Dramatic Recovery in Worker Mental Health at risk due to Lockdowns

The Sydney and Melbourne Covid-19 lockdowns risk ending a dramatic turnaround in Australian worker mental health, which has rebounded strongly in 2021, new data shows.  

The new data shows:

• Most sectors experienced an improvement; however Education & Training bucked the positive trends, with spouse and partner issues (up 44%), ongoing stress (up 8%) and other mental health conditions (up 60%) among the growing issues (year-on-year comparison, sample size of 1182).
• Significant year-on-year improvements in workers seeking assistance for personal issues relating to anxiety (down 44%), ongoing stress (down 16%), spouse or partner issues (down 22%), children and parenting issues (down 15%) and depression (down 25%)
• The number of cases regarding issues at work also showing a positive trend with Bullying or Harassment (down 18%), Work Life Balance (down 15%) and Supervisor Relationship issues (down 46%) 

While most major industry sectors are trending positively, the pain in the education and training sector (and in particular the tertiary education sector) continues with ongoing uncertainty translating to an increase in personal and work-based mental health concerns. 

CEO of Converge International Dr Jenny George said the first-ever Australian Worker Wellbeing Pulse shows Australian worker mental health rebounding sharply after last year’s Covid-19 induced impacts, but current lockdowns illustrate how shaky that wellness recovery is.

“Ongoing stress, anxiety, depression and other mental ill health all showed dramatic declines in case numbers this year compared to last year as well as quarter on quarter reductions.

“However, these improvements in mental well-being are at risk due to the tenuous nature of the Covid-19 pandemic and lockdowns,” Dr George said.  

“We will see in coming weeks whether these gains are sustained or still somewhat superficial, but what we are experiencing is a spike in new employee assistance requests each time a lockdown hits.”

There was a 16% week-on-week jump in employee assistance (EAP) requests in the week of 31 May when the last Melbourne lockdown hit, and a 15% increase in EAP cases shortly following the Sydney lockdown announcement (week of 21 June).

“Case numbers have also not dropped during the school holiday period when we usually see a dip, indicating more people accessing EAP services as family holiday plans were scuppered and Australian workers juggled working from home and carer obligations,” Dr George said.

“Our concern is that Covid-19 lockdowns across the country place considerable strain on the wellbeing of Australian workers last year and issues such as stress and anxiety are starting to spike again.” 

Based on 12,915 records over 1 April - 30 June quarter in 2021 - the Australian Worker Wellbeing Pulse is one of Australia’s largest data sets reflecting current worker mental health and wellbeing - based on actual case data rather than surveyed results. 

Confidence in finances has also strengthened, with the Australian Worker Wellbeing Pulse showing fewer Australian workers accessing Converge International’s Money Assist service and total cases relating to financial issues down 26% year-on-year.

“We are watching financial stress related issues closely however, and it is likely that these are going to grow the longer lockdowns are in place,” Dr George said. 

“Sector-by-sector trends are particularly interesting - while the Education and Training sector has shown some concerning trends; the Healthcare, Social Assistance and Public Administration and Safety sectors have bounced back - perhaps a reflection of the good management of the Covid-19 pandemic over the first half of this year.”

The Australian Worker Wellbeing Pulse also shows:  

• A gender divide when it comes to issues relating to the home. Of those workers citing parenting and family-related matters as an issue - 70% were women. 
• A growing usage of personal tools to manage personal mental health. With more than 3200 Australian workers accessing Converge International’s Mental Fitness App - with 41% using the app regularly for interactive tools to support their ongoing mental wellbeing. 

Converge International’s services cover more than 1200 organisations and over two million Australian employees.

Further data is in the report attached. 

ENDS

Media Contact: Bas Bolyn 0447 486 195

ABOUT CONVERGE INTERNATIONAL

We partner with 1200 organisations in supporting Australia’s workplace mental health by ensuring over two million Australian employees are covered and have access to our EAP and workplace mental health services.

This looks like:

• Workplace support to over 2 million Australians – 1 in 20 workers access Converge’s counselling services.
• 3800 incoming calls every week.
• 650 Australian workers supported by EAP counselling every day.
• 36,000 Aussies have received psychological support for COVID-19-heightened mental health issues during the pandemic.