MEDIA RELEASE: 21 June 2023
Thursday, 15 June 2023: SuperFriend, a leading workplace mental health not-for-profit organisation, has announced key findings from Australia's largest workplace mental health survey, the 2022 Indicators of a Thriving Workplace. The survey, encompassing close to 10,000 Australian workers across 19 industries, has identified critical insights and recommendations for the Mining industry. The latest findings identified five core Domains—Leadership, Connectedness, Safety, Work Design, and Capability—as essential areas of focus for fostering mentally healthy workplaces.
The Mining industry scored lower than the national benchmark in three of the five core Domains – Leadership, Connectedness and Work Design. However, the industry scored higher than the national average in the Capability and Safety Domains.
The survey also identified and scored industries against nine psychological hazards, including Inappropriate Workload, Low Recognition, Poor Change Management, Poor Management Support and Low Job Control. The Mining Industry’s scores show Inappropriate Workload is the psychosocial hazard with the most room for improvement. Poor Management Support was also comparatively low compared to the national average. The industry scored above the average for recognition, meaning in this industry workers feel their efforts are recognised and rewarded at work.
SuperFriend Chief Executive Officer Darren Black commented,
"While classified as a high-risk industry, the Mining sector has displayed improved performance in the Safety Domain, surpassing the national average. However, it is worth noting that the Leadership Domain score is the second lowest among the 19 industries surveyed.
“Another positive aspect for the Mining industry is that its performance in addressing the psychosocial hazard of Low Recognition is above the national average. This outcome provides valuable insights into the motivating factors for employees within this sector.
“The data strongly suggest that to achieve improved outcomes, fostering stronger relationships between leaders and employees is crucial; the Mining industry would benefit by cultivating productive workplace relationships based on mutual respect," remarked Darren.
This is the eighth year that SuperFriend has conducted the Indicators of a Thriving Workplace survey, and the 2022 survey introduced updated measurement tools to capture more factors influencing workplace mental health than ever before.
