Big surge in workers’ mental stress claims

Work pressure, work-related harassment or bullying drove more than half of serious mental health claims by workers.

Women are more likely to be exposed to harmful behaviours at work.

More than half of the 10,000 serious mental stress claims made by workers over 12 months during the Covid pandemic were due to work pressure, work-related harassment or bullying,

New data released by Safe Work Australia on Tuesday reveals mental health conditions accounted for nine per cent of all serious workers’ compensation claims, and seven per cent of all work-related injuries and illnesses, a 36.9 per cent increase in claims since 2017-18.

One quarter of the serious mental stress claims in 2021-22 were attributed to work pressure; 27.5 per cent were due to work-related harassment or bullying and 16.4 per cent were due to exposure to workplace or occupational violence.

The cost of mental health workers’ compensation claims tend to be much higher than claims due to other work-related injuries or conditions.

In 2020-21, the median compensation paid for mental health conditions was $58,615 per serious claim compared to $15,743 per serious claim for all injuries and diseases.

Mental health conditions are also associated with a greater time away from work. The median time lost for mental health conditions over the same period was 34.2 working weeks per serious claim compared to eight working weeks per serious claim for all injuries and diseases.

Health care and social assistance industry had the highest number of serious claims for work-related mental health conditions than any other industry over the previous five years.

Workers in the public administration and safety, and education and training industries also accounted for a high proportion of serious workers’ compensation claims for mental health conditions.

Health care and social assistance, as well as education and training have a high proportion of female workers. Across all sectors, almost 58 per cent of serious claims for mental health conditions were by women.

Data shows that women are more likely to be exposed to harmful behaviours at work such as harassment including sexual harassment, bullying and work-related violence and aggression.

The return to work rate for people with mental health condition claims in 2021 was 79.1 per cent compared to 91.6 per cent for all injuries. Workers with mental health condition claims were also more likely to require additional time off work.

Safe Work Australia collects data about the experience of workers following a work-related mental health condition.

Return to work outcomes were poorer for workers with claims for mental health conditions compared with those workers who had a workers’ compensation claim for another reason.

“These workers were also more likely to believe that they would be treated differently by people at work, that their supervisor thought they were exaggerating or faking their injury/illness, that they would be fired if they submitted a claim and that their employer discouraged them from putting in a claim,” the report says.

“The process of returning to work was also reported by workers with a mental health claim as being more difficult compared with those with a claim for other reasons.”

ACTU assistant secretary Liam O’Brien said the report’s finding showed the importance of workers having the legal right to disconnect after hours.

“This report shows us that work pressures, accounting for one in four claims, is having an adverse effect on people’s mental health,” he said.

“This is why the right to disconnect is so important. Establishing clear boundaries to separate work and the rest of our lives is important for reducing burnout and ensuring all of us can spend quality time with our loved ones.”

Safe Work Australia develops national policy and strategy for workers’ compensation. It does not administer workers’ compensation schemes or manage workers’ compensation claims, which are the responsibility of the Commonwealth, states and territories.