Going to work doesn’t have to be a pain in the neck.

Twenty years ago, when I began my first job as a typist and data entry operator, telephone headsets were only used for Dictaphone typing.  However my boss used to like using the telephone for dictating his ideas, and I can remember many occasions where I had the phone cradled under my ear like a baby while typing out his missives.  By the time I’d get home of an evening, I’d have a heat pack on my sore neck and wouldn’t be able to turn my head properly for days.  Little did we know back then of the long term implications of cradling our phones between our ear and shoulders.

These days, I’m surprised when I visit other offices and find staff STILL doing this.  Even with the cheap, readily available options of headsets, people are still craning their necks in unnatural ways and probably paying the price at the chiropractors!

Carolyn Johnson, from our Wollongong office trains telephone operators.  Many of her clients say that using the headset and lifter allows them to be a lot more efficient. They are not constantly running or leaning for the phone when they are trying to fax or photocopy. They can answer the call at the photocopier and then walk back to the desk to transfer the call if required.

Carolyn says “Sure they may not be going through as many pairs of shoes or getting the same level of exercise but the blood pressure is down and so is the stress level in the workplace”

There’s even a study which shows that headsets reduce neck pain, upper back pain and shoulder tension by as much as 41 percent.  And in an additional study, they concluded that adding hands-free headsets to office telephones improved productivity by as much as 43 percent!   This makes sense if you think about the freedom a headset can give you to multitask.  You are no longer chained to the desk for the duration of a call. You can retrieve faxes or make photocopies, mouth silent reminders to colleagues or even start preparing your lunch!    From a company’s point of view, they should factor in the sick leave, doctor’s appointments and in some cases worker’s compensation claims centred on neck and shoulder pain.  

So if your pain in the neck is something we can help with (we can help with some, but not all!) click here to view the specials on headsets we are running between now and June 30th.