Mental health at work research

Measuring mental health at work

In 2017 we started measuring how mentally healthy NSW businesses were. Since then, as a state we have made positive progress across several industries but there is still more work to be done.   

We worked with academics and experts to develop the first NSW mentally healthy workplaces benchmarking tool to measure the capability of workplaces to create a mentally healthy workplace.

We are a more mentally healthy NSW 

In 2017 we surveyed 2,000 NSW employers. This created a baseline for the NSW mentally healthy workplaces strategy.

We found that 67,542 NSW businesses were taking effective action to create a mentally healthy workplace and set our target to reach 90,000.

In 2020 we ran the benchmarking survey again to measure workplaces’ progress on mental health.

We surveyed 4,000 employers and 8,000 workers and found that the number of businesses taking effective action on mental health had increased by 12.5% to 75,958.

Workplaces that most need to build skills

Benchmarking data shows that, since 2017, more medium-sized businesses are taking action to create a mentally healthy workplace. However, little change has been seen in small business - which means there is more work to do in this area.

NSW benchmarking 

The NSW benchmarking tool has been used to survey and benchmark the state in 2017 and 2020.

Read the current report and snapshot:

Previous benchmarking report

Mentally healthy workplaces benchmarking tool report 2017 (PDF 7.15MB)

Strategy evaluation 

Independent reviews have evaluated the strategy's success at its mid-point and will again at the end date.

Literature and evidence reviews 

In 2020 SafeWork NSW commissioned the University of Sydney to update its 2017 literature review of research to understand the key risks and interventions of workplace mental new health, with new evidence.

The psychosocial risks and interventions for mental ill-health in the workplace report (PDF 2.28MB) outlines what was done.

Previous literature and evidence reviews

Review of evidence of psychosocial risks for mental health 2017 (PDF 2.21MB)

Review of interventions to reduce mental ill-health in the workplace 2017 (PDF 2.27MB)

Key issues from review of risks for workplace mental ill-health 2017 (PDF 2.11MB)

Return on investment study

A 2017 report that uses real-world data to look at the cost of workplace mental health interventions to show the potential impacts to business bottom line.

Mentally healthy workplaces return on investment study 2017 (PDF 1.4MB)

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