be very painful."
- "Anxiety and depression - We don’t understand the links between sitting and mental health as well as we do the links between sitting and physical health yet, but we do know that the risk of both anxiety and depression is higher in people that sit more."
- "Cancer - Emerging studies suggest the dangers of sitting include increasing your chances of developing some types of cancer, including lung, uterine, and colon cancers. The reason behind this is not yet known."
- "Heart disease - Sitting for long periods has been linked to heart disease."
- "Diabetes - Research suggests that people who spend more time sitting have a 112 per cent higher risk of diabetes."
Data, Data, and More Data
Much research published in 2024 sheds light on various knowledge worker health problems, including musculoskeletal disorders, eye strain, mental health challenges, cardiovascular disease, and sleep disturbances. Beyond reporting the data, the studies often offer mitigation discussion and strategies for an employer to consider.
The significant impacts on health and productivity of ignoring the issues are remarkable. Pro-action should foster “working smarter” instead of the obsoleted old school of “working harder“. Many of the world’s most successful companies are already tuned into this Human Capital Optimization (HCO) which benefits employees as much as their employers.
Beyond the innate predictable results from HCO, employees surviving right-sizing are nourished and bouyed when seeing that the newly emerging company is focused on and supporting their most important asset – their employees.
As in many regulations around the globe pertaining to knowledge workers, the focus is on posture and pacing. The scientific community clearly concurs, of course, as it is the foundation upon which regulations are formed, while escalating “movement” to the critical focus list in recent years.
Fortunately, the issues researched in the studies can be prevented through simple ergonomic and behavioral adjustments such as employees (1) tuning up their postural behaviors by making small adjustments to their existing workstation positioning and how they use it and (2) forging other healthier more productive habits including taking regular microbreaks to promote movement and to break up deleterious prolonged static postures.
We’ve read through these studies which were among those published in 2024 and have cited them here for your convenience:
A systematic review of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and risk factors among computer users – 2024
Digital eye strain and its impact on working adults in the UK and Ireland – 2024
The Associations Between Screen Time and Mental Health in Adults: A Systematic Review – 2024
A systematic review of work-related musculoskeletal disorders and risk factors among computer users – 2024
Invisible Office Workers’ Diseases – 2024
Psychosocial Stressors at Work and Atrial Fibrillation Incidence: An 18-Year Prospective Study – 2024
Human Capital Optimization Experts Agree
“To reduce the risk of these health issues, both individuals and organizations must take a proactive approach by promoting healthy computer usage behaviors and providing the necessary tools and resources to support employee well-being and productivity.” “With the right interventions, organizations have created a healthier, more productive and sustainable relationship with technology.“
For smarter employers, it’s all about productivity and the bottom line achieved through helping employees to share in the responsibility for a comfortable, healthy and productive experience while working on their computers.