Workplace culture

By Sarah Cornell, GippsDairy

Many of the negative issues which arise in the workplace are due to poor workplace culture. Poor workplace culture can lead to psychological injury which falls under occupational health and safety legislation.

This means that an employee can make a work cover claim for psychological injury, also known as a mental health injury, such as depression, anxiety or post traumatic stress disorder if work is found to be the cause of, or a significant contributing factor, to these psychological conditions.

Work related factors often leading to these conditions may include:

• Bullying and harassment
• Lack of procedural fairness
• An excessive workload
• Lack of relevant training
• Workplace conflict
• Critical workplace incidents
• Poor support from management

In order to reduce the likelihood of an employee developing a work-related mental health injury, good workplace culture plays a significant role.

Eight workplace characteristics that relate to psychological aspects of work and workplace culture, and possible ways to implement them include:

Including the above characteristics in your workplace is likely to result in a great workplace culture which helps employees thrive and shapes the reputation of your business. A great culture and thriving employees lead to increased employee retention, positive team dynamics, fewer lost time injuries and absenteeism and overall increased productivity and efficiency.

Contributing sources: Work Safe Tasmania webinar: Better safe: Building a high trust culture in the workplace and https://rctlaw.com.au/legalblog/ 2021/getting-a-workcover-claim-for-psychological-injury-accepted