In 2019, my not for profit Foundation, ‘The Glass Half Full Community’, or more simply ‘The GHFC’, embarked on an initiative to provide individuals and Corporations with their own ‘selfie’ as to where they sit in terms of their Mental Health Well Being (MHWB) in the workplace.

The reason I embarked on this journey is best summarised by my recent article in Sourceable.net, ‘My Story of a Toxic Workplace’. The article itself being based on my recent publication and subsequent podcasts, ’Ten Years On – a memoir of workplace toxicity’.

I had sat on this story for 10 long years, however upon revisiting in 2019, I realised it had to be told, so as to add to the groundswell of public commentary demanding that toxicity in the workplace be eradicated.

‘The GHFC 20:20 Profiler’, (The Profiler), developed into being a tool to support individuals and Corporations to ‘take a selfie’ as to how their workplace fits in terms of supporting mental health well-being. The term ‘20:20’ not being based on the year itself, more that it relates to the level of ‘clear sight’ the report provides to each individual or Corporation, (‘20:20 vision’).

‘The Profiler’ is based on the 4 established pillars as to the fulfilment influencers that motivate employees ‘to get out of bed each morning to go to their place of work’, being:

• their Role or Job (in terms of satisfaction as opposed to their remuneration package)
• their interaction with their colleagues/clients
• their alignment with their workplace culture (values, ethics, integrity)
• the inclusivity of their Organisation’s Leadership

The process follows the steps as outlined below:

• each individual completes and submits an on-line 2-part, multiple choice Questionnaire, with a total of 16 responses required, all of which have to be answered, taking no more than 20 mins to complete
• Part 1 involves ‘top of mind’ responses to how the individual ranks the 4 established pillars above, in terms of their own fulfilment, requiring 4 response in total
• Part 2 allows for more precise responses as to how ‘happy, comfortable or confident the individual is with each of the 4 pillars above, requiring 12 responses in total
• Part 2 responses are based on whether the individual feels fulfilled with that influencer, ‘always’, ‘most of the time’, ‘some of the time’, ‘infrequently’ or ‘never’
• once submitted the form is processed, resulting in both a ‘Qualitative’ and ‘Quantitative’ outcome
• the Qualitative outcome is based on Part 1 of the Questionnaire
• the Quantitative outcome is based on Part 2 of the Questionnaire, being scored alongside ‘The Profiler’ template
• the Quantitative can then be compared with the Qualitative to determine if aligned or otherwise, (very often not)
• the scoring system also provides for a ‘Coefficient of Mental Health Well Being’, which can then be compared with the National Study benchmark to date
• a ‘GHFC 20:20 Profiler’ report, (a single sheet of A4 supported with illustrations), is then sent by e-mail to the individual, usually within 48 hours of submission
• the e-mail to which the report is attached also includes an invitation to the individual, of the offer of further clarification of the report, by telephone call

By early 2020, I had completed a validation study of over 1,000 individual submissions from a variety of sectors and roles. This not only validated the study, but also established a National Study benchmark for workplaces, which is enhanced by the addition of subsequent submissions.

In summary, in terms of overall workplace MHWB, the average benchmark coefficient score is 25, indicating a borderline ‘healthy’ to ‘unhealthy’ response in relation to supporting mental health well being. The individual perceptions of their own workplace MHWB indicate:

• A healthy workplace 65%
• An unhealthy workplace 35%

In other words 65% of survey participants regard their workplace as a ‘mentally healthy’ environment for them, whilst 35% felt that their workplace was a ‘mentally unhealthy environment’ for them.

The launch of the ‘GHFC 20:20 Profiler’ was set for March 2020, then covid 19 hit. Like everyone, this resulted in a re-think on strategy and a resetting of schedules and milestones. However, it also provided an opportunity to fine tune and to enhance the ‘product’. As the covid situation improves I am looking forward to getting back on track with The Profiler, now being in a position to process submissions en-masse from Corporations having devised an algorithm to automatically score the Quantitative results.

An example of a Profiler Report illustration is as follows:

A summary of the findings to date can be viewed at The GHFC 20:20 Profiler website:

https://ghfc2020profiler.org/#d2e1053d-bd1b-4342-90ab-5a02f7d545e0

Additional references:

• ‘Ten Years On – a memoir of workplace toxicity’ e-book by Charles Hill | Blurb Books Australia:
https://au.blurb.com/b/10537211-ten-years-on?ebook=747124

• The ‘Ten Years On’ e-book has now been recorded as a series of 3 x 12 minute Podcasts which are available at:
https://glasshalffullcom.podbean.com/e/ghfc-podcast-7-ten-years-on/

https://glasshalffullcom.podbean.com/e/part-2-of-ten-years-on-a-3-part-series-fromthe-ghfc/

https://glasshalffullcom.podbean.com/e/ghfc-podcast-9-part-3-of-ten-years-on-a-memoir-of-workplace-toxicity/

Should you or someone you know just need to talk about mental health well-being, please consider the following organisations:
• Mates in Construction: https://mates.org.au/
• Black Dog Institute: https://www.blackdoginstitute.org.au
• Beyond Blue: https://www.beyondblue.org.au
• RUOK?: https://www.ruok.org.au
• Gotcha4Life: https://www.gotcha4life.org
• Lifeline: https://www.lifeline.org.au