Many companies turn to employee surveys as a way to gauge wellbeing and flag early signs of ergonomic issues. But here’s the problem: These surveys aren’t built to assess ergonomics effectively.

While they may serve a role in tracking general employee sentiment, when it comes to identifying real ergonomic risks — like poor posture, ill-fitting equipment, or repetitive strain — they fall significantly short.

In this article, we explore why employee wellbeing or engagement surveys often fail to meet ergonomic needs, and what organizations should do instead.

1. Surveys Miss the Physical Details that Matter

A traditional employee survey might ask, “Are you comfortable in your workspace?” or “Do you have the equipment you need?” While these questions seem useful, they rely on subjective interpretation.

Most employees aren’t trained to spot ergonomic risks. They may not realise their monitor is too low, their chair lacks lumbar support, or that awkward wrist angles are putting them at risk of injury. Discomfort is often normalised until it becomes pain. And by then, the damage may already be done.

A poorly designed survey won’t surface the insights you need — no matter how advanced the platform or how large the sample. Common mistakes include:

• Asking vague or leading questions
• Overemphasising satisfaction over causes
• Focusing on company goals instead of employee experience
• Ignoring key wellbeing factors

Without asking the right questions, surveys can miss the real issues entirely.

2. Participation Rates May Be Low or Uneven

While some employees are happy to share feedback, many aren’t. Low response rates can lead to unrepresentative results, particularly if only the most vocal or disengaged employees take part.

Even when participation is decent overall, results can be skewed by department, seniority, or location. For instance, frontline staff may be underrepresented if surveys are digital-only. Remote workers may respond differently to those in-office. Without a clear picture of who didn’t respond, it’s hard to trust what the data suggests.

3. Employees Don’t Always Report Discomfort Accurately

Even when surveys ask directly about pain or discomfort, responses aren’t always reliable because:

• Some employees underreport because they fear looking like complainers.
• Others simply don’t connect minor discomfort with long-term risk.
• In hybrid roles, discomfort may vary day to day — hard to capture in a static survey.

The result is a gap between what employees feel and what they report. That gap can lead to missed red flags that snowball into significant issues over time.

4. Surveys Lack Context About Working Environment

An employee may say their setup is “fine” — but what does that actually mean?

• Are they working from a kitchen stool?
• Is their laptop perched on a coffee table?
• Do they have natural light or suffer from glare?

Surveys rarely capture environmental factors, like space constraints, lighting, noise, or even household distractions. These all contribute to ergonomic strain, and they’re essential pieces of the puzzle when assessing risk.

Effective ergonomics requires visibility into real-world setups.

5. One-Size-Fits-All Questions Neglect Individual Needs

Every body is different. Ergonomic risks aren’t uniform — and neither are solutions. What works for one employee might create discomfort for another.

Yet, most surveys ask the same questions of everyone. There’s little room to capture individual differences in height, mobility, vision, or previous injuries — all of which directly impact ergonomic suitability.

True ergonomic assessments take these factors into account. Surveys? Not so much.

6. Surveys Rarely Lead to Specific, Actionable Outcomes

Let’s say a survey identifies that 20% of employees report back pain. What now?

Without knowing:

• Why they’re in pain,
• Where they’re working,
• What adjustments they’ve made (or haven’t),

…you’re left with a data point, not a solution. HR and health & safety teams are then expected to “do something” without any practical guidance, often resulting in generic advice, email checklists, or one-size-fits-all posture PDFs — none of which actually fix the problem.

By contrast, a virtual ergonomics assessment offers tailored recommendations to each employee based on their unique environment and needs.

7. Delays Between Surveys and Action Increase Risk

Surveys often take weeks or months to design, distribute, collect, analyse, and respond to. During that time, employee discomfort can evolve into musculoskeletal injuries, productivity losses, and absence.

In a fast-paced working environment, reactive strategies are no longer enough. Ergonomic risks need to be identified and resolved early — before they escalate.

Tools like ergonomic management software give employers ongoing visibility and proactive control, rather than waiting for problems to appear in survey data. This helps businesses keep up with compliance and go the extra mile to protect their team — without straining resources.

8. Intent

Why are you running a survey? If it’s because “we always do” or “HR wants data for the board,” employees will likely sense that. Engagement drops when people believe surveys are a box-ticking exercise.

When employees don’t see visible action after sharing their thoughts, the message is clear: Your feedback isn’t being used. Over time, trust in the process erodes, and future participation declines.

The long-term impact? Feedback fatigue, a disengaged workforce, and an increase in work-related MSDs and absences.

9. Surveys Don’t Keep Pace with Change

Workplace dynamics evolve quickly, as does the field of ergonomics. Annual or even quarterly surveys can be too slow to catch emerging issues and developments. By the time leaders read the results, the underlying causes and best practice solutions may have shifted or intensified.

This lag is particularly problematic for wellbeing, where issues like burnout or poor ergonomics need rapid intervention.

10. Ergonomics Requires Expertise

Your people know how they feel, but they don’t always know what they need.

Expecting employees to self-diagnose workstation risks through a series of generic survey questions is like expecting someone to spot a structural issue in their house because they “feel a draft.” Sometimes discomfort signals a problem, but the real issue lies deeper.

That’s why expert assessment matters. Trained assessors see what surveys can’t and offer solutions that prevent rather than react to injury.

What Should You Do Instead?

Employee surveys can be useful for tracking engagement and flagging general concerns. But for something as specific and safety-critical as ergonomics, you need more robust tools.

Here’s what a stronger approach looks like:

• Start with education. Help employees understand what good ergonomics looks and feels like.
• Use self-assessment tools — but make them visual, customisable and guided. These are more effective than survey-style questions.
• Introduce virtual or in-person ergonomic assessments. These give tailored, actionable feedback employees can implement immediately.
• Monitor continuously. Ergonomic management platforms let you track risk across your workforce — not just react to it.
• Close the loop. Show employees how their reported discomfort or issues led to real solutions.

Achieve Real Results with Cardinus

Real ergonomic risk lies in the details: posture, positioning, lighting, layout. And to see those clearly, you need more than a Likert scale and a comment box.

Cardinus offers comprehensive on-site, telephonic, and virtual ergonomics assessments tailored to your employees and delivered by true experts. No matter how varied or unique your team’s work patterns and locations, our ergonomists can evaluate ergonomics risk exposure and offer guidance on next steps. Inquire about an ergonomics assessment.

For continuous support, Healthy Working is our ergonomics software, an end-to-end service customizable to any workstation and employee. Combining bespoke eLearning, curated self-assessments, a central management module, and real-time support, Healthy Working reduces MSDs by up to 80% and brings the costs of your ergonomics program down by as much as 90%.

Get a free trial of Healthy Working for up to 5% of your workforce.

Final Thoughts

If you’re relying solely on surveys to protect your people, you’re only seeing half the picture. A more personalised, proactive, and expert-led approach will not only reduce risk — it will improve comfort, productivity, and trust across your workforce. Contact Cardinus today to learn more.