If the Answers Are So Obvious, Why Are We Still Struggling?

When Good Intentions Aren’t Enough: Why Mentally Healthy Workplaces Still Feel Out of Reach

Recently, I attended an industry event centered on mental health in the workplace. The program was strong—thought-provoking panels, compelling speakers, and a shared sense of commitment to change.

Over morning tea, I found myself in conversation with several people leaders, continuing the discussion on workplace wellbeing. The messages were familiar—and sound.

“Psychological safety is key.”
“Support needs to be visible.”
“Leadership must role-model healthy behaviours.”

Everyone nodded. No one disagreed. And then, someone voiced what many were quietly thinking:

“All of this sounds obvious… so why are these problems still happening in our workplaces?”

It’s a valid and confronting question.

If we understand what a mentally healthy workplace should look like, why do issues like burnout, disengagement, high turnover, and mental health-related claims persist?

When Awareness Meets Complexity

These conversations are becoming more frequent. The good news is that awareness is no longer the main barrier. Mental health has earned a spot in the strategy deck. Wellbeing statements are being published. The right language is being used.

And yet—something still doesn’t land.

What’s often missing is the ability to differentiate between what’s meaningful and what’s merely well-intentioned. How do we move beyond performative efforts and surface-level solutions, to embed real psychological safety and wellbeing in the DNA of a workplace?

Moving beyond surface-level wellbeing

This is where the role of structured measurement becomes essential—especially when it’s focused on the right things.

SuperFriend’s national Indicators Of a Thriving Workplace research identifies five key Domains that contribute to a thriving workplace:

1. Leadership
2. Connectedness
3. Work Design
4. Capability
5. Safety

Together, these evidence-based Domains offer a practical framework for understanding what’s actually driving—or hindering —mental health and wellbeing in a workplace.

The Power of Measuring What Matters

When organisations take the time to meaningfully assess the five domains of a thriving workplace, what often surfaces are not glaring failures, but subtle—and revealing—disconnects. These gaps can tell us more than assumptions ever could. For example:

• Leaders may believe they’re building psychological safety, yet their teams might still hesitate to speak up or show vulnerability.
• Mental health supports may be in place, but employees either don’t know about them, or don’t feel safe enough to use them.
• ‘Flexible work’ might be on offer, but without strong team cohesion, flexibility can quickly turn into isolation, friction, or unresolved tension.
• There may be a strong operational focus, but if authentic connection and relational trust are missing, collaboration and resilience often suffer.

These aren’t signs of failure—they’re signals for growth. But we can only act on what we’re willing to see. That’s the real power of measuring what matters: it makes the invisible visible and gives us a shared language for change.

From ‘Nice-to-Have’ to ‘Needs-to-Change’

There’s no shortage of initiatives aimed at supporting mental health at work. But ideas alone don’t equal impact.

To create meaningful, lasting change, organisations need to move beyond activity for activity’s sake—and start asking deeper, more honest questions:

• Is what we’re doing truly effective, or simply highly visible?
• Is this initiative driving behavioural and cultural change, or just offering reassurance that we’re "doing something"?
• Are we capturing the experiences of everyone in the organisation, or just those who feel most comfortable speaking up?

When grounded in the five Domains of a thriving workplace, measurement helps Management, People & Culture, and HR teams focus where it counts—channelling resources, attention, and energy into the areas with the greatest potential for change and impact.

The Bottom Line

Knowing what a mentally healthy workplace should look like isn’t the issue. The real challenge lies in understanding:

• What’s genuinely working
• What’s missing
• And what sounds good in theory, but lacks real-world traction

In a time when workplace mental health has never mattered more, we need to stop assuming the answers are obvious. Instead, let’s ask better questions, measure what matters, listen with intent—and commit to acting on what truly makes an impact.

Brought to you by SuperFriend, a not-for-profit organisation that’s been helping improve the mental wellbeing of Australian workplaces and their workers since 2007.

SuperFriend’s Thriving Workplace Index is an evidence-informed diagnostic tool that captures the current state of your workforce’s mental health and wellbeing*. It will show you the level of burnout, psychological distress, productivity and presenteeism, as well as benchmark your organisation on psychosocial hazards and the five Domains against industry and national averages. Armed with these insights, HR practitioners, leaders and wellbeing decision-makers can remove the guesswork and lead with direction and focus. Now is the time to move from gut feeling to grounded insight and lead the change from within.

*Some organisations may be eligible for a complementary Thriving Workplace Index Light, if one of SuperFriend’s Superannuation Partners is nominated as their default Super Fund – visit for more info