Beyond compliance: The role of organisations in employee mental health
In our latest Catalyst Conversation Live, Ben Bars welcomes special guest, Commissioner for Mental Health Lucinda Brogden to discuss Mental Health in Australia and the role and responsibilities of employers in their people’s wellbeing.
Conversation highlights:
Levels of psychological distress have increased across Australia. While employee mental health strategies once focussed on the 1 in 5 employees suffering from mental illness, we now need to consider the diverse needs of all 5 in 5.
Employers are legally responsible for their people’s Workplace Health and Safety, both physical and psychological - if you’re struggling to convince your organisation’s leaders why they need to take employee wellbeing seriously, Lucinda’s argument is simple - they could end up in jail if they don’t!
Designing a healthy workplace is about far more than just ’Fruitbowls and yoga lessons.’ The magic happens when mental health and wellbeing are part of the DNA of a culture and not a bolt on initiative. To build trust, it is important to focus on the negative first, and then the positive.
If you don’t already have a robust wellbeing strategy in place and want to know where to start – look at the data you already have! Your employee turnover, absenteeism and workers comp data are a great place to begin.
Surveying your people is only useful if you’re willing to turn their feedback into action. Never ask a question if you aren’t ready to know and act on the answer - because you could end up doing more harm than good.
It’s not enough to talk the talk if your leaders aren’t ready to role model the walk. If you can’t authentically align what you’re doing to what you’re saying, you might as well say nothing at all.
Senior Leaders NEED to share their own experiences, either personal or in relation to a friend or family member. Talking openly about Mental Health will build trust with your people and free them up to do the same.
Watch the full discussion below:
Keep your eyes out for our Health and Wellbeing diagnostic summary which we will be sharing with CatCon attendees next week. In the meantime, you can revisit our Positive Health blog here.
Keen for more?
Catch more insightful Catalyst Conversations here.
