The Integrated Framework

is a resource available to any industry, with particular relevance to infrastructure construction. It has been designed to educate and support users to implement an integrated series of activities that will deliver a top-down approach to creating positive mental health in the workplace.

Comprising of a front-end Workplace Culture Wellness Health Check, designed to help you navigate through a range of topics, the Integrated Framework outlines the elements required to take a preventative approach to mental health injury in your organisation and embed a positive culture grounded in trust and psychological safety.

It also provides links to simple templates that can be tailored to your organisational needs.

 

Our experience of work has a profound impact on our mental health. The Integrated Framework is directly aimed at addressing the work-related factors that impact mental health in any workplace and more specifically to the psychosocial hazards and contributing factors identified in consultation with the infrastructure construction industry.

The core premise of this framework is that proactive and positive leadership can not only influence the systems of work, processes and policies that define the work environment, it can also establish a foundation of trust, security and relationship that can reduce or remove the risk of psychological harm to staff.

Levels of stress, anxiety and depression that exceeded the Australian norm by 37%.

After research conducted by Professors Luke Downey and Con Stough in 2018 showed that the construction industry was identified as having levels of stress, anxiety and depression that exceeded the Australian norm by 37% and was twice that of comparison industries, it was recognised that a preventative approach to mental health and wellbeing was essential. This created a springboard to focus the research, pilot, evaluation and development of an Integrated Framework on the construction industry.

In the midst of growing global awareness of mental health concerns, combined with findings from Victoria’s Royal Commission into Mental Health, it provides an excellent case study and insights for not only this industry but for any industry. This Integrated Framework will benefit business leaders and those tasked with creating and implementing wellness programs in any workplace.

 
 

Practical application

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This Framework provides a comprehensive action plan for implementing a successful wellness program that supports mental health and a psychologically safe workplace. Culture change is no easy fix, so the Framework offers evidence-based knowledge that guides you through a range of tested activities and approaches to build your wellness program at a rate suitable for the size of your organisation or project.

Once you have completed the health check at the front of the framework you will receive a report that provides a snapshot of where you are now and will help you prioritise activities to improve the current state. This ‘temperature gauge’ style report identifies existing strengths and pressure points of your organisation. This report will support you in building a business case to present to Senior Leaders around what is needed to proceed. From here you can then build your action plan. A one-hour, complementary consulting conversation to support you in understanding the depth of the report and building this action plan will also be provided by Lysander on completion of the audit.

It is important that you recognise from the outset that this is a robust exercise. It will require time and dedication from a dedicated OHS or wellness resource or from a team of “Wellness Champions”. Building the support network to help drive out the initiatives is a good first step for you to consider.

 

The Framework has 3 core focus areas:

 

1

Constructive and Committed Leadership: Gaining the support of committed senior leaders who also recognise what constructive leadership looks like and how important it is to effective performance.

2

Culture and Connection: A clearly articulated strategy that includes behavioural expectations that will drive a positive culture.

3

Communication and Participation: The ability to engage and motivate the broader organisation to participate in activities that will build psychological safety and prevent mental health injuries.

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Process, Systems, Tools and Resources: Provision of, or links to templates, systems and processes that reinforce the desired culture and embed positive practices.

 

You can find more detail at How to Use this Framework

 
 

How We Know it Works

This Framework has been enabled through WorkSafe Victoria’s WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund allowing a pilot program in partnership with the Mordialloc Freeway Joint Venture between McConnell Dowell and DECMIL. This pilot included a nine-month ‘Integrated Approach to Wellness’ program with the Project Management Team and white-collar professionals focusing on leadership and positive culture. The resulting improvements in wellness and mental health included:

 
 
 
 
 
 

More details about the results and the impact on PsychoSocial Factors can be found in Analysis and Research.

 
 

About the Project

This is the timeline of events that led to the launch of The Integrated Framework. Click each event to see more about what happened.

Successful Fund Recipients

Successful Funding Recipients

The WorkWell Mental Health Improvement Fund has provided large scale investment for workplaces to promote positive mental health and prevent mental injury. Through the fund, successful recipients are creating industry-wide and sustainable change to address work-related factors that contribute to stress in the workplace.

The Mental Health Improvement Fund projects will contribute to building the evidence base on how to create and maintain mentally healthy Victorian workplaces, recipients will share knowledge gained and lessons learnt. The Integrated Framework for Wellness is one of those projects.

More information about WorkWell and The Fund can be found at: https://www.workwell.vic.gov.au/fund

 
Design and Delivery of Pilot Program

Design and Delivery of Pilot Program

The Integrated Framework for Wellness is designed to provide support and insights for any organisation, no matter their level of maturity. It outlines what is known to develop a positive culture and to create an environment where people feel able to cope with the demands of their job and perform productively. This is a combination of clarity around strategy, purpose and behaviour, effective leadership and strong relationships among workers. Core to The Integrated Framework is The Integrated Approach to Wellness which is the program delivered by Lysander that was tested on the Mordialloc Freeway JV.

