Chairs removed from retail workstations for appearances – occupational health experts concerned
Photo: Anna Anundi
Employees at tax free shops at Helsinki-Vantaa airport, customer service points at Verkkokauppa.com and self-service checkout points at K-Citymarket locations can no longer sit down at work. Occupational health experts call for variety in work positions.
Recently PAM has received several messages from workplaces where seats have been removed from the work stations of retail employees for reasons of corporate image. Many employees share a concern over the impact that a lack of variety in working positions may have on the work ability of their coworkers and themselves.
Employees in the tax free shops at the Helsinki-Vantaa airport found out about the removal of the chairs last autumn, when a notice was posted on the wall of their break room. The notice announced the removal of chairs from nine tax free shops at the airport. The reasons cited were that “sitting does not encourage a level of activity needed for results” and “a salesperson sitting down in the shop does not communicate the right message about the chain to our customers”. Even pregnant employees have had to struggle for the right to sit at work.
Päivi Toroila, chief shop steward of the tax free shops finds the situation outrageous.
“This goes completely against the guidelines from the occupational safety and health representative and the Government Decree, which states that employees must be able to take seated rest breaks,” she says.
Recently 80 employees signed a petition to the leadership of WDFG Helsinki Oy to return the chairs. While the employer did not comply, they offered to acquire standing supports for the shops instead. Toroila considers these supports to be inadequate.
”Even a saddle chair would be a significant improvement to the working conditions of these employees”
Checkout points at the Finnish electronics chain Verkkokauppa.com do have seats, but work at the customer service points requires that employees stand for the full work day.
“The decision to ban chairs at the customer service points was justified with the claim that ‘sitting down doesn’t look good’,” explains Jarkko Ylinen, the shop steward representing the employees.
He says that a standing position may be bad for ergonomics at the fixed customer service points, as the height of the desks cannot be changed.
“Even a saddle chair would be a significant improvement to the working conditions of these employees,” he says.
K-Citymarkets similarly let employees sit at the checkout lines, but many info desks and self-checkout points have banned chairs for image reasons. Work shifts at the info and self-checkout points are very popular, as they provide variety to the workday. However, employees asking to sit may find their shifts assigned to a coworker.
Employees at the self-checkout points will be standing for a maximum of a few hours at a time. The current policy of the K-Citymarket chain is that the opportunity to sit at customer service points must be separately agreed upon at each location with an occupational health expert. In practice, the removal of seats has been explained as a consistent policy throughout the chain.
The S Group has told PAM that seats have been removed at a single location for image reasons.
Erika Kähärä, Work Environment Specialist at PAM, finds the trend troubling and does not understand why employees wouldn’t be allowed to rest their legs and back during quiet moments in the workday.
“This makes no sense! It’s no way to support work ability or prevent symptoms of work-related problems,” she says.
“Is this how they want to treat their employees?” Kähärä continues.
She points out that the employer is legally obligated to ensure the working conditions are safe for employees. This includes an obligation to take preventive action.
What does the law say about this?
Workplaces must provide seats for the employees. The employer is responsible for the health and safety of the employees, which includes providing appropriate seating. This is covered by the Occupational Safety and Health Act (738/2002, sections 8 and 10) and the Government Decree on safety and health requirements in the workplace (577/2003, section 3).
Read more here in Finnish.
Changing position throughout the day is the healthiest way to work
Occupational health experts agree that changing positions throughout the workday is the best way to maintain work ability and prevent employee health problems.
Elina Östring, senior specialist at the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health, says that the best thing in terms of both musculoskeletal problems and heart health would be to alternate sitting and standing at regular intervals.
Päivi Rauramo, specialist at the Centre for Occupational Safety, agrees.
“Standing for a full workday is as bad as sitting. The ideal situation is when the work involves a variety of standing, sitting and moving around.”
According to Rauramo, the level of stress associated with standing depends on individual factors.
“Some may get no symptoms from being on their feet for extended periods of time, while others may experience significant health problems,” she explains.
Standing for long periods of time may lead to health problems
According to Elina Östring from the Finnish Institute for Occupational Health, no official recommendations on the amount of standing have been made, as there is still insufficient research into the long-term health effects of standing. However, international studies suggest that standing for extended periods of time can result in health problems just like sitting. The most typical issues are tiredness, leg cramps and back pain, which can affect performance and cause significant discomfort.
“Standing up requires considerable stamina. When the muscles become fatigued, it often leads to twists in the posture which may result in back pain – especially if a person who is not used to standing suddenly has to stand for long periods of time,” Östring points out.
She adds that a tired standing position does not exactly communicate energy to the customer.
In addition to back problems, standing still for extended periods weakens venous circulation, which may result in swollen feet.
Predictive planning is key
According to Östring, back problems are the cause more often cited for absences from work due to musculoskeletal disorders in Finland. For this reason she believes all methods that can promote the ability to work and prevent potential health hazards are valuable. In that, predictive planning is key.
“The lower-back pains of employees who stand at work can be addressed by changing the working position, taking seated breaks and using assistive tools, just as standing pads,” she lists.
”Wellness at work increases the quality
of customer service"
In terms of image, she points out that employees who take care of their own work ability are sending a positive message to the employer.
“If the employees are smart and conscious enough to want to take responsibility for the stress they experience during the workday, it’s a great thing for the image of the company. And such employees should be further supported by cooperating with them to develop healthier working conditions,” she says.
“Wellness at work increases the quality of customer service and is thus a positive image factor,” Rauramo points out.
On the image of sitting
Many shops have removed employee chairs, citing image reasons. But what kind of an image do various working positions really communicate?
Recommendations for traditional cashier work have for long been to let the employee change positions. Most cashiers have the opportunity to alternate working in a seated and standing position, and the most modern equipment even has height-adjustable desks.
Nevertheless, I have never found myself thinking that a seated retail employee looked lazy.
Supervising self-service checkouts is a newer job. There the employee is present to make sure that the customers can handle the transaction themselves. At some companies, the job description includes encouraging customers to use the self-service checkouts.
However: If the employee at the self-checkout point is standing to military attention supervising the transactions, the customer may take it as a sign of mistrust.
Obviously some jobs must be done standing up. For example, customer service desks are often so high that they require the employee to stand while attending to customers. Standing is more tiring.
What I’m wondering is, if the employer is worried about a seated employee sending a bad image of the service level to the customer, what might be the image communicated by an employee who is grimacing because of their aching feet?
All in all, as a customer I prefer companies that take care of their employees and where the employees seem happy. This usually leads to a positive customer experience. Retail work by its nature is not paced evenly throughout the day, there are always breaks in the flow of customers. Perhaps that’s when employees could sit down.
