Study finds Australians are concerned for their mental health at work
Announcement posted by Sphere Public Relations 26 Jun 2019
New data released by data analytics and online visibility management platform SEMrush suggests Australians are concerned for their mental wellbeing at work or they’re trying to make ends meet by looking for a second job as a cleaner or truck driver – further supporting the rise in May’s underemployment figures released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
The words ‘bullying’, ‘harassment’, ‘diversity’ and ‘discrimination’ were among the most used keywords for online searches associated with “at work” search terms made by Australians between May 2018 to May 2019.
“The high-ranking search for ‘diversity at work’ is a positive sign, which could reflect the desire of Australians looking to work within a work culture that offers variety, however, our findings suggest that Australians are more concerned with their mental health or navigating unpleasant experiences in their workplace culture,” said Olga Andrienko, global marketing director, SEMrush.
In the State of Workplace Mental Health in Australia report, only 52% of employees said they believe their workplace is mentally healthy compared to 76% for physical safety. The report also stated it is estimated that untreated mental health conditions cost Australian workplaces approximately $4.7 billion in absenteeism, $6.1 billion in poor productivity at work and $146 million in compensation claims.
This sentiment is further supported by additional SEMrush findings, when comparing May 2019 with May 2017, which revealed online searches for ‘gaslighting at work’ recorded an alarming 30,100% increase. Other search increases during this same period included mental health (5,600%), drug testing (4,900%) and conflict (2,000%).
The online work search study also found that between April 2018-April 2019 the most popular types of job searches were for cleaning, truck driving and social work.
The data suggests that more people are looking for part-time roles as second jobs or which offer flexible work options around study or family commitments. Searches for nursing, flight attendants and library jobs were also popular, followed by accounting, nanny, graphic designer and dental assistant.
In terms of companies of interest, the SEMrush study hints students or people looking for part time hours influenced searches as retailers and fast food outlets dominated the list. Despite “work from home” ranking well ahead as the top searched Australian place of work, Coles, hostel work, Google work and Woolworths made the top five searches. This was followed by McDonalds, Kmart and KFC.
Searches for employment overseas found Canada to be the most researched destination Googled by Australian residents. This was followed by work opportunities in Australia, Japan, UK, New Zealand and the United States.
On a final note, when studying the top searches related to the search terms ‘working with’, it seems many prefer to work with children as this category was by far the most popular search. This was followed by ‘working with diverse people’ and ‘working with idiots at work’.
To find out more visit SEMrush.com.
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About SEMrush
SEMrush is an online visibility management and content marketing SaaS platform that ensures businesses get measurable results from online marketing. Trusted by more than 3,000,000 marketing professionals, SEMrush offers insights and solutions for companies in any industry to build, manage, and measure campaigns across all marketing channels.
With 30 tools for search, content, social media and market research in the platform, data for more than 140 countries, seamless integration with Google and task management platforms, SEMrush is now a must-have solution for all companies who are serious about online.
Search methodology: SEMrush estimate search volume using our proprietary algorithm based on processing of anonymized clickstream data provided by third-party data providers. More precisely, we built the model that allows us to estimate search volumes and trends based on real user activity in search engines. We use this data to calculate search volumes on global, national, and even local levels.