The twelve-month initiative was loaded at the front end with a focus on culture and leadership, and shifting in the latter part of the intervention to focus on embedding new behaviours across the MCDDJV, supported by one-on-one coaching with the leaders.

For more information about the Pilot Program watch The Integrated Framework to Wellness video below.

 
Establishment of Consortium

The Consortium

The Consortium for this project came together based on a shared interest and passion for improving mental health in the construction industry. Members of the consortium are:

Lysander - specialising in providing leadership development and organisational culture transformation services for a range of clients across diverse industries, Lysander is passionate about delivering client-tailored and innovative solutions that deliver tangible, lasting results that drive organisations to success.

Professor Luke Downey - Co-author of the 2018 Swinburne Report Measuring the psychological impact of workplace stress and related occupational factors on the Australian infrastructure construction industry - Research and Evaluation Subject Matter Expert and responsible for the data collection and evaluation of the success of the pilot program supporting this framework.

Grant Fuller - Industry Relationship Manager and Safety Subject Matter Expert. Grant was heavily involved in the planning and co-ordination of industry level support for the Swinburne Report, subsequent discussion forums and for the establishment and ongoing work of the Wellness in Infrastructure Steering Committee and Working Groups. Grant was also a member of the pilot program on the Mordialloc Freeway Joint Venture.

 
Benchmark Survey

Benchmark Survey

To categorically know if a preventative approach quantifiably creates improvement in mental health outcomes, rigorous measurement was paramount. To achieve this, Professor Luke Downey surveyed the 95 white-collar professionals at the Mordialloc Freeway Joint Venture (MCDDJV) using the same survey that was used when he conducted the initial survey in 2018. This survey was repeated at the mid-point of the year long program and again at the end of the implementation.

Details of the survey elements can be found in the full Downey-Swinburne report.

Benchmark Survey Conducted at Midpoint
 
Understanding

Work-Related Factors, Hazards and Contributing Factors

This Framework and the pilot program that underpins it were designed specifically to address the Work-Related Factors that cause stress and impact mental health in any workplace. These were also aligned with the Hazards and Contributing Factors specific to Australia’s construction industry that were explored in research forums directly following the release of the Downey-Swinburne report.

This is explained in more detail in the Analysis and Research section of this Introduction

Deeper Research

Deeper Research

Supplementing the research conducted in consultation with industry was a deeper analysis of academic research, existing models associated with wellbeing, global case studies and best practice.

A list of the more useful articles and models can be found at the end of many pages in this framework.

 
Consultation With Industry

Ongoing Consultation including Knowledge Sharing and Transfer

One of the objectives of WorkWell’s Mental Health Improvement Fund is knowledge creation and dissemination and sustainability. The Fund encourages the creation of new knowledge and evidence about workplace mental health and wellbeing that can be shared with Victorian workplaces and beyond. This Framework is a valuable part of creating a sustainable reference point to support all workplaces.

Next Steps

By engaging with this Framework, you are becoming part of the solution - adding to the ongoing improvement of mental health in Australian workplaces. As each one of us joins the discussion, it raises awareness and shifts the tolerance levels around what will and won’t be accepted in workplaces. This not only forms part of a workplace shift, but also contributes to greater social change.

 
Consultation with Industry

Consultation With Industry

A number of associations and bodies were central to this work, providing critical consultation, insight and guidance around the core issues in the industry and how best to address them. These included:






WII Steering Committee and Working Group

The Wellness in Infrastructure (WII) Steering Committee was established in mid-2018 in response to the Downey-Swinburne Report. This group draws together leaders from the major construction companies, key clients including MRPV and other associated bodies (see Figure above).

The charter of this group is to “sustainably improve wellness in construction” by driving high-level change in collaboration with Government and key industry stakeholders.

The Wellness in Infrastructure (WII) Working Group was established to support the strategic work of the WII Steering Committee through the delivery of tangible outcomes and improvement initiatives.




Mordialloc Freeway Joint Venture (MCDDJV)

The McConnell Dowell Decmil Joint Venture supports the design and construction of the Mordialloc Freeway in Melbourne’s south east. The 9-kilometre Freeway links the Mornington Peninsula Freeway at Springvale Road in Aspendale Gardens to the Dingley Bypass in Dingley Village, creating a continuous freeway from Frankston to Clayton.

With approximately 400 jobs, including 95 white collar professionals, 17 of which being project management leadership, this was the perfect project to pilot the core program that underpins this Framework. Led by Project Director, Trevor Cruden (McConnell Dowell) and Operations Manager, Michael Di Carlo (DECMIL), the pilot program delivered extraordinary results through the bulk of project construction during 2020 and 2021 and the challenges of COVID.

More detail about the Mordialloc Freeway JV can be found at: https://roadprojects.vic.gov.au/projects/mordialloc-freeway

 
Launch of The Integrated Framework

More on the integrated Framework

 

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