Pain, psychological distress common in Aussie workers

A new national report has presented a snapshot of the health of Australia’s workforce, highlighting common experiences with psychological distress.

A report produced by a research group at Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine – has shown that 39 per cent of workers reported pain interfering with their work, and 40 per cent reported psychological distress in 2020–21.

“This national snapshot provides a benchmark to enable future tracking and monitoring of trends in worker health and wellbeing, highlighting the mental and physical health of Australian workers, the disability status of workers, fatalities and employees’ overall health at work,” said Professor Alex Collie from Monash University’s School of Public Health and Preventive Medicine.

The report also shows that 43 per cent of workers reported that their job was incredibly demanding, which, somewhat intertwined with poor mental health, led to 42 million days of lost work per annum in 2020 to 2022.

Other key findings from the report stated:

• Sixty-three per cent of workers rate their overall health as very good or excellent.

• Thirty-nine per cent of Australian workers reported that pain interfered with normal work.

• Twenty-two per cent of Australian workers reported a mental health disorder with symptoms in the past 12 months.

• Eighteen per cent of Australian workers reported high or very high levels of distress in 2020–21 compared to 8 per cent in 2014–15.

• Twelve per cent of Australian workers reported a disability or long-term health condition affecting their employment.

• Forty-three per cent of Australian workers reported high job demands.

“Healthy workers are more productive at work, live longer, report a better quality of life and use fewer community resources than unhealthy workers. We also know that being sick and unable to work and working while you’re sick has enormous costs to individuals and society,” Collie said.

“Workplaces have changed a lot in recent years. How and what people do for work has also changed. For example, we’ve seen a rise in teleworking, and a growth in the gig economy. These changes have introduced new risks to worker health, and they occur in a rapidly evolving Australian society, in which both the health of citizens and the determinants of health are also changing.”

Maximising workforce health is not only a wellbeing priority but also a business priority, as it directly impacts the productivity of employees and can result in absenteeism, which can be extremely detrimental to business outcomes.

“Unemployment is at an all-time low, and our national productivity has stalled. Maximising workforce health is a really important opportunity to boost productivity. This report describes a way of measuring workforce health, so that we can identify the main opportunities for improvement,” Collie said.

Kace O'Neill

Kace O'Neill is a Graduate Journalist for HR Leader. Kace studied Media Communications and Maori studies at the University of Otago, he has a passion for sports and storytelling.