Why is mental wellness at work important?
- Australian Bureau of Statistics advise that 1 in 5 people between the ages of 16-85 are likely to experience mental illness in any given year.
- According to WorkSafe Australia, each year two in five Australians report they left a job because of a ‘poor mental health environment’.
- Australian Human Rights Commission tells us that workers compensation for stress related illnesses cost over $10 billion each year and Australian businesses loose over $6.5billion each year by failing to provide early intervention/ treatment for mental health conditions.
- Mental health problems are the third most common in Australia, following heart disease and cancer.
- Mental illness results in decreased productivity, increased unplanned leave (UPL) and disengagement in the workplace which contributes to both financial and non-financial losses, e.g.: loss of sales, high attrition – i.e. recruitment, training, regular periods of low competency for new starters, legal costs, back to work plans, and a devastating cost to reputation.
By law organisations must create a healthy and safe workplace – they must identify practices, actions and incidents which may impact mental health and take action to eliminate or minimise the risks.
What can you do about it?
Research has shown a combined approach works best, where the organisation and the individual both contribute to mental wellness. It’s important to provide opportunities for people to engage in positive social connections and learn more about how to be mindful, increase resilience, deal with stressful situations and self-care practices.
Do you want to make a difference to your employees experience at work?
Find our more about what we offer here.
It is important as an organisation you:
- provide an environment that nurtures your teams mental health
- have opportunities for your teams to de-stress
- have open lines of communication
- take action on requests which ask to review the environment
If you are keen on stepping it up with your employees and want to show them your support and care factor when it comes to nurturing valued ‘humans’ at work – here’s a great chance!
Find our more about what we offer here.
