Jennifer Moss is a prominent analyst on work-related burnout and mental health. She is one of the few receiving global attention for pointing out that the prevention and control of the burgeoning mental health crisis are best addressed by reassessing and redesigning how organisations are run and workers are managed. Her latest book, due out in a few weeks, will supercharge the debate on managing psychosocial risks and psychological hazards at work.
Recently, Forbes magazine interviewed Moss about her new book called, “Why Are We Here? Creating a Work Culture Everyone Wants“. Moss offered a clue to the tone of the new book. She was asked, “What does her research reveal about the causes of burnout?”:
““I’m adamant that burnout is not an individual failing,” she says. “It’s an organizational design flaw. In a previous book (The Burnout Epidemic), I outlined six root causes: chronic workload, lack of control, insufficient recognition, poor workplace relationships, unfair treatment, and values misalignment. Addressing burnout means moving beyond wellness apps and self-care Band-Aids. It requires upstream fixes.”
Moss says that, unfortunately, many of the strategies organizations deploy to try and solve for burnout are much too far downstream.
“Take resiliency training,” she says. “Oxford research found that this type of programing detracted from wellbeing, especially for executive women who would prefer having support managing workloads and/or more flexibility. This is why leaders need to tackle the root causes of chronic stress and burnout first—before they try and optimize with wellness tactics far too downstream.” (links added)
Moss’ message echoes many of those advocated by Australian researchers and organsiational psycholgists for well over a decade. The evidence clearly shows the solutions required to provide mentallly healthy, stimulating and rewarding workplaces in compnaies that value their workers and aim for a sustainable business which minimises labour costs. But there is very little will by employers to do what the evidence indicates.
The excuse that employers are unaware of this issue is no longer supported (if it ever was). By the end of this year, all Australian jurisdictions will have the obligation for employers to provide psychologically safe and healthy workplaces in their occupational heath and safety laws. At the moment, government is applying the carrot by educating employers through guidance, seminars and supportive inspector visits. However, as in any industry with persistent, and preventable, occupational hazards, regulators will start to apply the stick. When this happens, employers will have no one to blame but themselves (and perhaps their wellness advisors who know better but refuse to adapt or pivot).
This year’s seminars and conferences on workplace psychosocial hazards will be fascinating to watch.
Moss told Forbes that
“In this moment, we should be focusing on both systemic prevention and burnout recovery.”
Expect this message to gain considerable volume and attnetion, if not application, over the next few months.