Our client: Automattic

THEIR CHALLENGE

All of the Automattic staff members have always worked from home offices. As a leading technology company, their employees had been on computers virtually their entire lives and spend all day on their computers currently. Many employees had discomfort or diagnosed RSI’s ranging from back pain to carpal tunnel. Automattic wanted to allow each employee to be addressed individually to accommodate their personal needs.

OUR SOLUTION

We set up a system for each employee who was referred to us by HR to have a fixed priced, private ergonomic consultation via video chat, lasting on average 60 to 90 minutes. We listened, asking about their health and discomforts, saw what they had currently in terms of furniture and computer equipment to understand what we needed to work around and could reuse, taught them ergonomic principles, and custom designed a height adjustable workstation with ergonomic keyboards and mice, other equipment as needed, and seating to fit their personal needs. For domestic employees, we provided the equipment. For non-US based employees, we helped them analyze the best options that they could source locally.

RESULTS

The program was loved by the employees, some of whom wrote blogs (of course!) about their experience.

  
100+
video consults   
many
symptoms relieved   
work
comp claims
avoided

We helped the creators of WordPress.com create truly ergonomic home offices for their employees around the world.

Automattic is the company behind the websites WordPress.com and WordPress.org, the original blog and now ubiquitous website platform. They have a very small corporate headquarters though, and almost everyone works from a home office. Needless to say, these are people who were raised on computers and spend more than the average number of hours on their computers each day. Sadly, this means that even though the staff is relatively young, they have many people who have developed Repetitive Stress Injuries (RSI’s) related to computer usage and the balance who are at risk and want to avoid them. After working with a Chicago-area based Happiness Engineer, Applied Ergonomics was recommended to corporate to work with more of their staff.

We developed a program that works brilliantly. It is built on flat-fee Skype-based remote consulting. Done primarily in the evenings Chicago-time, so that I have no distractions, I spend between 60 to 120 minutes on a video call with whomever HR wants me to consult. We go through the individual’s relevant symptom history. I am able to see their existing setup, teach them ergonomic principles, how to correctly use what they have and figure out the most cost-effective solutions to upgrade their workstation to fit the health needs that they have. Automattic has guidelines for acceptable expenses and we stay within those. For those employees in the United States, we have provided many height adjustable table desks with standing mats, monitor arms and ergonomic seating. We have used primarily either Hag Capisco stools, which are ideal for use with adjustable desks or Soma chairs, which can be entirely customized to fit an individual. We have also provided specific keyboards and mice or other input devices to accommodate individual symptoms. For those staff members in Europe or elsewhere in the world, we have found resources together that are available locally and I have helped them choose the best options for their needs.

The staff at Automattic has been very appreciative of this program. They have written blog posts (of course!) and chatted amongst themselves about the benefits.