A recent study shows that Australia only ranks 8th out of 25 countries in providing a healthy workplace according to employees. It also seems that the less you earn, the more likely you are to complain that your work environment is not safe.
You can read more about the study in this article from the Sydney Morning Herald, which gives a couple of interesting angles from a working mum's and an international student's perspectives.
It would be interesting delving beneath the stat's and looking at the stories, particularly for those 10% of respondents who believe that their workplaces are unsafe - presumably these are made up mostly of lower paid individuals?
Our workplace relations laws embody a well-worn phrase stating that employers universally have responsibility to provide safe workplace for their employees. This includes psychological as well as physical safety. After many conversations, I've come to realise that, while safety usually does not rank as the highest of career motivations, it's probably one of the most important for creating employee dissatisfaction and demotivation - safety, in it's broadest understanding.
How can Australian Christians make a difference in promoting safe and healthy workplaces that reflect something of our Father God's care and concern for even the most insignificant in our community? How can we make a difference in days of unprecedented change and disruption?
On Saturday 12 November in Sydney, we will be examining how serving Christ can still be real and vibrant in a context of disruption and change in our next Renewing My Workplace conference. Keep an eye out for more details.
Gabriel