72% Of India’s Workforce Spends 9 Hours Or More A Day Connected To Computer Screens To Meet Work Deadlines: Godrej Interio Study

* More than 50% of employees experience ear pain due to the prolonged use of headphones/earpods, both commonly used accessories.

Godrej & Boyce, the flagship company of the Godrej Group, announced that its business Godrej Interio, India’s leading furniture brand in home and institutional segments has published the findings of an exclusive study ‘The Real World Repercussions of Virtual Fatigue’. To understand the challenges that employees face as they continue to work virtually, the Workspace & Ergonomics Research Cell at Godrej Interio conducted a nation-wide study to understand the challenges and suggest appropriate solutions detailed in the Whitepaper. A total of 235 office-going employees participated in the research, of which 68% belonged to the age group of 26–40-year-olds, most of them, working for MNCs and Indian corporates.

According to the whitepaper, virtual fatigue can be defined as the exhaustion felt on taking extended virtual calls. Visual fatigue, listener’s fatigue physical fatigue and mental fatigue have been identified as the factors contributing to virtual fatigue. Virtual fatigue has become a moniker for the health concerns arising out of unregulated participation in virtual meetings. Sitting in a spot for prolonged periods to attend long meetings can result in body pain and similar problems - a product of Virtual Fatigue. Ergonomic stressors like static postures and stances like leaning forward during virtual calls can cause one to feel physical fatigue.

Sameer Joshi, Associate Vice President, Marketing (B2B), Godrej Interio said “With the second wave of Covid-19 and the possible third being anticipated, it is fairly certain that virtual conferencing will be the preferred manner to conduct business engagements for the foreseeable future. In this scenario, organisations across the country need to be aware of the related occupational distress that employees are facing to find solutions which ensure the wellbeing of their workforce. Godrej Interio, through its Workplace & Ergonomics Research Cell endeavours to study issues that are of importance to our audiences and provide solutions through our whitepapers. We hope that organisations and individuals alike find this as an easy guide to mitigate some of the problems they are facing in this situation. As we ace this new working method, we believe, it is incredibly crucial to take care of ourselves and the strategies we adopt to meet professional needs.”

According to the research study, it was revealed that for the past year, as many as 46% of employees have been working from home. Since the onset of the pandemic, laptops and cell phones have played a critical role in ensuring that our professional obligations are always met. This has led to increased screentime. The study revealed that nearly 72% of the Indian workforce spends over 9 hours a day connected to computer or laptop screens to meet their deadlines at work. Additionally, 35% of respondents admitted to attending more than 20 virtual calls on a typical working day, one after another. In addition to this, 41% of employees experience moderate to extreme irritation levels and burning in their eyes at the end of long virtual calls. While, 19% of respondents claimed to experience blurry vision after extended video calls. The research further revealed that an alarming 86% of employees are experiencing musculoskeletal disorders (MSDs), with women suffering more than their male counterparts. Employees in the age group of 26 to 40 have reported the highest number of complaints of pain.

The research study propagates practicing digital wellbeing:

·         To reduce stress caused to eye and neck muscles, the screen needs to be aligned with the user’s height by keeping it at eye level or slightly below it

·         To reduce eye strain, adjust the gadget’s brightness or contrast levels.

·         Set a timer on the phone or any app to remind to look away from the screen.

·         Taking calls in audio mode can be more comfortable than video, especially for extended meetings. It enables attendees to conveniently take a posture break, walk around, multitask, and even attend to children and family members when needed.

·         Blink eyes often and keep doing eye exercises to reduce fatigue

About Godrej Interio:

Godrej Interio is India’s leading premium furniture brand in both home and institutional segments with a strong commitment to sustainability and centers of excellence in design, manufacturing and retail.

Led by the largest in-house design team in the country in the furniture category and awarded with 34 India Design Mark Awards till date, GODREJ INTERIO aims to transform spaces with its thoughtfully designed furniture to create brighter homes and offices with products that have the highest design quotient in aesthetics, functionality and technology. With consistent pursuit of excellence and a special focus on health and ergonomics, GODREJ INTERIO’s product portfolio comprises of a wide range of solutions

Today, we design and manufacture furniture for office spaces, homes, educational institutes, healthcare facilities, laboratories and more. Along with furniture we offer Audio Visual and 360 Degree Turnkey solutions. Each of our product range revolves around comfort and aesthetics while delivering well-designed, long lasting and functional furniture solutions. In short, Godrej Interio helps the consumers to make every space the perfect setting for their myriad moods and moments.

Currently present in over 650 cities with 250 exclusive showrooms and 800 dealers, is one of the largest divisions of Godrej & Boyce Mfg. Co. Ltd., part of the Godrej Group, one of India's largest engineering and customer product groups.

Godrej Interio has 7 manufacturing facilities situated at Mumbai, Khalapur, Haridwar, Shirwal, and Bhagwanpur. GODREJ INTERIO’s Shirwal Plant is Green Co Platinum Certified, and Mumbai Plants are Green Co Gold Certified. GODREJ INTERIO is widely known for its comprehensive sustainability certifications for its products in furniture category.

GODREJ INTERIO commitment to the environment has resulted in manufacturing products with lesser environment footprint. Our pioneering efforts include designing less environment burdening products, usage of eco-friendly materials and setting up less polluting and consuming processes, ensuring eco-friendly packaging and transportation and finally the extended responsibility of recycling/reuse of used furniture and scrap, thus ensuring a lifecycle approach to green. GODREJ INTERIO has the widest range of green choices for our customers which not only includes products but also services such as green interiors and recycling.

The brand boasts of noteworthy awards received so far- CII Exim Bank Award for Business Excellence 2016, Superbrands 2017-18, Reader’s Digest Most Trusted Brand 2018 Gold (Home Furniture and Modular Kitchen), TRA’s India’s Most Consumer focused brand 2019, GreenCo Star Performer Award 2019, National Energy Leader Award at CII National Award for Excellence in Energy Management 2018.