Tackling Australia’s ‘stark’ mental health situation

New data shows Australians are faring no better than they were at the height of the pandemic. TELUS Health’s VP discusses how employers can tackle this, and why EAPs are no longer a ‘nice to have’

THE LATEST mental health figures for working Australians are “stark”, according to TELUS Health’s senior vice-president and managing director, Asia Pacific, Jamie MacLennan. The September 2023 Telus Mental Health Index score for employees in Australia is 63.2 – a modest improvement on April 2023’s 62.8 but still a pandemic-era low. What’s more, those in the ‘high risk’ category accounted for 38% in September – almost three times the pre-COVID figure. MacLennan says this should be a strong signal to organisations about the consequences of neglecting their mental health strategy.

TELUS Health is a global healthcare leader serving people in more than 160 countries, delivering both digital innovation and clinical services to improve total physical, mental and financial health and wellness across the full spectrum of primary and preventive care. By leveraging the power of technology to deliver connected solutions and services both in-person and virtually, TELUS Health is improving access to care and revolutionising the flow of information while facilitating collaboration, efficiency and productivity for physicians, pharmacists, health authorities, allied healthcare professionals, insurers, employers and people globally, progressing its vision of transforming healthcare and empowering people to live healthier lives.

“That [mental health score] should be a stark warning for governments and businesses that the mental health condition of working Australians is in an extremely precarious state and needs to be looked at and managed”

Jamie MacLennan, TELUS Health

To create the TELUS Mental Health Index, a response-scoring system was applied to turn individual responses into point values. The responses are scored on a scale of 0 to 100, in which higher point values mean better mental health and less mental health risk. The distribution of scores is defined according to the following: Distressed 0–49; Strained 50–79; Optimal 80–100. “The 63.2 score is consistent with the early days of the pandemic at the height of lockdowns, and that puts us into a severely strained category in terms of mental health,” MacLennan tells HRD. “That should be a stark warning for governments and businesses that the mental health condition of working Australians is in an extremely precarious state and needs to be looked at and managed.”

MacLennan notes that while the physical risks of COVID-19 have largely receded, the mental health risks are very much lingering. And having gone through the massive turmoil of the pandemic, our ability to absorb additional stressors has now significantly diminished. “When you start having things like cost of living pressures, interest rates going up and geopolitical tensions, our capacity to deal with additional stressors is reduced,” MacLennan explains.

“That means heightened levels of anxiety and stress. We need to understand that it’s not a case of ‘everyone’s been vaccinated, great, we can move on’. People really are struggling to move on.” Given our rising cost of living pressures, financial wellbeing was one of the key elements explored in TELUS Health’s latest Mental Health Index report. The trend for financial wellbeing echoes that of mental health: despite a modest improvement in the Financial Wellbeing Index in September, the current score of 61.0 is still significantly lower than it was in 2021.

In addition, 74% of Australians didn’t know or were unsure how much retirement savings they would need, and 19% weren’t putting any earnings into savings at all. A quarter (25%) were concerned about keeping up with rapidly rising inflation. MacLennan says companies can’t afford to treat the mental and financial aspects of wellbeing as two separate issues. Instead, they need to apply a much broader definition of wellbeing, particularly as the figures show that current programs and interventions are clearly not having their desired effect. This includes providing assistance with understanding finances, budgeting, and superannuation, as well as ensuring that salaries are still market-fit. “There’s a lot of research that shows the interaction between the mental, physical and financial elements,” MacLennan explains. “There are a lot of elements to financial management that people are not educated on, and so when people don’t feel that they can cover savings, abnormal expenses or cost of living pressures, that’s what weighs on their mental wellbeing.” He notes that there are some very easy ways to tackle these issues. Every company will have a default superannuation fund, and representatives of those funds will often come and present to employees on managing their super and budgeting. TELUS Health’s employee assistance program (EAP) also offers a finance counselling line that employees can ring to get support, which is intended to be part of a broader approach to financial wellbeing. “There’s a lot of research that shows the interaction between the mental, physical and financial elements,” MacLennan explains.

