When ACTU President Ged Kearney and beyondblue CEO Kate Carnell (who is the former Liberal Chief Minister of the ACT) get together on a workplace issue, you know it’s serious.
Today, Ms Kearney and Ms Carnell will discuss healthier workplaces and the link with improved productivity at the release of research by The Australia Institute which shows that there are around 3 million Australians affected by workplace-related stress and anxiety.
Not surprisingly, the research also found that workers were uncomfortable discussing mental health with their manager and many believed their bosses lacked the skills to discuss sensitive workplace issues.
One of the factors that leads to this level of stress is the growth in insecure work and unpaid overtime which is why the ACTU has declared today to be ‘Go Home on Time Day’.
“Today is a reminder that workers have other responsibilities and working unpaid and unpredictable overtime adds to stress and anxiety,” Ms Kearney said.
“The research [from the Australia Institute] shows that 20% of people have unpredictable working hours and cannot be certain of what time they will finish work.
“Workers are finding it harder to balance work and family demands, and the growth of technology that means workers are always “on-call” makes it even harder.
“It is estimated that Australians work more than two billion hours of unpaid overtime a year, which adds up to a $72 billion gift to employers.
“Unfortunately many workers feel they have to work unpaid overtime to keep their jobs.
“This is even more of an issue for employees on casual or short-term contracts who fear that they will lose paid work if they refuse.”
It is also a significant concern to mothers, as Motherpedia’s own research revealed. Mums fear for their job and career prospects if they seek more flexible workplace arrangements.
Ms Kearney said almost 40% of the Australian workforce was in some form of insecure work such as casual, labour hire or short-term contracts.
“We hear a lot about workplace flexibility, but for most workers this means having to fit family responsibilities around an unpredictable work schedule, rather than the other way round.”
The support for ‘Go Home on Time Day’ from beyondblue shows the strong link between insecure work, workplace stress and mental health issues.
Beyondblue has a workplace mental health e-learning program available online or as an iPad app. Find it here.
The Australia Institute research showed that small businesses are twice as likely to have a “very good” workplace culture, and managers are more sensitive to employees needs.
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