Psychological claims surge amid mental health challenges at work
More than half of employees in Australia have experienced mental distress because of work, according to a new report from insurance giant Allianz.
The report revealed that 59% of employees have suffered from mental distress, such as anxiety, burnout, and emotional exhaustion. Among the reasons that they cited for these feelings are:
- Workload pressure
- Meeting overload
- Unrealistic deadlines
According to the report, employees spend an average of 3.31 hours per week doing unnecessary tasks or attending unnecessary meetings instead of doing productive work.
Nearly a third (32%) of employees also said they can't take proper breaks due to back-to-back schedules, while 19% said technology makes it hard for them to disconnect from work even after their shifts.
The feelings of mental distress among employees are reflected in Allianz primary psychological workers' compensation, which went up by 28.4% between FY21 and FY25.
"Our claims data tells us that mental stress and work pressure is the second-highest contributor of primary active psychological claims," said Mark Pittman, Executive General Manager – Personal Injury, Allianz Australia, in a statement.
Employee retention at risk
Employers should brace for higher turnover amid mental challenges at work, as the report revealed that 25% of respondents are considering leaving their organisation in the next six to 12 months.
"This is the equivalent of 2.73 million people, when extrapolated to the general population of those employed in middle management and below," the report read.
Mental health challenges emerge in the workplace amid gaps in organisations' efforts to address burnout, according to the report.
Only 22% of employees and 38% of managers said their organisation enforces good workplace habits and boundaries to reduce burnout.
More than three in four (78%) managers believe there are barriers to implementing these policies:
- Lack of time and resources (26%)
- Availability of technology that would make a difference (26%)
- Conflict with other workplace priorities (23%)
But for employees, some of the measures they said could improve work overload and burnout risk are:
- Better training for managers to support employee wellbeing (36%)
- Systematically eliminating unnecessary tasks and meetings (34%)
- Monthly or quarterly recurring mental health days (30%)
"Allianz is calling on Australian workplaces to take a holistic view of employee wellbeing. Business leaders can support this through job design that ensures; manageable workloads, a natural ebb and flow to work demands, adequate 'recovery' time during work hours and ground rules for disconnecting after-hours," said Brianna Cattanach, National Manager Mental Health Strategy – Personal Injury, Allianz Australia, in a statement.
"This should be accompanied with manager training on how to set these healthy workforce habits, and respond with empathy to work-related burnout and mental distress."
