An independent ergonomics-consulting firm, E3 Consulting Corporation, conducted the
study. Designed as a controlled field test, the study was conducted within the routine work
boundaries of a real-world business, Irwin Mortgage Corporation, in Phoenix and Scottsdale,
Arizona. Irwin Mortgage is a national company with 3,500 employees and 150 offices
nationwide. The company services more than ten billion dollars worth of residential loans
per year.

The study was designed specifically to examine how the use of a Plantronics headset
affected an employee’s actual productivity. All participants worked as loan processors.
E3 Consulting did not reveal the productivity element of the study to the participants.
In fact, to minimize the possibility that the participants would realize that productivity
data was being gathered, and thus avoid the possibility of bias skewing the results, the
productivity study was conducted within a larger ergonomic study.

E3 Consulting conducted an online pre-evaluation, and participants were selected from
a pool of employees who spent at least 10 percent of their workday using the telephone.
In the pre-evaluation, participants were asked to indicate whether or not they had neck,
upper back, or shoulder discomfort during their normal workday and, if so, to rate the
severity of the discomfort. These questions led the participants to focus on the fact that
they were participating in a study about ergonomics.

Participants were divided into an experimental group and a control group. Participants
were not allowed to choose whether they would use a headset. The selection of members
of the experimental group and the control group was completely random.
Out of a selected pool of 62 Irwin Mortgage employees, 34 were provided a headset.
These employees became the experimental group. The other 28 members of the subject
pool were used as a control group.

The members of the experimental group were not subjected to any experimental factors
other than being given headsets and being told that they were using the headsets within
an ergonomic evaluation. The members of the control group were not subjected to any
experimental factors.

Plantronics representatives were on-site only to ensure that the Irwin Mortgage employees
understood how to use their headsets and that they were satisfied with them. Irwin
Mortgage employees were allowed to try different headset styles. This served to reinforce
the participants’ focus on ergonomic issues.

E3 Consulting benchmarked the average productivity of each experimental and control
group member prior to the start of the study. The benchmarking was based on Irwin
Mortgage data that showed the total number of loans processed per month by each
employee, prior to the time that headset use began.

E3 Consulting tracked headset use, productivity changes, and user discomfort for a 30-day
period. E3 Consulting then conducted a Web-based, follow-up evaluation.

The Results
After analyzing and evaluating the data collected over 30 days, E3 Consulting found that
there was a statistically significant productivity increase for the employees who used
Plantronics headsets. In fact, the increase was dramatic.

Loan closing data for the study period was gathered using Irwin Mortgage’s internal reporting
methods. E3 Consulting then compared this data against the number of loans closed the
prior month. For the experimental group (the 34 study participants who used Plantronics
headsets), the number of loans closed increased by an average of 22.2 percent. The number
of loans processed by each member in the experimental group either increased or remained
the same.

Furthermore, when asked for a subjective evaluation of their individual productivity,
participants in the experimental group said they felt their productivity increased an average
of 21 percent, based on their use of the Plantronics headsets.

In addition, headset users who had reported neck, upper back, or shoulder discomfort during
the pre-evaluation reported an average 25-percent decrease in discomfort. Sixty-seven percent
of members in the experimental group reported at least some decrease in the severity of
neck, back, and shoulder discomfort.

The control group did not experience a statistically significant increase or decrease in
discomfort. All members of the control group reported either that their discomfort stayed
the same or that it increased 10 percent. (The Discomfort Rating was based on a 1-10
scale, with a rating of 1 for the least amount of discomfort.)

Conclusion
This study was a scientifically controlled field test. It was conducted in a real-world company,
with real people who were performing their everyday jobs.

The results are clear. Using Plantronics headsets significantly increased the productivity of
the Irwin Mortgage loan processors and, as a bonus, frequently reduced the severity of
their neck, back, and shoulder discomfort.

Kevin J. Theodora, Irwin Mortgage Corporation’s Carson Branch Manager, explained the
importance of the results for his company: “Increasing productivity without increasing costs is
critical in today’s marketplace. By integrating Plantronics headsets into our work environment,
not only did we increase employee productivity by almost 25 percent, we also decreased
employee discomfort complaints by over half.”

It’s not easy to increase productivity and profit. But if your employees spend any significant
amount of time on the telephone, Plantronics headsets are an excellent way to increase
productivity in your company—and that increased productivity means a corresponding
increase in your bottom line.