Mental health in the workplace

Mental illness is more prevalent than many people realise. A national survey of mental health and wellbeing conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found around 45% of Australians aged between 16 and 85 will experience a mental illness at some point in their life, while one in five Australian adults will experience a mental illness in any given year. Given such statistics, it is highly likely that, as a manager, you will supervise a worker with mental illness at some point in your career-whether you know it or not.

Figures released by the Australian Human Rights Commission note:

• A total of 3.2 days per worker are lost each year through workplace stress
• Stress-related workers’ compensation claims have doubled in recent years, costing over $10 billion each year
• In relation to psychological injury claims, work pressure accounts for around half of all claims and harassment and bullying for around a quarter of claims

One thing is clear: the cost of ignoring the problem is far greater than the cost of developing and implementing strategies to create a safe and healthy workplace. But as business owners, where do we start? Perhaps being informed of the issue and being aware of the depth of quality information and support services available to employers and employees is as good a place as any.

The Mentally Healthy Workplace Alliance (the Alliance) is a national approach by business, community and government to encourage workplaces to become mentally healthy for the benefit of the community and businesses. The Alliance has partnered with beyondblue on the roll out of a national campaign-Heads Up-to support and create mentally healthy workplaces for all businesses across all sectors.

The Heads Up website contains workplace resources for employers, employees, managers and small business owners.

Despite one in five Australians experiencing mental health problems each year, nearly half of all senior managers believe none of their workers will experience a mental health problem at work. We have to step out of the mindset (pun not intended) that mental health issues are not our responsibility or that psychological issues simply disappear when an employee arrives at work. Let’s get informed, discuss the topic of mental health in the workplace openly and without stigma and build the confidence to ask our employees and colleagues how they are travelling. Wouldn’t you want the same?

Check out the Heads Up website at: https://www.headsup.org.au/