Stanwell’s health and wellbeing program takes an innovative approach to addressing risks associated with fatigue, FIFO/DIFO and high-pressure work environments, as well as the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic on mental health and wellbeing.
Several initiatives and support mechanisms have helped to create a positive mental health culture by building an environment of trust, inclusiveness and acceptance. Some of the initiatives included:
- maintaining existing alliances with Mates in Energy and Benestar: providing our people with the right tools and contacts to identify issues early
- field-based connectors: our site-based field connectors are out and about interacting with our people
- coaching conversations: using the power of open questions to tackle burnout and stress
- informal conversations and mateship: social events during work and break times to build comradery and understanding
- counsellors attending pre-starts regularly: consistent messaging, creates visibility, and builds trust and allows the leaders to become ‘connectors’ between workers and the service.
These activities along with strong, active leadership in the program help to encourage staff to talk about how they are coping, behaving or operating to identify issues early on. The ongoing program continues to build staff mindset and skill set to boost resilience and growth.
Stanwell offered a coaching and education program to management, supervisors and workers to reduce psychological risk factors. This approach has created an environment of trust where people feel comfortable to speak up and leaders feel comfortable to reach out. Measurables for leaders included individual wellbeing, team wellbeing and job confidence. The measures were established at the start of the program and was compared to the data obtained at the end of the program. Results demonstrated that there was significant growth in all assessment areas.