“[EAPs] are positioned to deal with those daily stressors before they deteriorate into something much bigger, and to offer tools and techniques to help people get back on track. If you don’t deal with them, they won’t improve”

Jamie MacLennan, TELUS Health

When it comes to tackling poor mental health, MacLennan says the first thing to do is to actually have a wellbeing strategy. That doesn’t mean asking HR to roll out Pilates classes or free fruit bowls – it means putting resources and processes in place and training managers on how to talk to employees who are struggling. One of the most vital elements of a wellbeing strategy is an EAP, which can sit at the heart of everything you do. An EAP provides psychological counselling and assistance with various aspects of wellbeing and is intended as a preventative, short-term measure for issues like stress, anxiety and burnout.

MacLennan says that while a company should never rely exclusively on an EAP for its wellbeing strategy, it’s a “commercial imperative” and an absolute baseline to have in place. “It’s essential to have that service available to your people at a time when they’re seeking support,” he says. “It’s really positioned to deal with those daily stressors before they deteriorate into something much bigger, and to offer tools and techniques to help people get back on track. If you don’t deal with them, they won’t improve. You’ll reach the point where someone needs to be off for a very long period of time and doesn’t have the ability to perform at work.”

The pandemic may be over, but stress is still rising

Nailing your strategy – EAPs are no longer a ‘nice to have’

The pandemic may be over, but stress is still rising

Nailing your strategy – EAPs are no longer a ‘nice to have’

Published 27 Nov 2023

ASIA

News

SPECIALISATION

Events

Best in HR

Resources

Companies People Newsletter

About us Authors Privacy Policy Conditions of use Contact us RSS

News

Specialisation

EVents

Best in HR

Resources

ASIA

Companies People Newsletter

About us Authors Privacy Policy Conditions of use Contact us RSS

News

Specialisation

EVents

Best in HR

Resources

ASIA

Companies People Newsletter

About us Authors Privacy Policy Conditions of use Contact us RSS

IN Partnership with

mental health risk of employees in Australia

Source: TELUS Health Mental Health Index, September 2023

38%

have a high mental health risk

have a moderate risk

37%

have a low risk

26%

Training your managers in these resources is also a vital step. While you don’t want to be turning your managers into psychologists or counsellors, they do need to know how to have that initial conversation and how to point people in the right direction for support. One of the unique aspects of TELUS Health’s EAP is its mix of digital and in-person delivery – something MacLennan says has been key to its tailored approach. Employees can see in-person counsellors if they choose, or they can engage digitally – or do a mix of both.

Source: TELUS Health Mental Health Index, September 2023

don’t know or are unsure of how much they need in retirement savings

74%

Australians’ financial wellbeing: the figures

are concerned they won’t be able to retire

26%

say unlimited mental health coverage is most important in a benefits plan

13%

are not putting any earnings into savings

19%

“We’re the only EAP provider to offer a truly holistic health and wellbeing solution,” MacLennan says. “That means we tailor our solution to an individual’s unique circumstances, and deliver the right service at the right time through the right medium. You can’t treat everyone the same; everyone’s wellbeing is individual to them.” TELUS Health also tracks and measures its delivery against accredited international clinical measures, so it can give its clients hard empirical metrics. It also provides consultancy services that can assess the effectiveness of an organisation’s current wellbeing strategy, and most recently introduced a tool to assess psychosocial risk. “We’ve long since passed the time where an EAP is a ‘nice to have’,” MacLennan concludes. “It’s a commercial imperative for every organisation. There is a need to address mental health in the workplace, and having an EAP service as part of a wellbeing strategy is critical to delivering that.” To find out more about TELUS Health and its EAP service, click here.

Jamie MacLennan, TELUS Health