To help businesses and organisations as they build and support mentally healthy work, we have published a series of short essays about this important area.

Our aim when planning this book was to invite a range of experts, practitioners, thought leaders and interested parties to share their knowledge and insights on the range of topics associated with mentally healthy work in Aotearoa New Zealand.

This resource has been produced by local scholars and practitioners for Aotearoa New Zealand. We hope you find it useful. Our thanks to all those who have worked so hard to bring this book to completion.

Mentally Healthy Work in Aotearoa New Zealand – Short essays on important topics

The full resource is available for download above.

Mentally Healthy Work in Aotearoa New Zealand

This essay explores how health and safety practice, legislation, research policy, and cultural developments are changing our understanding and practice of mental health at work in Aotearoa New Zealand.

Mentally Healthy Work context

This essay places Aotearoa New Zealand policies and practices on mentally healthy work in an international context in relation to the OECD Council Recommendation on Integrated Mental Health, Skills and Work Policy.

Mentally Healthy Work: The drive to thrive

This essay explores elements of the Health & Safety at Work Act 2015, WorkSafe’s role, and concepts which can help build and support mentally healthy work.

The Health and Safety at Work Act and psychosocial risks: Change the legislation or change our mindset?

This essay explores the role of legislation, legal practitioners and Government to make workplaces safe for everyone.

Mentally Healthy Work: Obligations and opportunities

This essay explores what needs to be done for businesses and organisations to demonstrate they care and to establish a mentally healthy workplace, that not only meets all legal obligations but also creates opportunities for people to thrive.

How we kōrero about mental wellbeing matters

In this essay the changing landscape of mentally healthy work is explained through the language and concepts of mental health that currently prevail, as well as those that are emerging.

Psychosocial factors: Pathways to harm and wellbeing

This essay introduces psychosocial factors as a key determinant of mentally healthy work and briefly outline the link between work and psychosocial hazards, before drawing upon three theories of work stress (job demands-resources theory; effort-reward imbalance theory; and organisational justice theory) to explain how psychosocial factors can lead to adverse outcomes for workers and the organisations in which they work.

Māori in the workplace: Understanding drivers of mental health

This essay looks at the context for Māori and the potential for businesses and organisation to provide both organisational support and build personal resources that facilitate mental health.

Organisational culture for psychological health at work

This essay defines culture and climate in organisations, outlines their relevance to psychologically healthy work, and presents suggestions about how cultures can support inclusive and unifying work environments, through leadership and engagement of staff at all organisational levels.

Health and Safety Representatives as enablers of workplace mental wellbeing

This essay covers the role of a health and safety representative, challenges health and safety representatives face, how businesses and organisations can support and enable health and safety representatives and how health and safety representatives can use their role to support mentally healthy work.

Workplace bullying in New Zealand: A review of the research

This essay reviews research of workplace bullying in New Zealand.

Stress – has it had a bad reputation?

This essay discusses work-related stress to create some food for thought and challenge views about what ‘stress’ is.

Positive and negative spillover: An intersection of work and personal life

This essay discusses how it is impossible to separate our work and personal lives, explores the health impact that work can have on people and highlights opportunities for work to influence healthier societies.

Systems of thinking, systems of work

This essay looks at where efforts should be targeted to assess and measure workplace mental health and wellbeing, suggesting that any effort to improve worker mental health should consider that businesses are part of a broader socio-technical system in which different agencies and entities play a role and need to be considered when assessing risk.

Growing a wellbeing movement at work

This essay challenges leaders on the way they engage with your colleagues and employees.

Mentally healthy work in the public service

This essay explores how the public sector approaches health and safety, both within its work and the requirements it places externally, and how this can contribute to better health and safety outcomes for workers across a wide range of New Zealand workplaces.