Your ageing workforce - are you helping them stay injury-free and healthy?

There is no denying that the Australian workforce is getting older. Our research with companies around Australia reveals three main concerns:

• The likelihood of an increase in injuries.
• A decreasing capability for employees to physically perform the job.
• What to do with employees when they can no longer perform the role.

So what’s the solution? No silver bullet unfortunately, but here’s a few tips to get you started.

The answer is likely to be right under your nose. There is a high likelihood that you have employees who are ageing well. Finding them, learning from them and then replicating what they do is the secret. This approach is one we have used for years to solve workplace sprain and strain problems. “Locate, investigate and replicate!”

As testimony to this approach, we have been interviewing employees who are ageing well (nominated by their employer because they are over 65 years and still successfully doing physically demanding work) in an effort to uncover their secrets. While each individual has had their own personal message, here are the three most common insights.

1. It’s all in your head. These days, people tend to accept that with age comes the expectation of more aches and pains. Almost like it’s an inevitability. A fait accompli. In fact, 33% of all of people who complete our Move Training Program cite “getting old” as the reason they have aches and pains. There is no doubt that aches and pains are increasingly common … but it is not normal. We need to change that mindset. The way we think about ageing drastically impacts on how well we age.
2. Move more. In workplaces today, we are faced with the increasing sedentary nature of our lives. This is compounded by the processed elimination of manual handling tasks so that all elements of physicality in the workplace are slowly being removed and replaced by robots and other engineering wonders. Don’t get me wrong, I am all for eliminating tasks that are likely to cause harm, but we need to acknowledge that increasing automation and technology is a double-edged sword to our health. By removing physicality, we lose condition, become increasingly sedentary and are more likely to end up fat, lazy and sick. To offset this imbalance and acknowledge our evolutionary desire to move, increase the amount of ‘incidental’ movement (the exercise we get as part of our daily activities) AND manufacture ‘intentional’ exercise opportunities, like offering exercise classes and gym membership subsidies.
3. Move smarter. If you take the time to observe the way an ‘experienced’ employee works, it is likely the way they move is finely tuned and highly efficient. Borne by millions of repetitions, through trial and error, their bodies have forged a brain-body connection that results in staying injury-free and highly productive. Marry that with emerging research in movement science and you have a movement pattern blueprint that reveals the way the human body is designed to move. The only remaining challenge is to have everyone moving just as smartly.

For more in-depth tips on how to execute these solutions, visit http://www.linkedin.com/in/move4lifeterry.

*Terry Wong is General Manager of Move 4 Life. He holds a degree in Physiotherapy and Medical Science from Sydney University and a Grad Cert in Management from AGSM. Also a facilitator and keynote speaker, he is known for his practical, commonsense approach to simplifying the complexities of the human body and revealing how organisations and everyday people can become injury-free and highly productive.