How the Foundation of Your Success Lies in the Health of Your Employees’ Feet
Feet are the foundation of wellness in any employee.
- By Janelle Kinnaird
- Aug 01, 2022
All companies know that their employees are the foundation of their success. Hard-working, innovative, motivated, organized, happy and healthy employees are essential to a company thriving, growing and surpassing the competition.
Encouraging these employee qualities and satisfaction is simple—focus on the health of their feet, the foundation of their body.
The Painful Problem
From distribution, delivery, warehouse, light & heavy industrial, maintenance and more, many jobs and positions require all-day standing, some in one stationary position and others constantly moving. Various studies show possible detrimental effects to the body from five or more continuous hours on your feet.
The resulting pro-longed lower body muscle fatigue may raise the risk for long-term back pain and other musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs). Overuse and body weight pressure can lead to repetitive stress injuries (RSIs), which account for 60 percent of work-related injuries, such as plantar fasciitis, Achilles tendonitis, arch and heel pain, metatarsalgia, shin splints and more.
Long durations of standing or sitting can lead to poor blood circulation that causes fatigue and cognitive symptoms, especially when other health issues are present such as diabetes and obesity. This reduced blood flow increases the chance of painful discomfort from a life-threatening blood clot, either deep vein thrombosis (DVT) or a pulmonary embolism (PE) as well as memory loss and difficulty concentrating.
Employees feeling fatigue and pain are less productive and aware. Pain causes them to move slower, get less done and can result in distraction errors and injuries. Employees who do not feel good can be agitated and offended more easily, a bad influence on other workers and call off work more often.
As a result, industrial companies evaluate their work environment stresses, conduct risk assessments and health screenings and have adopted employee wellness programs hoping to counter the negative effects to boost morale and productivity.
Unfortunately, most wellness programs don’t provide an adequate way to resolve the root issue which is full body pain and discomfort that results from the repetitive stress on feet. While many provide needed time for breaks and change of position and some supply anti-fatigue mats (which also prove to be stationary tripping hazards), the core solution to full body wellness is individual employee foot health.
This article originally appeared in the July/August 2022 issue of Occupational Health & Safety.