Burnout rates not dropping from psychosocial safety compliance

Despite psychosocial safety legislation having been in place across most Australian states for almost two years, research shows that clinical burnout rates haven’t shifted in that time. Compliance with psychosocial safety requirements, one expert has said, isn’t enough to move the dial.

According to a survey of more than 1,000 workers by The Change Lab in July of this year, clinical burnout rates have plateaued at 34.1 per cent – essentially unchanged from 31.8 per cent, as identified in 2023.

Workers, Dr Michelle McQuaid told HR Leader, continue to struggle with exhaustion, cynicism, and loss of professional confidence.

McQuaid – an honorary fellow at Melbourne University’s Centre for Wellbeing Science and a former executive director for human capital at PwC – said that over half of the workers surveyed said they were clear on how to report psychosocial hazards at work, having seen the policies, attended the wellbeing workshops, and received EAP information.

While the compliance boxes have been ticked, “the risks have not yet been effectively minimised for many who are particularly struggling with the frequency of poor change management, inadequate reward and recognition, and poor supervisor support”, she said.

What makes the biggest difference, she said, is psychological safety: “The ability to speak openly and honestly without fear of punishment.”

“The data shows this acts as a protective mechanism: poor change management drops from 76 per cent to 47 per cent frequency as psychological safety increases from low to high. Inadequate reward and recognition drops from 79 per cent to 41 per cent, while poor supervisor support drops from 73 per cent to 40 per cent.”

While safety is a legal requirement, McQuaid continued, a culture of care is the business imperative.

“The role of HR in uniting OH&S, wellbeing, and leadership efforts to ensure psychosocial safety is genuinely lived, not just legislated,” she said.

On the question of how heads of HR and their teams can help streamline workplace efforts to have a more meaningful impact on psychosocial safety, McQuaid said the primary challenge lies in how most workplaces are structuring their response.

“OH&S teams focus on risk assessments, control identification, and compliance reporting. Wellbeing programs offer EAP support, mental health first aid training, and wellbeing promotion tools. Leadership training and development covers team management skills, people management processes, and compliance requirements,” she said.

“This well-intended but scattered approach tends to lead to confusing language, training overload, and competing demands on leaders, which does little to help the 29 per cent of leaders experiencing burnout.”

The answer can be found, McQuaid suggested, in HR’s unique strategic position across these functions.

“By developing shared language, streamlining training and tools, and clarifying expectations of leaders, HR can tackle the fragmentation causing leader burnout,” she said.

“Most importantly, HR can integrate psychosocial safety into organisational strategy and embed a culture of care through values, processes, policies, and rewards while ensuring people develop the required skills.”

This integrated approach, McQuaid concluded, doesn’t just meet legal requirements – “it creates workplaces where people can speak up before they break down, turning psychosocial safety into a competitive advantage for talent retention and performance”.