A report recently released by Safe Work Australia entitled ‘Psychosocial Health and Safety’ shows that the Education industry has the second highest frequency rates of mental stress claims in Australia.
The report is the first annual national statement released in response to a 2012 House of Representatives report titled ‘Workplace Bullying: We just want it to stop’.
The recommendation was that Safe Work Australia issue an annual update on trends in workers compensation data with respect to psychosocial health and safety generally and workplace bullying specifically.
The resulting report is based on data from 2011-12 and shows that while the frequency rate of mental stress claims had fallen, the number of claims in the subcategory of harassment and/or bullying had increased.
Key findings of the report are :
Harassment/bullying claims in the report are categorised as claims based on victims of workplace bullying amongst colleagues. We have previously reported on the high rate of bullying in schools amongst teachers (see our blog) and the Safe Work Australia report further highlights this concerning trend.
What hasn’t been reported until now, is the financial impact of mental stress claims (linked to time lost) and the report also includes general statistics showing this information. It does not break down the cost per industry.
While the evidence that workplace bullying and harassment results in lost productivity would not be surprising to many school leaders, it should nonetheless provide further motivation for them to improve their internal systems and procedures, designed to prevent staff on staff bullying and harassment, and, manage it effectively when it occurs.
Watch out for our feature article next week, on steps to take to avoid work behavior becoming a stress claim