The Construction sector is one of many that make up the Corporate world, albeit a major slice of the pie.

As such Construction must continue to take a Leadership role in ensuring Corporate Culture is aligned with the mental health well-being of all its employees.

In February this year The GHFC shared via Sourceable.net, ‘The GHFC 2022 Corporate Culture Survey’ with regard to ‘Corporate Culture and its alignment with the mental health well-being of all employees, being an initiative to better understand how the community feels about the issue of endemic anti-social behaviour in the workplace, including Inequality, Discrimination, Bullying, Intimidation and Harassment, in turn resulting in reduced mental health well-being.’

The results to date paint a grim picture, with more than 7 out of 10, 74%, of respondents acknowledge that anti-social behaviour is endemic in the workplace in 2022!

81% of respondents having witnessed or experienced Inequality, Discrimination, Bullying, Intimidation and Harassment in their workplace; 4 out of 10, within the last 12 months!

Almost all respondents, 98%, support the statement that Corporate Culture needs to address anti-social behaviour in line with its legislated ‘duty of care’ to its employees – with 87% strongly in support.

94% agree that failure to act will see employees relocating to an ‘Employer of Choice’, being an Organisation who’s Corporate Culture actively values the eradication of the anti-social workplace attitudes of Inequality, Discrimination, Bullying, Intimidation and Harassment!

7 out of 10 respondents agree that it is the responsibility of the Organisations themselves to ensure their Corporate Culture proactively and strongly takes action to address these anti-social activities!

In addition a global workplace study by QUALTRICS has found:

• 42% of people have experienced a decline in mental health
• 67% of people are experiencing increases in stress
• 57% have increased anxiety
• 54% are emotionally exhausted
• 53% of people are sad
• 50% are irritable
• 28% are having trouble concentrating
• 20% are taking longer to finish tasks
• 15% are having trouble thinking
• 12% are challenged to juggle their responsibilities

There can be no doubt that Corporate Culture is BROKEN, certainly in the eyes of those it is intended to support…the employees!

The research is exhaustive and compelling; the facts clear and present; what is long overdue is action from the Corporate Leaders who have the responsibility, not to mention a ‘duty of care’, to ensure their 2022 Corporate Culture is aligned with the mental health well-being of all their employees!

As a reminder, Corporate Culture is the single most important factor driving productivity, sales achievement, work quality, customer satisfaction and the willingness in every employee to ‘go the extra mile’ for their team or organization.

An essential cornerstone on which to construct Corporate Culture in 2022 is ‘Empathy’.

• Empathy in action is understanding an employee’s struggles and offering to help.
• It is appreciating a person’s point of view and engaging in a healthy debate that builds to a better solution.
• It is considering a team member’s perspectives and making a new recommendation that helps achieve greater success.

As the popular saying goes, ‘people may not remember what you say, but they will remember how you made them feel’.

Corporate Leaders can demonstrate Empathy in two ways:

• Firstly, they can consider someone else’s thoughts through cognitive empathy– “If I were in his/her position, what would I be thinking right now?”
• Secondly, they can also focus on a person’s feelings using emotional empathy– “Being in his/her position would make me feel ___.”

Corporate Leaders will be most successful not just when they personally consider others, but when they express their concerns and inquire about challenges directly, and then listen to employees’ responses.

So there it is! The equivalent of ‘The Golden Fleece’!

By the way, if anyone tells you that aligning Corporate Culture with the mental health well-being of all employees is too hard, or too difficult to implement, remind them of the following insights from Guy Kawasaki:

‘Organizations are successful because of good implementation, not good business plans. An implementation plan puts organizational resources to use and develops a tactical plan to execute the strategic initiative. It thus plays a huge role in the success of your overall strategic plan. Even if you have the greatest, iron-clad plan or strategy, it’s totally pointless if you don’t put the plan into action.’

Construction has a great opportunity to take the lead in aligning Corporate Culture with the mental health well being of all employees…in 2022!

If you or anyone you know needs help, please call:

·         Mates in Construction 1300 22 4636

·         Lifeline 13 11 14

·         BeyondBlue 1800 512 348

Charles Hill – The Glass Half Full Community