Workplace mental health. Who and why?

By far (60% approximately) the most commonly reported health issue in the workplace is mental health. The more common conditions included reaction to stressors (41 per cent), anxiety/stress disorders (28 per cent), and post-traumatic stress disorder (11 per cent). Combined they accounted for on average about four out of five (81 per cent) mental disorder claims over the reference period. Only about 4 years ago the majority of workplace health and injury reports were for musculoskeletal disorders with back pain being by far the primary reason for the report. 

Other than COVID, it is interesting to wonder what are the reason/s and or casuse/s for such a large increase in reports. I would think that it is still well and truly being investigated. With any issue it is important to take into consideration the biological, psychological and sociological areas on ones life to get a thorough understanding, and the workplace has a major impact on all three. Lets face it, we spend about 30% of our waking hours in the workplace.

Were people previously underreporting mental health issues, is the workplace more difficult mentally, are we more sensitive to mental health issues than previous and more resiliant to to musculoskeletal disorders, was COVID the straw (or extra large bale of straw) to break the camel's back? 

What we do know is that serious workplace injuries and deaths have dropped a lot so safety measures are working even while we are working more hours than ever. So from a physical injury perspective, our risk of serious injury or death is the lowest ever reported. Having worked extensively in the area for the better part of 13 years, I am familiar with the financial and time investment that has been put into worker safety, including mental health in the workplace.

In 2019, employers were just starting to grasp the prevalence of mental health challenges, and the need to address stigma. In 2020, mental health support went from a nice-to-have to a true business imperative. Fast forward to 2021, and the stakes have been raised even higher thanks to a greater awareness of the workplace factors that can contribute to poor mental health.

More people leaving jobs than ever

Workplace factors like overwhelming and unsustainable work have been attributed to the regularity of people leaving jobs. While the 2019 rates of attrition were already surprisingly high, they’ve gone up even more since then. Sixty-eight percent of Millennials (50% in 2019) and 81% of Gen Zers (75% in 2019) have left roles for mental health reasons, both voluntarily and involuntarily, compared with 50% of respondents overall (34% in 2019). Ninety-one percent of respondents believed that a company’s culture should support mental health, up from 86% in 2019. Interestingly, despite a rise in number of older people in the workforce, the percentage of people from older generations reporting mental health issues due to the workplace has remained relatively stable.

When we are focussing our attention on addressing mental health issues in the workplace it is important to be aware of the demographics of a population. In mining the people are predominantly male and the primary reason for mental health issues being reported is family, including being away from family, marital relationships, father child relationships and so on. While in office based and government sector jobs, Millennials and Gen Zers, as well as LGBTQ+ populations are significantly more likely to experience mental health symptoms. Like Millennials and Gen Zers, caregiver respondents and members of historically underrepresented groups — including LGBTQ+, and aboriginal respondents — all are more likely to leave roles for their mental health and to believe that a company’s culture should support mental health.

So what is it in the workplace that might be contributing to mental health issues?

It is important to note that it is rarely only one single component of ones life that contributes to poor mental health. It is a multifactorial and very complex issue. But an overwhelming 84% of people in one study reported at least one workplace factor that negatively impacted their mental health. Younger workers and members of underrepresented groups were affected even more severely. When looking across all respondents, the most common factor was emotionally draining (e.g., stressful, overwhelming, boring, or monotonous) work, which also worsened since the pandemic. This was closely followed by work-life balance.

The other workplace factors that most notably worsened since the pandemic were poor communication practices and a low sense of connection to or support from one’s colleagues or manager.

Nobody has the answer currently and it is likely that the issue evolves even further before we have the answer to the current issue. Life is a constant evolution and the workplace seems to evolve even faster. Life has never been easy and every generation has their difficulties. Could you imagine what it might have been like being of working age in the 30s and 40s in Australia. In 1932 the peak unemployment rate was 32%, there was a world war going on. The 50s, 60s and 70s were great in the workplace, unemployment was at 2%, things were very prosperous, cars became affordable, refrigeration became commonplace making lives much easier and people were able to make relatively good money. But then it got to 80’s and 90s and the recession hit, interest rates rose sharply and were as high as 17.5% in 1990. 

Around the world today we are, despite what the media might make you think, in one of the most peaceful time in history. Even with the current disputes around the world, war related deaths are still the lowest since world war 2, Average crime rate in Australia is at an all time low and a we are incredibly prosperous. Our wages, when adjusted for inflation are much better now than they were in the past and unemployment is around 3.5%. So it is obvious that we need to dig a lot deeper to determine the real reason for such high rates of mental health issues being reported in the workplace. The important step of awareness and then investment has already been made, now to really get stuck into solving the problem and making the workplace a great place for everyone.