Study finds Australians are concerned for their mental health at work
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.
