The Australian Government’s Productivity Commission completed its new draft report on mental health recently, and it provides a noteworthy picture of mental health in Australia. Included within the report was a section outlining mentally healthy workplaces.
While it is far from ideal to view mental ill-health through the lens of the financial cost to the Australian economy, it does provide an ideal of the extent of the issue. The report identifies that the cost to the Australian economy each year relating to mental ill-health and suicide is conservatively in the order of $43 to $51 billion. Lower economic participation and lost productivity makes up approximately $10-$18 billion of that. Additionally, an approximately $130 billion cost is associated with diminished health and reduced life expectancy for those living with mental ill-health.
The Australian Human Resource Institute summarised the key findings, and some recommendations for Australian workplaces as follows:
- When a mental health issue derives from cultural issues, or personal conflict, it is harder for staff to return to work for smaller businesses – particularly because there is often only a single location to return to.
- Workers compensation arrangements should focus on early intervention, early treatment and successful return to work.
- Employee assistance programs (EAPs) are highly valued by some, but to facilitate their reliability and reputation, EAP providers should develop mechanisms for individual businesses to evaluate outcomes and invest in research to improve “external evaluation and benchmarking” of best practice.
The report contains five recommendations in this section.
- Psychological health and safety should be given the same importance in workplace health and safety (WHS) laws as physical health and safety. This would mean updating some of Australia’s WHS legislation and regulation. This should happen in the next two years.
- Codes of practice on employer’s duty of care should be developed by different WHS authorities and Safe Work Australia to help employers meet their duty of care. It should take into account the different risk profiles of different industries and occupations. This should happen in the next two years.
- Workers compensation schemes should provide lower premiums for employers who have initiatives and programs that their WHS authority considers “highly likely to reduce the risks of workplace related psychological injury and mental illness for that specific workplace”. This should happen over the next two-five years.
- Workers compensation schemes should be amended to provide treatment for workers making mental health claims, regardless of liability, until the person returns to work or after six months. This should happen in the next two years. The Productivity Commission is seeking information on how this should be funded.
- WHS agencies should assess employer initiated interventions to create mentally healthy workplaces then advise other employers about what is effective. This should happen over the next two to five years.
The productivity commission is seeking comment and additional information at this time, and written submissions are requested by January 23 2020. More information is available on their website.
Dr Peter Williams, Senior Lecturer, Avondale Business School