It popped into my inbox recently, an email from the Victorian WorkCover Authority. It outlined the changes to mental injury claim eligibility and a worker’s eligibility for weekly payments beyond 130 weeks.
The upshot? The money tree is droopy.
Employee wellbeing is on the agenda.
It’s been heartening to see employee wellbeing increasingly on the agenda. It’s even been mandated for organisations to take responsibility for their part in it.
For example, ISO 45003 was released in June 2021 – a global standard highlighting organisations are responsible for promoting and protecting both the physical and psychological health of workers.
And in February 2024, SafeWork NSW issued it’s Guide: Designing Work to Manage Psychosocial Risks. These risks are described as aspects of work and situations that may cause a stress response which in turn can lead to psychological or physical harm.
There’s compensation for significant harm.
On the one hand, there is recognition that workplaces contribute to stress (burnout is how chronic, unmanaged stress can show up further down the road).
On the other, it has to be so bad that you are significantly psychologically harmed for WorkCover compensation purposes, at least in my home state of Victoria.
Specifically, the email stated:
Mental injury now refers to an injury that causes significant behavioural, cognitive, or psychological dysfunction, and is diagnosed by a medical practitioner according to the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM).
Of course, employment must be the main cause too.
But psychological harm is expensive.
Workplace mental health conditions are one of the costliest forms of workplace injury.
In 2020-21, Safe Work Australia compared mental health condition claims to claims for physical injuries and diseases:
- The median time lost was 34.2 working weeks, 4x the median time lost across all claims.
- The median compensation paid was $58,615, close to 4x the median compensation paid across all claims.
Worse still, mental health claims are on the rise. According to the latest Allianz data, primary psychological Workers’ Compensation claims have nearly doubled from 2019-2023, and their average costs have increased 29.2% over the same time period.
Stress and burnout is now excluded.
When it comes to compensation, the kicker is what’s now excluded:
Compensation is not granted for mental injuries primarily caused by stress or burnout from usual work events, except in cases of exposure to traumatic events.
I guess that’s reasonable. Money doesn’t grow on trees. And Victoria has the biggest debt of all states and territories in Australia.
The costs are way more than money.
Still, stress is costly to both the individual and the organisation, even without meeting the definition of significant psychological harm.
It leaves us no choice but to help ourselves. Because the prevalence of stress and burnout is too great.
According to a 2024 report by Boston Consulting Group (BCG), almost half the world is experiencing burnout, with Australia higher than average at 53%.
Those aren’t the kind of odds you want. Chances are you’re experiencing burnout, or someone you know is.
Helping ourselves.
One way, according to BCG, is to help employees feel included at work. When they do, they say burnout is halved. Now they’re the kind of odds you want.
BCG suggest the best way to do that is to enhance employees’ overall sense of feeling included, namely:
- Good access to resources
- Senior managerial support
- Psychological safety with direct manager
- Fair and equal opportunity for success.
That’s on the organisational side. But let’s not forget that it requires efforts on an individual level too. Afterall, to quote Dr Jeanine Joy:
Burnout is a war that must be won on two fronts.
Of course it’s easier said than done. If you want some help on either front let me know.
Image by Vasilis Caravitis from Pixabay
