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Case Study

Taking Stock and Developing a Plan for Employee Well-being

The need and legal obligation to support employee well-being is becoming increasingly important in these uncertain and rapidly changing times.

The important of supporting employee well-being was highlighted to the Western Australia Police Force (WA Police) in a recent industry survey. The survey results showed significantly higher rates of mental health conditions and lower mental well-being for employees within the police and emergency services sector when compared to the general population. In response, WA Police wanted to adopt an integrated, evidence-based approach to taking stock and improving their employee mental health.

FOWI undertook the Thrive at Work assessment with the WA Police in order to review the current state of their mental health and well-being practices and activities. This process involved a series of workshops facilitated by experienced psychologists from FOWI with diverse representatives from across the organisation. Specifically, over fifty WA Police employees took part, from a range of roles and levels, across fifteen different working areas within the organisation.

“The workshops were eye-opening, well-structured and facilitated by experienced professionals, who helped us to develop targets and goals for working towards improved mental health and well-being in the workplace.” – WA Police Force employee

Outcomes:

  • Over ninety mental health and well-being practices and activities were identified from the workshop discussions. These were categorised according to their impact and ease of implementation, in order to identify ‘quick wins’.
  • Most activities were easily implemented, with the remaining activities subject to a resourcing plan.

Resource

Led by Curtin University’s Future of Work Institute (FOWI), Thrive at Work is a ground-breaking workplace well-being initiative centred on designing work that helps employees, organisations and industry to thrive. The Thrive Audit is a practical and simple tool developed to assist organisations, of all sizes and maturity, in evaluating their current state and their progress towards creating a thriving workplace.