Can We Engineer Suffering Out Of Organisations? - Antony Malmö

A massive experiment is underway in Australia that could shape the world of work for years to come. The aim is to improve workplace mental health by adapting the methodology of physical health and safety to manage psychosocial risks.

In short, it's about fixing the work, not the worker.

Given the tremendous success of physical safety's success over the last century in reducing workplace injuries and deaths, this approach has the potential to revolutionise work, improve the lives of millions, and save both employers and the government billions in lost productivity, not to mention significantly ease the burden on the mental health care system.

But, psychosocial risks in the workplace pose significant challenges for traditional safety mindsets and methodologies.

Unlike physical safety risks that often have clearer causes and more straightforward solutions, psychosocial risks are far more wicked.
They involve complex, multi-causal, rarely visible, ever-changing interactions between individuals, social dynamics, and organisational factors, making them inherently challenging to define, address, and mitigate.

• So, will regulation deliver on its promise?
• How will it play out in practice?
• And are there better ways of tackling this?

Well, as with all wicked problems like these, the devil's in the details.

For that, we'll need minds and methods more comfortable with complexity, shared-sense making, creativity, ambiguity and uncertainty.

If that sounds like you, or you're at least curious, come along and let's explore.

Here is info on the new regulations

• https://www.holdingredlich.com/elevating-the-duty-to-ensure-psychosocial-safety-new-law-and-key-compliance-considerations-part-1
• Safework Australia https://www.safeworkaustralia.gov.au/safety-topic/managing-health-and-safety/mental-health/psychosocial-hazards

Bio Antony Malmö
After years of simultaneously studying psychology and biology at university, I was forced to make a choice between the two. I decided on biology in the hope that it would lead me to a life of adventure in exotic locations. That was naïve - instead, I soon found myself bored senseless in the lab - no jungle or ocean in sight. So I left, became a teacher, and spent the next 15 years educating young-adults and business professionals located conveniently close to biodiversity hotspots around the globe.

Upon returning to Australia, I helped build Allos Australia. The aim; to breathe new life into the concept of workplace mental health" away from the crisis-driven model of mental health and towards the use of proactive and systemic approaches to enhance wellbeing and prevent poor mental health.