Your Strategy and Action Plan for a Mentally Healthy Workplace

This guide is intended for general information and guidance purposes only and should not be considered or relied upon as an official compliance tool or advice. Using this guide does not ensure compliance with Occupational Health & Safety (OHS) regulations under the Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. Additional resources such as those provided by WorkSafe Victoria need to be considered / adopted to abide by regulations. Whilst efforts have been made to ensure information presented is accurate and reliable, it is important to note that laws, regulations and requirements can change over time and may vary by jurisdiction. This guide does not constitute legal, professional or regulatory advice. It is recommended that you consult the appropriate jurisdictional resources and consult with qualified legal or compliance professionals if you require specific compliance and regulatory guidance.

Background

Workplaces that invest in creating a mentally healthy and safe workplace have been shown to have high employee satisfaction and engagement, lower costs associated with absence and turnover, and other economic and social benefits. A mentally healthy workplace is good for everyone and good for business. All workplaces are legally required to provide a physically, environmentally, and psychologically safe work environment.

This guide is designed to support your organisation to:

Establish a vision and goalsfor creating a mentally healthy workplace
Identify priority areas and key actionsas well as roles / responsibilities of leadership and workers
Create metricsto measure progress towards goals
Identify hazards and control riskswhich may negatively impact on a mentally healthy workplace

How to use this guide

Guidance for how to create your own Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is provided using four steps.
Where appropriate, the content for your strategy should be developed through a co-design process involving collaboration and engagement with your workers at all stages.
Suggestions for how to co-design and collaborate during various steps are provided.
1. Step One – Vision & Goals: Create the vision and goals for your mentally healthy workplace.
2. Step Two – Current State: Undertake a current state assessment to identify what you are currently doing.
3. Step Three – Prioritisation: Identify what is currently working well, any gaps and priority areas, and develop a suitable Action Plan.
4. Step Four – Progress Measures: Develop measurable metrics to evaluate and track progress made on your Action Plan.
This guide can be used by all types of organisations, and by sole traders, regardless of whether they are just starting out, or are further along on their journey to creating a mentally healthy workplace.
It is particularly helpful for individuals with management / leadership roles, and people and culture team members responsible for workplace strategies and systems.
This guide suggests options for organisations of all sizes, so you can choose the actions that are right for your organisation.
The time it takes to complete your Strategy and Plan will depend on the size of your organisation and the extent to which you engage with your workers throughout the process of creating your Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy. This may take as little as a few hours or up to several weeks / months as you collect and incorporate worker input, insights, and perspectives.
Before you begin, have a clear view of who you would like to involve in the process and which workers / worker groups you would like to have represented. Think about the key roles across your organisation, and where unique needs and preferences of different workers should be considered.
For sole traders, it should take as little as a few hours or several days / weeks as you think about the type of Mentally Healthy Workplace you want to create.
As you are creating your Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy, keep in mind the implementation principles outlined in the Victorian Mentally Healthy Workplaces Framework.
Reminder
The Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy does not need to be completed in one go. Take your time, and revise and iterate as you go, so that your Mental Health and Wellbeing Strategy is comprehensive and actionable.

Tips

While it is important for leadership teams to support your strategy, co-designing throughout the process with others in your organisation can lead to better outcomes. Try to include workers who offer different perspectives when co-designing. This could include workers from different ethnic or cultural groups, age groups, gender, job types, locations and/or those who bring a particular perspective such as lived experience and/or people with a disability. It is also important for leaders to be involved to create buy-in at all levels.