This week, Professor Sharon Parker gave a key note presentation at the Human Factors & Ergonomics Society of Australia's (HFESA) 51st Annual Conference entitled "The Psychology of Work Design: What We Know and Some Future Directions". The conference was held at the beautiful Gold Coast in Queensland ("Surfers Paradise").
Sharon's presentation on work design fit perfectly within the conference theme, “Healthy, safe and productive by design”. Sharon focused especially on how to design work from a psychosocial perspective, which complements the human factors/ ergonomics perspective that tends to focus mostly on cognitive and physical aspects of work design. Interestingly, conversations with members of the audience show that many of the challenges of getting psychosocial risks of work to be taken seriously by organizations and managers apply just as strongly to physical/cognitive risks. Hopefully by bringing the physical and psychological together we can all have more impact in creating healthier, safer, and more productive work.
Several other speakers also presented on the topic of work design, including Dr Peta Miller, Safework Australia speaking on the Good Work Design principles. For more information about the conference, click here.
