What makes a workplace mentally healthy?
Aside from being a financial necessity for most of us, having a job and being part of a workplace has been shown to have many positive benefits on our mental health. Work can provide a framework that can meet some of our universal human needs for meaningful occupation, social connectedness, a sense of belonging and contributing to something bigger than ourselves.
As with any living entity, humans are responsive to the environments in which we inhabit. Our relationships with our work, our workplace, our colleagues and manager are interdependent, each employee contributing their unique imprint and inversely being influenced by the work environment, culture, other workers and clients. It is a dynamic interconnected dance. Accordingly, we all have a role to play in the health of a workplace, noting that some players will have more influence over the ecosystem of a work environment than others. This recognition lends itself to considering the collective and cumulative benefits to an organisation, of employees who are encouraged and supported to cultivate a high level of individual mental health.
The Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System, in their final report (February 2021), included Establishing mentally healthy workplaces as Recommendation 16. This report defines a mentally healthy workplace as one that promotes good mental health in workplaces, addresses workplace barriers to good mental health, promotes inclusive workplaces that are free from stigma and discrimination and supports people experiencing mental illness at work.
WorkSafe Victoria is supporting Victorian employers in preparing for the Victorian Government’s impending updates to Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations which have an emphasis on elevating psychosocial safety to the same level as physical safety. This change necessitates the identification of psychosocial hazards at work and taking actions to control for and mitigate these risks. Whilst compliance codes are an important ingredient to creating a mentally healthy workplace, they in and of themselves do not make for a delicious meal. There are many other ingredients that can be added to create a more nuanced, rich, and wholesome dining experience.
As we all adapt to these psychosocial workplace regulations, there is an exciting opportunity to improve the way we engage with work and our workplace communities. Participation at individual, managerial, organisational and industry levels; the gathering and analysis of mental health and wellbeing data; and the commitment and advocacy from leadership through modelling and allocating appropriate resources are likely to be helpful starting points on this collective journey. Each workplace with its unique collective of members will be responsible for bringing these changes to life, and the proof will be in the pudding.