Browsing: Remote work | Page 5

Being offered hybrid working arrangements is helping workers exercise for an average of 90 minutes more per week, and get dozens of extra hours of sleep per year, significantly improving their health and reducing stress levels, a survey has found.

• Right-to-disconnect Bill tackles "availability creep", poor health; and
  
• Anti-harassment protections extended to Defence workplaces.

The suicide rate among Australia's mining workers is higher than most others and appears to be increasing, according to Melbourne researchers, who identify the likely reasons for this, and call for companies and their owners to do more to protect the individuals who have "produced and supported their wealth".

A former Manus Island detention centre worker has failed to show his employer is liable for his recurring kidney stones, which he claims were caused by not being able to maintain his gluten-free diet on the island, or remain hydrated when he was in isolation with gastro.

Workplace bullying and harassment are overshadowing certain "sleeper hazards" in psychosocial risk management, potentially exposing employers to the scrutiny of WHS regulators, safety law experts have warned.

Digital stress reduction programs can improve mental health for hard-to-reach workers and those in male-dominated industries, who are at the greatest risk of mental ill health, Australian researchers have found.

Employers are now expected to take greater ownership of the WHS challenges posed by global supply chain pressures and changing technologies - an expectation that will be enforced by regulators under Australia's new 10-year WHS strategy, which identifies six key emerging issues.

The decreased visibility of workers, with remote and hybrid work arrangements becoming commonplace because of COVID-19, could be masking the fact that many employees feel compelled to "soldier on" while sick under these arrangements, creating serious wellbeing and productivity risks, new research suggests.

Employers have been urged to learn from, persist with and improve on the safety strategies they implemented for the COVID-19 pandemic, and warned against reverting to past practices that will alienate workers in the post-COVID era.

Australian managers and WHS officers can "tap out" when they encounter psychosocial hazards they perceive as "too complex", exacerbating the mental injury risks arising from the rapid switch to working from home since the COVID-19 outbreak, researchers say.