The personal and cultural factors in work addiction

Recently this blog wrote about an article on the news website of the Australian Broadcasting Corporation concerning burnout. One of the people interviewed for the article was Sally McGrath, who responded to a series of questions put to her to clarify some of the workplace mental health issues raised.

SAWB: Did your three burnout experiences happen at the same workplace?

SM: Yes – this was a result of me taking on too much, and being “capable” is something that I believe can work both for and against a person. In my case (and many I see) always saying yes and being delegated work is where the burnout begins, you don’t want to be seen as not coping or capable. You also want to be seen as the “next in line for promotion” and saying no can work against you. 

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Work mental health and construction industry negotiations

Australian trade unions are in a difficult position on the matter of workplace mental health. New regulations require employers and, to a lesser extent, workers to act on a positive duty to prevent psychosocial harm. However, how does one achieve the necessary changes without being financially penalised?

Recently, the Victorian Secretary of the Construction, Forestry, Maritime, Mining and Energy Union (CFMEU), John Setka, granted The Australian newspaper’s Workplace Editor, Ewin Hannan, an exclusive interview (paywalled) in which occupational health and safety (OHS) was discussed.

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Fool me once; shame on you. Fool me twice; shame on me. Fool me thrice?!

The Australian Broadcasting Corporation recently published a curious article about workaholism and burnout – the latter being an occupational mental health condition recognised by the World Health Organisation.

It is curious because the catalyst for the article, Sally McGrath, claims to have experienced burnout three times. Once is understandable as job stress can creep up on anyone. Twice should result in external assistance to investigate the work environment, work practices and personal mental health to identify contributory factors.  But the third time…??? Burnout is not something that is usually a repeated experience and its prevention may present a significant challenge for the occupational health and safety (OHS) profession and employers.

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Violence against retail workers persists

The Australian Financial Review published an article on April 14 2023 (paywalled) about workplace health and safety risks faced by retail workers. The entry point was the stabbing death of twenty-year-old bottle shop worker Declan Laverty in Darwin. That a business newspaper includes an extensive article on workplace safety is a positive, but it tries to be too inclusive and overlooks hazard control measures.

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Stress reenters the research vocabulary and we are all better for it

Work is making people sicker, according to a recently published research report from the University of Melbourne. The “2023 State of the Future Work – A Work Futures Hallmark Research Initiative Report” said:

“Critically, we find almost three-quarters of people with a chronic illness (73 percent) say that their health condition was caused or worsened by the stress associated with their job.”

page 15

It is good to see the various incarnations of work-related mental health conditions being brought back to the collective and specific term of Stress.

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A European counter to the United States’ OHS propaganda

One of the most useful occupational health and safety (OHS) publications is HesaMag, “the health and safety magazine with a European view”. (It is a hard copy, free and excellent. A must-have) Its latest edition has a feature on psychosocial risks (PSR) at work. I know that some of us are “over it”, but it is unavoidable and, as COVID did recently, may become the OHS matter that dominates our work. We must understand the risks to control them and prevent harm.

Anyway, back to HesaMag. One of its features is that much of its data relies on sources other than workers’ compensation and, so, is more accurate about trends. One example in the current issue, Pierre Bérastégui writes:

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Confusing positions on mental health at work

On March 28 2023, the Victorian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (the Chamber) issued an important media release called “Preparing for workplace psychological health reform”. As with most media releases related to occupational health and safety (OHS) matters, it received little attention.

Anton Zytnik a consultant for the Chamber, warned against “mental health washing”, but this media release also contains examples of avoidance and misdirection. And he’s not the only one.

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