Psychological injury is now one of the most expensive categories of workers compensation claims in Australia, with Safe Work Australia reporting that mental health conditions account for the longest time off work and the highest compensation costs of any serious injury type.[i]

Yet organisational culture and mental health expert Dr Anna Kiaos, founder of Mind Culture Life Australia, says most organisations are still missing the earliest warning signs.

Psychological injury is now one of the most expensive categories of workers compensation claims in Australia, with Safe Work Australia reporting that mental health conditions account for the longest time off work and the highest compensation costs of any serious injury type.

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Yet organisational culture and mental health expert Dr Anna Kiaos, founder of Mind Culture Life Australia, says most organisations are still missing the earliest warning signs. 

Despite being one of the most expensive, serious and increasingly common workers’ compensation claims, organisations are missing the warning signs of psychosocial injury.

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According to Dr Anna Kiaos, founder of Mind Culture Life Australia, “most leaders are not seeing the real picture of how work is being experienced until it’s too late”.

An organisational culture and mental health expert is warning employers of "microcultures" in the workplace, which can be a breeding ground for psychosocial injuries among employees.

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Anna Kiaos, founder of Mind Culture Life Australia, defined microcrultures as small teams and subgroups in the workplace where language and behaviour shift in ways senior leaders and HR are not privy to.

Psychosocial injuries and mental health conditions are now among the most expensive workers’ compensation claims in the country, according to Safe Work Australia.

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Yet new studies suggest many organisations are still failing to recognise the early warning signs that lead to these consequences.

In this episode of Better Thinking, Nesh Nikolic speaks with Dr Anna Kiaos about qualitative research methods and practices, offering valuable insights into understanding mental health within organisations.

Dr Anna Kiaos, Discipline Manager for Psychiatry and Mental Health at the School of Clinical Medicine at the University of New South Wales, adds that it's all a matter of perception.

"Social isolation is an objective measure, whereas loneliness is subjective. In other words, how we tend to feel if we perceive ourselves to be socially isolated. And I don't mean a lack of people around you physically, I mean a lack of meaningful, interpersonal connections where you can talk to people openly, be yourself and have those connections that make you feel supported, valued or loved."

Dr Kiaos, who specialises in ethnography, psychiatry and mental health, argues in a paper published in the current issue of the Australian Journal of Public Administration that the practise of creating and abolishing departments, or moving functions between agencies, often results in a ‘cultural misalignment’ that impacts not only business operations and customer service, but staff well-being.

I asked Dr Anna Kiaos from the Discipline of Psychiatry and Mental Health at the University of NSW what might explain this outburst. Her research explores the boundary between psychology and sociology. She told me that such situations are “all too common” in workplaces and because they’re hazardous to mental health, should be avoided if possible.

“There is much to be said about the context concerning interpersonal exchanges of this nature, and as puzzling as they might seem at the time, if we take a step back and ask ourselves, ‘What is really going on here?’, useful, accurate and illuminating interpretations often come to mind.​

Dr Kiaos believes that moves to overcome unconscious bias should be set within a large self-development picture.

She says, “You can teach people conceptualisations of biases but it isn’t very useful until people connect with insight and personal feelings associated with biases in their own life. Overcoming biases comes about through identifying how these biases play out.

Indeed, Kiaos says employers should better consider segments of the population that may have experienced bigger challenges in life, and to consider the skills and learning they’ve acquired in getting through them.

“These are the people that need to be put forward more often for jobs, the ones who have proved their struggle, survived and thrived,” she says.

Dr Kiaos, a consultant that provides diversity and inclusion solutions to workplaces says, 'The colour bar remains in force in many Australian workforces'.

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Homogeneity is prevalent everywhere from our media to our corporate boards, fuelled by a management culture that regards potential or existing staff “through the lens of superficiality, be it because of their gender, or nationality, or religion.”

Dr Kiaos said her research found that while some organisations had been successful in achieving results across all layers of management, many others fell short.

“I think what needs to happen is a much broader approach to diversity and inclusion, it can’t just be a tick the box approach,” Dr Kiaos said.