The COVID-19 pandemic rapidly accelerated the move to home-based work, and HR and WHS teams need to proactively ensure employees working from home don't face increased stress, isolation and burnout, according to a lead article in the latest Journal of Occupational and Environmental Medicine.
The Fair Work Commission has found an employer moved too quickly to dismiss a worker who refused to get vaccinated for COVID-19, and should have waited until all employees in his category were required to return to the office.
Flexible working arrangements that genuinely support health and wellbeing are being offered to the employees of one of Australia's "best places to work" on the terms that most suit them, instead of under a blanket rule, according to the company's director.
Now is a crucial time for workers, for the sake of their mental health, to be discussing pandemic-related challenges with their managers, but nearly half of Australian workers are uncomfortable initiating these important conversations, according to research released with two guides on the issue.
Standing, treadmill and cycling desks improve workers' cognitive performance, and can counteract the increase in sedentary behaviour associated with pandemic-forced working-from-home arrangements, Australian researchers say.
Pervasive wellbeing myths that block employers from improving their workers' wellbeing, and can waste time and money, include that paid mental health leave "cures" burnout, and wellbeing apps can replace social support, a new report has warned.
Australian researchers have found pandemic-era working arrangements are helping workers manage the work impacts of a serious health condition that affects many women and costs billions of dollars in lost productivity.