In part 1 and part 2 of this series, we discussed the introduction of psychosocial hazards into the WHS Act 2011, and the associated economic, productivity and people costs, including burnout.

Here’s a quick refresh on what the psychosocial hazards1 are:

“Psychosocial hazards refer to factors that can influence a worker’s psychological health and safety.

They are hazards that:

  • arise from or in relation to:
    • the design or management of work
    • the working environment
    • workplace interactions or behaviours; and
  • may cause psychological and physical harm.

Psychosocial hazards have the potential to adversely affect employees’ mental and physical health if left unmanaged, leading to stress, anxiety, depression, burnout and other mental health issues. Identifying the presence of psychosocial hazards relating to work demands enables targeted approaches to be taken to address their root causes.

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Undeniably, the world of work has been through significant upheaval in the last 3 years during, and in the wake of, the COVID-19 pandemic. Whilst our orderly work worlds have been thrown into disarray, and as we’re still waiting to see how the dust settles, I’m optimistic that progress is being made in the right direction, for both Australian businesses and employees.

The pandemic can be blamed for many things, but one thing we can thank it for is ripping the lid off underlying workplace issues –  challenging our work cultures and environments, and our wellbeing at work, including the rapidly increasing rates of chronic stress and burnout.

Precipitously, back in 2018, Safe Work Australia undertook a review of the model Work Health and Safety laws (the Boland Review). While organisations were responsible for managing psychological health under the existing laws, the review found that organisations had limited understanding of their specific duties and responsibilities under these laws.

Hence the WHS Regulations were amended, to include: ‘how to identify psychosocial risks associated with psychological injury, and the appropriate control measures to mitigate those risks’.1  

The amendments came into effect on April 1, 2023.

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A recent social media post of mine sparked some interest and questions around which were the best apps for tracking your menstrual cycle. And when I started researching, well…let’s just say there are a few out there! So I have reviewed the apps and have shortlisted 5 for you – a mix of menstrual cycle and symptom trackers for active women, including physioogical recommendations for training and recovery; and the period trackers and ovulation predictors for fertility support.

As with all tracking apps, the more you use them and input your data, the more accurate they will be in their predictions. It’s also important to note if you do go searching for your own apps, that they can vary in their quality; by that I mean, the amount of input from scientists, researchers and medics to control the monitoring and interpretation of the metrics, and subsequently the information provided to the user. However these 5 listed here seem to be legit.

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I know, your inbox and social media is full of emails and posts about goal-setting and how to “plan your best year ever!” right? Well, in this article I am going to be talking about the year ahead, but I’m actually going to be focusing on the year that was. Why, you may be asking, when it is essentially done and dusted? For one great reason – you achieve a hell of a lot in a year and I’m guessing that the majority of us don’t stop to acknowledge that! We just power right on through into the next year, scribbling down all our grandiose goals on New Year’s Day, without actually stopping to consider what actually went down this past year. Take a moment. What did you actually accomplish this year? What were the good bits, the hard bits, and the lessons you learned from both? What’s worth keeping and bringing into the new year, instead of throwing the baby out with the bathwater and starting all over again?

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I did promise you a follow-up to last weeks’ article, More is Not Better, in which I shared with you the experience of my life grinding to a halt within a mere few days, how I managed to salvage my work and health, and my subsequent epiphany about my current modus operandi – and the realization that it was beyond time for a new one! Well, here it is. I will show you what I did to change my life so that I actually ENJOY each day, whilst still being productive and achieving my goals. Sounds like a win-win doesn’t it? It is. Here’s why.

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I used to think very differently to this – ask any of my training partners, coaches, or even work colleagues and bosses for that matter. More ruled my life for longer than I care to admit, and it’s gotten me into a pickle way more often than I’ll likely ever admit!

But thanks to my experience last week–and the never-ending patience of my personal development coach–I finally see the error of my ways. Let me unpack this for you, and perhaps it might help you out of the same pickle – if you’re also of the More is Better school of thought.

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I’m just going to come right out and say it early – I myself am terrible at setting realistic expectations. I have been most of my adult life, come to that, but I live in the hope of reform.

I should be better, I know. I’ve had plenty of opportunities to learn about setting expectations, between two uni degrees, over a decade-long professional career, and years of racing triathlon. Yet despite the many, many disappointments I have experienced in each of these areas, I never fail to keep setting the bar too high for myself, and continuously setting myself up for failure. Ironically, it’s kind of become…an expectation.

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Yes, for the fans, I am about to reference the movie Shrek, that wonderful piece of cinematography. Honestly, who doesn’t love it? The life lessons to be learnt from these children’s movies can really be so insightful! And it was this one that struck me on Saturday night, as I rekindled my love for the film.

We are all just like onions. Read More

I had an interesting discussion with a very close friend and colleague in academia about managing high workloads and the expectations and pressure placed on work output. Both of these topics have been major issues for both of us for most of our short careers, so the current situation and ensuing discussion was nothing new; sadly, it was quite familiar. So here we were on a Sunday night, she was home working on her laptop (as she had been doing all weekend in a desperate attempt to “catch up”), and I was on Skype for moral support and to “workshop” the issue of reducing her workload to a more realistic level, and integrating some steps towards work-life balance. Read More