Work

Pillars in action – Work

Supporting wellbeing in the workplace

We are committed to the health and wellbeing of our staff, and this is underpinned by progressive policies that prioritise the health, safety and unique needs of staff. Whether a commitment to gender equality, ensuring safe and healthy workplaces, supporting new parents and LGBTIQ staff or promoting vaccination and health assessment programs, strong sets of workplace policies provide reassurance and respect for the staff community. Through ongoing input and feedback, staff play a critical role in helping shape the development of support measures that support their wellbeing in the workplace.

The actions we're taking:

Review and expand policies and procedures related to ‘work health’.

  • Triennially, or as the need arises, review policies and procedures that act as work determinants of health and health determinants of work:
    • OHS for safe work practices (e.g ergonomics and health surveillance), workplace adjustment procedures, flexible work, types of parental leave, transition training, and volunteering.
    • Immunisation programs, health checks, first aid for workplaces programs, and Staff Wellbeing and Activity Program.
  • Proactively enact and advance practices, policies and procedures through structural and social support to promote micro, meso and macro level recovery and rejuvenation. For example, a semi-annual, targeted health-check program located on campus. Focussing on common health risks, such as cardiovascular disease and diabetes.

Increase education and awareness of work health information and support.

  • Use multi-pronged, university-wide communication as well as targeted communication to specific cohorts to raise work health awareness.
  • Introduce goals in supervisor’s myPlan to distribute work health information and support work flexibility.
  • Track the extent to which evolving COVID-19-related practices and guidelines are utilised by staff.
  • Learn from staff accessing COVID-19 support measures to inform future education, awareness, induction and compliance efforts related to work health.

Hear staff voices on what ‘work health’ means to them.

  • Develop novel, creative and engaging ways of regularly ‘checking-in’ with staff across different demographic profiles (e.g carers, staff with disability, new arrivals, transgender staff) to gain a deeper understanding of how work and health intersect for them.
  • Include in the ongoing Thrive surveys measures of work health and wellbeing to capture broad, population-level insights.
  • Enable staff to participate in in-depth staff forums, workshops and focus groups that examine refinement or expansion of particular policies, procedures and support measures.
  • Conduct in-depth interviews with staff to better understand which aspects of their position yields health benefits and which aspects negatively affect health.
  • Collect and synthesise all findings to ground operational, leadership and management policy and practice development and implementation.