Every company understands that in order to operate successfully, safety should come first. It is easy to restrict our thinking about occupational health and safety to purely physical risks however, psychological factors are just as important to take into account if you would like to reduce your company’s risk profile.
There have been many successful law suits with respect to employer responsibilities regarding mental health, and these can only be expected to increase as the importance of the work environment on mental health becomes better known. The key issue to consider with regard to liability is the degree to which a psychological injury is foreseeable. Now that we know more about the impact of workplace practices such as FIFO on employee wellbeing, it would be very risky to ignore the implications for corporate responsibilities.
Apart from the risk, it makes good economic sense to ensure adequate management of psychological issues in the workplace. The cost of mental ill-health is estimated to be 2% of GDP, or approximately $40 billion per annum. Estimates of ROI on improving psychological well-being are $2.30 for every dollar spent on prevention and solutions. There are probably no more valuable untapped productivity streams than the promotion of a psychologically healthy workplace.
FIFO Focus is ideally placed to assist your organisation by providing a comprehensive and integrated set of offerings to improve psychological and organisational health.
Organisational Health & Psychosocial Risk Assessments
There is no one ‘right way’ to create a psychologically healthy workplace as there are many variables at play: the vision and mission of the organisation, its size, the external environment within which the organisation has to operate, the leaders it relies on, the work that needs to be done, the people doing the work and the support provided to its employees. All of these factors play a part in employee well-being and psychological health.
FIFO Focus conducts risk assessments on your psychosocial work environment based on scientific theories psychological and organisational ill-health triggers, along with direct interventions as required.
Our risk assessments informs organisations on the actual issue facing their workforce so that responses are tailored and prioritised.
Psychosocial Health Strategy and Policy Development
Investors and stakeholders are placing more emphasis on how organisations manage their workforce and employee issues. They understand that engaged and healthy employees are critical to the delivery of value to their shareholders.
It is increasingly important for organisations to demonstrate that they truly value their greatest asset. FIFO Focus can assist organisations to develop a Psychosocial Health Strategy and develop your implementation and action plans.
FIFO Life Awareness Programs
Studies have shown that attrition is minimised if potential employees are fully aware of the real challenges of working FIFO. Our FIFO Life Awareness programs can be provided: at pre-employment to allow candidates (and their family) to self-select out of the FIFO jobs; delivered intermittently as part of a FIFO management plan or; delivered on an ad hoc basis depending the needs of the site/organization at any point in time.
FIFO Focus can provide organisations with experienced psychologists and consultants who can deliver ongoing briefings, workshops and coaching to your workforce. Alternatively if your organisation has your own internal capacity to deliver these workshops, and just wish to purchase the prepared materials to deliver in-house, we can supply the materials at a one-off charge.
Psychosocial Health Monitoring
While psychological health is dynamic and depends on many factors, it is something that can be monitored and managed. PerMentis supports the psychological health of organisations in a range of ways.
We conduct regular psychosocial health checks in order to both assess and identify areas that need intervention or closer monitoring. We also conduct psychosocial health monitoring to review progress toward a broader healthy workplace strategy.
We provide training to management and staff on a range of psychosocial health factors to help identify issues and support a healthy workplace.
FIFO Consulting and Support Services
FIFO Focus supports organisations to create a psychologically healthy workplace through a number of consulting and support services tailored to organisational needs and priorities. Examples include:
- Consulting services for recruitment and selection processes to facilitate screening of candidates with mental health issues that is non-discriminatory
- Advisory service or performance management of employees with mental health issues
- Rehabilitation and/or making reasonable adjustments to facilitate return to work
- Short training to increase enable psychologically healthy workplaces such as fatigue management, stress management, time and project management, and mental health awareness.
- Setting up wellness programs
- Assist in the development of contextually relevant and affordable community involvement programs.
