The lowest scoring indicator for the industry in 2021 relates to workers feeling that effort has been made to help them feel purpose and meaning in their work. Workers in this industry often want to contribute to their community but they also manage many difficult situations so leadership support is vital to their wellbeing.

What you can do?

Leaders can help workers find meaning in their roles through positive leader strategies such as strengths-based leadership, motivations, and supporting job crafting. Applying positive leadership at work has wide-ranging benefits for an organisation and has been shown to improve productivity, satisfaction and wellbeing.

Although workers in this industry support and respect each other, they reported a lack of open discussion about mental health and wellbeing, and skills to support each other’s mental health and wellbeing.

What you can do?

Support from colleagues can play an important role in supporting mental wellbeing and creating a culture that talks openly about mental health is a great place to start.

SuperFriend’s free Peer Support booklet also has great tips for worker on how to support their colleagues.

The highest psychosocial risk facing the Public Administration and Safety Industry is low recognition.

The combination of high workload, low job control, and low recognition and support can result in negative mental health outcomes. This combination is often the result or poor job design where the demands of a role are not balanced with the ability to control when and how work is done and appropriate support such as having the tools required to succeed and support from leaders.

Leaders can work to understand what demands workers are facing and how to best support them through co-design sessions where workers can provide feedback and ideas for solutions.