The Why
Poor Employee Mental Health costs Australian businesses nearly $13 Billion per annum and substantial lost productivity. To help ensure wellbeing and Sustainability, Organisations must eliminate Psychosocial risks or if that is not practicable, minimise them as far as reasonably practicable
This innovative program integrates elements of psychology and also sociology to better understand how we feel safe. As of 1st April 2023, Federal Legislation has mandated Employers manage psychosocial hazards under the Work Health & Safety Act 2011 (WHS Act).
The Psychosocial hazards and relevant control measures will vary between each workplace depending on job design, the surrounding work environment, the varying social interactions the job requires, and many other organisational factors, but Employers now have a moral responsibility and a legal obligation to provide a psychologically safe workplace for their employees. This program will help achieve that outcome.
It is also critical to remember that all workers are responsible for contributing to a supportive and positive workplace culture. Each individual’s work environment has a unique set of psychosocial hazards that can put them at risk of poor mental and physical health so a nuanced approach needs to be taken.
By emphasising your commitment in this area, you establish the workplace as a safe space and you can be an ally to your employees, not a danger to their wellbeing.
Risks
Employees who come into contact with Psychosocial Hazards run the following risks:
- Increased stress
- Lost productivity
- Low morale
- Low motivation
- Increased absenteeism
- Poor health
- Quiet Quitting
Psychosocial Hazard Examples
- Excessive workloads
- Witnessing, investigating or being exposed to traumatic events.
- Supporting victims of painful or traumatic events or seeing/listening to traumatic materials.
- Inadequate Resources
- Minimal recognition and rewards
- Harassment in the workplace
- Ineffective communication
- Poor management of organisational changes and the resulting job insecurity
- Conflicting role demands
- Lack of clarity on role responsibilities and duties
- Minimal support from Management and Team members
- Remote and isolated work
The Program
Our Program uniquely provides attendees with the skills to pick up early indicators of behavioural changes stemming from psychosocial hazards through an enhanced awareness of non verbal nuances and related word analysis.
These specialist skills additionally help to prevent and combat Quiet Quitting and other forms of employee disengagement which can erode the Manager – Employee relationship.
Delivery Methods
Our Program is traditionally delivered as a 5 hour Face to Face Session, but it can be customised for individual firms. For larger firms, a tiered delivery approach can be utilised as outlined below:
Executive Level – 90 Minute Workshop
Management – 2 X 4 Part Lunch & Learns
Personnel – 1 Hour Face to Face or 45 Minute Interactive Zoom Session
As part of our Corporate Program Delivery framework, we offer an Organisational Contextualisation Session. This session assists with further refining the training content, assessment tools, and the utilised verbiage, to better align with your organisations language, vision and values. This tailored approach improves learning outcomes and assists with content retention.
Learning Outcomes
01 Understand the Principles of Psychosocial Health & Safety Risk SOLUTION
02 Define Psychosocial Hazards and explain their impact on the health of Employees.
03 Understand the requirements of ISO 45003:2021
04 Develop skills to Identify and assess common Psychosocial Hazards in the workplace
05 Understand the impact of Psychosocial Hazards on productivity and performance
06 Understand self-care and wellbeing promotion
07 Better support Mental Health in the Workplace.
08 Understand the Risk Control Process to address Psychosocial Hazards.
09 Possess Improved Skills to ensure leadership and worker participation.
The How
- Prioritise effective onboarding and training – help them learn about the culture and
expectations. - Have clear policies on bullying and harassment – a ZERO tolerance policy helps
Employees feel safe in their work environment regardless of their background. - Create a positive culture – Psychosocial safety stems from workplace culture. Emphasise
mutual respect, support and employee integration. - Foster supportive leadership through training – enhancing emotional intelligence and
improving their ability to support psychosocially safe practices.
- Collaborate and refine employee workspaces – the workplace environment has a
large effect on employees’ psychosocial well-being. - Provide Team Members with Psychosocial Safety Training – Supervisors, and mid-level
management all need to be prepared to support their team members. - Have effective communication Channels in place – all Employees should feel
comfortable sharing feedback on challenging subjects and the discussions need to
occur without judgement or hostility. - Have Team Building Events – these events allow employees to connect on a social
level, increasing motivation and enhancing the feeling of belonging