Dr Dougal Sutherland: The state of workplace mental health and wellbeing

Kiwis are struggling with their health and wellbeing in the workplace.  Umbrella Wellbeing has released its annual report into the state of workplace health and wellbeing, which surveyed over 11,000 people across 33 workplaces over the last two years.   It found:  More than half the workplaces surveyed struggle to support staff wellbeing and mental health   About 25% of workers were experiencing high or very high levels of psychological distress – the main things affecting this were a mixture of personal and work factors including:   Not getting enough sleep   Their workplace not prioritising mental wellbeing   Not getting enough leisure time   Poor diet   Bullying or harassment at work   12% of people’s productivity at work was explained by a mix of personal and work factors including   Not getting enough physical activity during the day   High workload   Not being clear about their role at work   Poor sleep       Overall, this shows a picture of how people’s personal health and features of the work environment combine together to impact people’s wellbeing and their job performance.  A couple of examples from the past few years that highlight this relationship:   A tragic case from 2016 investigated a tractor driver who had an accident while driving in the early hours of the morning, leading to his death. It was revealed that fatigue was the key contributing factor in this case, given that he had worked almost 200 hours in the fortnight before his death, including a 17-hour workday the day that he died.   In Australia, a police officer suffered from PTSD after witnessing some traumatic incidents. The stress associated with this led to an increase in stomach acid secretion which led to development of a gastrointestinal disease and later the development of cancer. Sadly, some of the policeman’s coping personal coping strategies including drinking and smoking made the situation worse.       So what can be done?   It’s a partnership between individuals and their workplaces. Things like sleep and diet are largely in the control of individuals, but given these things impact on people’s productivity at work, workplaces might want to consider how they could support people in these areas, e.g., making sure healthy food is available rather than lots of junk food, supporting people to get their sleep patterns checked for things like sleep apnoea.   Workplaces are directly responsible for some of the other factors like workload and bullying in the workplace, so they need to address these to both protect the health and wellbeing of their people and make sure they are getting maximum productivity from their workforce.   In the past many workplaces have split off workplace and personal health risks, treating them as separate. Our results and the couple of examples I’ve given show how important it is to think about how these two factors combine together and the need to look at workplace health from a holistic point of view.  LISTEN ABOVE See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.