Mental illness costs Australian businesses more than $39 billion every year due to loss of productivity, absenteeism, and staff turnover (Black Dog Institute, 2021).

Focusing on mental health is critical not only for workers but also for bottom lines.

Fixing psychosocial hazards, not people

‘One of the biggest flaws in contemporary approaches to workplace mental health is the often-exclusive focus on ‘who’ is exhibiting signs of distress, rather than ‘why’ and ‘how’ the workplace may be contributing to people’s distress.’
David Burroughs, Psychological Safety Australia

Implementing Employee Assistance Programs (EAPs) and mental health awareness training is a step in the right direction, but these are only bandaids on a bullet hole. The root of the problem remains unaddressed.

In fact, such ‘fixing the person’ approaches often perpetuate cycles of distress.

Psychosocial hazards vs mental health

It is important to recognise that mental health illness is an outcome.

Psychosocial hazards, if not addressed, lead to mental health illness.

Psychosocial hazards are about identifying hazards and risks up front. This is different to mental health which seeks to treat illnesses that have already developed.

Businesses and managers need a different perspective

Reducing mental health illness is commonly seen as something outside a business’ control. Leadership will implement plans and programs to address these illnesses once they arise, but they distance themselves from the causes, such as financial stress, family troubles, etc.

However, psychosocial hazards are extremely relevant to the workplace because, most often, the workplace causes or exacerbates mental health illness.

‘Having mentally healthy leaders is one of the most important parts of a mentally healthy workplace.’
Professor Sam Harvey

Businesses need to recognise that there is A LOT they can do to manage psychosocial hazards.

Ask yourself, ‘What can we control?’

Here are some examples of psychosocial hazards in the workplace:

how work is organised

Are there clear roles and expectations?
Are tasks purposeful and expectations realistic?
Do workers have a say in decisions?
Are tasks highly repetitive or requiring long periods of concentration?
Are there flexible working arrangements in place?

Social factors

Do co-workers get along well?
Are organisational goals clear?
Are there opportunities for skill development?
Do managers act on complaints or suggestions?
Is there a balance between workers’ effort and formal and informal recognition and reward?
Are support services easily accessible?
Is everyone respectful?

All the above are risks that business can control to help prevent or exacerbate mental illnesses.

Can manager mental health training reduce sickness absence among employees?

Definitely.

Mental illness is one of the most rapidly increasing causes of long-term sickness absence.

In a randomised control trial conducted by the University of New South Wales UNSW, 88 managers within Fire & Rescue NSW were randomly assigned to participate in a four-hour face-to-face mental health training program.

After six months, these managers’ 4000 employees had significantly lower levels of sickness absence, compared to those of managers not exposed to the training. The participating managers also had improved confidence in reaching out and were more likely to contact employees who were absent due to mental health problems.

Additionally, the training was associated with a return on investment of $9.98 for each dollar spent on training (remember, absenteeism, presenteeism, and compensation claims are expensive!).

This is the first study to reveal how training managers about mental health can have a direct effect in improving occupational outcomes for employees. It is also the first time a dollar figure on the value of manager mental health training has been able to be calculated.

‘With a large proportion of employees now working longer and more flexibly than in previous generations, these results are a promising sign that managers can take a more active role in assisting their employees to lead mentally healthier lives.’
Professor Sam Harvey

The research project

R U OK?

This September 8th is R U OK? Day, and we encourage all business leaders to assess the psychosocial hazards in their workplace.

By taking a serious look at the policies and procedures, we can tackle mental health illness at its roots.

See below for more resources and information.

R U OK? in the workplace

Addressing Psychosocial Hazards to Mitigate Mental Health Illness