15,000 Steps a Day – But What About Your Feet?

Footwear can have one of the biggest impacts on employee comfort, particularly in jobs with a lot of physical work. Retail workers, manufacturing staff, and waiters are among the professionals who easily accumulate over 15,000 steps daily.

Particularly in customer-facing roles, how employees look and feel about themselves in their uniform is important, but footwear is not just a matter of fashion but of health and safety. Inappropriate shoes can lead to discomfort, fatigue, and long-term health issues for your employees.

• Preventing Foot Pain: High-step jobs demand shoes with good cushioning and arch support.
• Reducing Fatigue: Constant walking on hard surfaces can lead to muscle and joint fatigue, particularly in the legs, hips, and back. Shoes with proper shock absorption help reduce the impact on your body.
• Avoiding Injuries: Worker injuries can result in expensive downtime and even claims, footwear with strong grip reduces the chance of trips and slips.

This underscores the need for careful consideration when designing or selecting the best footwear to complement your uniform.

Retail workers often walk back and forth across large stores, checking inventory, assisting customers, and covering shifts that can last eight hours or more. Nurses, who are constantly on their feet attending to patients, moving between wards, and responding to emergencies, often exceed 15,000 steps daily.

Waiters, who are perhaps the most mobile of all, can easily clock over 20,000 steps in a single shift, moving between tables, kitchens, and service stations in a high-pressure environment. In roles like this companies must find the balance between style, for customer experience, and comfort, for the long term health and wellbeing of employees.

For retail workers, nurses, waiters, and others in ‘high-step’ jobs, the right footwear is not just about comfort—it’s an investment in their health and wellbeing. Murray has established that Investing in uniform can increase employee wellbeing and productivity and footwear is a key part of that. Just as a marathon runner wouldn’t wear brogues, it’s unreasonable to expect workers who walk miles every day to wear anything less than the most supportive, comfortable shoes available.

To learn more about the impact uniform has on employee wellbeing and productivity, checkout the research report in our resources section.

Sources:

Average Steps Per Day by Age, Gender, Occupation, and Country (healthline.com)

Coventry University: Uniform Impact on Employee Wellbeing and Productivity