Your business isn’t a schoolyard, so scheduling regular breaks and forcing employees to be physically active is not a solution. However, WorkRave automatically shows regular alerts that tell you to take micro-breaks. During these micro-breaks you can move around, or do a few exercises that pop up on the screen. These are designed to prevent, and treat, repetitive stress injuries often caused by computer use.

Downsides to WorkRave

WorkRave does not work on Mac computers, but it does have a separate Linux and Windows version.

Benefits of WorkRave

Although breaks are regularly scheduled to show up on your screen, you have the possibility of ‘postponing’ a break if you happen to be on a role or hit a creative moment. However, the program does keep track of the total amount of ‘break time’ you’ve taken, and holds you to your target for the day. Continuously postponing breaks therefore doesn’t mean they are getting skipped altogether!

How WorkRave Helps Your Business

Fast-paced environments and productivity goals can help employees forget to take short breaks during the day. Instead of getting up and walking around a few minutes, people tend to stay glued to their computer screens. Depending on the set-up of your business, this behavior might unintentionally be encouraged.

Without regular breaks, employee morale starts to suffer. Aside from this relatively ‘fixable’ problem, repetitive strain disorders can develop, such as carpel tunnel.
Employees in pain don’t tend to be productive employees, and cost businesses millions of dollars a year. Aside from the obvious price tag attached to job-related injuries, it’s a great idea to foster a healthy work environment, and WorkRave will effortlessly help you achieve just this.

Have you had employees with repetitive strain injuries? How is your work environment set up to prevent this from happening, and to encourage a healthy balance of work and break-time?