Bit of news on workplaces from a survey of Australian workers. In a survey down under, YouGov found that more than two thirds of workers in IT and computer services share the belief that their workplace has only introduced mental health and wellbeing initiatives to tick boxes, while day-to-day, their management shows little, if any, genuine concern or empathy for their wellbeing. Workers from the IT and computer services sectors represented the highest percentage to share this belief out of all the industries that were surveyed. 56% of IT and computing services workers surveyed said they would hide a mental or physical health condition to avoid being judged or discriminated. This was slightly higher than the 53% recorded overall.
Why do we care?
I have no reason to believe this data doesn’t apply to the US, UK, or Europe. What was surprising to me was that IT was the worst industry – I didn’t expect it to be the best, just not dead last. Sure, it’s only slightly higher… but that’s cold comfort.
It’s during hard times that the investment pays off – like a market where labor has the upper hand. Investments now will help… and help even more so later. No overnight fix – but this will differentiate the haves and the have nots even more so, particularly considering how fraught the other challenges of an IT services business are.