Working Australians are showing increasingly higher levels of stress and distress, according to the third annual Stress and Wellbeing survey by the Australian Psychological Society (APS). Workers are also showing more depressive symptoms and anxiety than in the previous two years.
Picture: kennymatic
These latest results show that Australian managers need to provide more supportive leadership and address factors influencing psychological health so workers can be happy and productive.
Strong leaders cultivate an environment where employees feel empowered, have autonomy in their decision making and come together as a team to be creative and solve problems.
Getting stressed
Stress in the workplace has negative effects on organisational performance through absenteeism, high turnover and reduced productivity. Low levels of employee well-being have also been linked to increased turnover.
In this year’s survey, 47 per cent of the respondents cited workplace issues as a source of stress. Workplace stress is the second most common cause of workers compensation claims after manual handling and poses a risk to both employees and employers.
The survey found stress was having an impact on both mental and physical health.
Three in four working Australians (75 per cent ) reported it was having at least some impact on their physical health; 16 per cent said it was having a strong to very strong effect.
More than two-thirds (68 per cent ) reported that current stress was having at least some impact on mental health; 19 per cent rated it as having a strong to very strong impact.
Improvements to organisational environments through supportive leadership and engaging and positive team management processes, has been found to increase morale and reduce stress.
Not feeling good
Positive feelings about the workplace are likely to influence what an employee will or won’t do for a boss or organisation. Research shows that there’s a strong link between employee well-being and organisational performance.
Sadly, this doesn’t appear to be recognised in Australia. Alongside reporting lower levels of workplace well-being and job satisfaction than in the previous two years, those participating in the survey said they had significantly lower levels of interest in their job than respondents in 2012.
Almost one in seven working Australians reported depressive symptoms in the severe to extremely severe range.
Companies with psychologically healthy workplaces tend to employ organisational structures and practices that create a positive environment for employees. This involves providing reward and recognition for a job well done, communicating expectations and demonstrating the link between an employee’s role and the bigger picture.
The elements in the survey linked with enhanced wellbeing and reduced stress and distress included supportive leadership, recognition and feedback, feeling valued and cared for by employers, clear role definition, the prioritisation of health and safety, and support for family issues.
But only 52 per cent of people in the survey reported their employer valued their contribution and cared about their well-being, while less than half (46 per cent) said they received regular feedback. And less than half felt they worked in environments with employers who supported staff with mental health issues.
Why managing workplace stress matters
Many activities performed in the workplace are not formally recorded in job descriptions but impact organisational performance. Assisting in a crisis, for instance, or looking out for a colleague are often driven by the employee’s sense of pride towards their employer and positive feelings they have about their workplace.
Organisations cannot mandate these behaviours but they can create an environment where they are more likely to occur. These extra-role behaviours are more likely to occur when people are engaged at work and could be described as the grease that keeps the wheels turning.
A psychologically healthy workplace won’t eliminate all workplace stress because we are all wired to respond differently to stressors. But it will help reduce the prevalence of work practices that have the capacity to increase stress.
Tim Hannan is Associate Professor of Clinical Psychology at Charles Sturt University. He does not work for, consult to, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has no relevant affiliations.
This article was originally published at The Conversation. Read the original article.
Comments
2 responses to “Your Workplace Is Not Getting Any Healthier”
Oh gee, I wonder why
Maybe it’s cause their jobs suck, and will continue to suck no matter how much you try to pretend it doesn’t
The economy is not making things easy either and it’s not getting better anytime soon
How can people be happy when they don’t have money to spend on things they don’t need to impress people they don’t even like,
And then they have to deal with the unreasonable demands of people who are also short on money
Nah, the banks and gov aren’t to blame, you’ve just got mental health issues, take some antidepressants
I think Apple’s releasing a new iphone!
It’s true that not all business’s value their employee contributions, or recognise what I’d call workplace fatigue. I’ve been with both good, bad and some very ugly.
An example of a good one was a previous employer, a large corporate company that highly valued employee well being. Had mentorship programs to assist those struggling in the workplace, and free counselling for staff and immediate family. Career progression was a big thing too with assistance to study in many areas (big plus for retention). My only reason for leaving was the strain a 2hr to 3hr commute to work each day from family took. Otherwise I’d have stayed, was a great place to be. The workplace culture was always positive and any issues were quickly resolved with little to no questions asked.
Another place I worked for sadly didn’t hold these same ideals or have a healthy culture to assist those who ran into problems. They tended to be either white washed and cast aside, as if stress or depression was a dirty word. I’d seen management ridicule other staff as being weak for this very fact. Being a government funded agency they did have certain programs, but the red tape to access them was abhorrent, that simply asking about them would essentially stifle any career progression or black list you (I actually wish I was joking here). It says a lot about how a business values staff when as myself, had been with for over two years, only ever had one employee review and that was the 1st 3 months in.
I often think private companies have it more together than government based ones.
I cannot quote a source however I remember being told that if todays workers were to be as productive as a worker from the 1970 youd would only work 25 hours a week.
Theodore Kazynski is right. Business might need to start giving out drugs to help workers cope with the insane amount of work.
Capitalism is out of control. The debacle that was how the GFC aftermath was handled is evidence of that. This attitude leads to a valuation of money and ‘productivity’ over people and quality of life. Work is necessary and important to society, but the idea that cost-savings and productivity are more important is wrong.