Forty-five percent of construction business owners say their employees had issues with mental health and well-being during the first two years of the pandemic, according to the Optus Business Construction Industry Pulse 2022 report, conducted by ACA Research.
Sixty percent of those business decision makers said they were concerned about their own health and well-being, with 41% citing a lack of work-life balance as the culprit.
“Work-life balance became a real focus for many Australians during the pandemic and we’ve seen priorities change in response to lockdowns and other Covid-19 measures had on our mental health,” said Optus vice president business and enterprise customers David Coventry.
“The Optus Business Construction Industry Pulse 2022 reported that 35% of businesses are expecting an increase in their investment in technology over the next 12 months. This is heartening to see considering the positive impact technology can have on helping business leaders get more hours back in their day.”
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More than 40% of business owners and decision makers said they were adapting work practices to ensure they minimise mental health and well-being issues but 24% said they were doing nothing to manage mental health and well-being.
Construction firms of all sizes are planning to spend money on technology over the next five years, whether that’s 3D printing, drones, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, augmented and virtual reality or AI-based applications.
For 60% of the businesses serviced, they consider technology as key to achieving their goals and strategies as a business.
Technology has a large role to play also in managing finances, efficiency, suppliers and compliance, helping business owners and workers get more hours back in their day.
“Mates, a charity, was created by the Construction Industry to address the problem of suicide in our industry, with workers lost to suicide at six times the rate of workplace accidents and our young workers at even higher risk. The Mates program addresses this through evidence-based workshops and 24/7 helpline support to workers and their families: because every life saved is someone’s son, daughter, husband or father,” said Mates national CEO Chris Lockwood.
“Together, we’ve reduced suicide rates by 8% since the inception of Mates in 2008 and we were recognised in 2021 by World Health Organisation as Global Best Practise in Suicide Prevention.”
“Industry working together helps to build awareness that suicide is not an individual problem, it’s bigger than that, we all have a responsibility to look out for each other on site.”
Other top outcomes achieved through technology included better engagement with employees (33%), better engagement with customers (32%) and increased revenue (30%).
This first appeared in the subscription newsletter CommsWire on 7 September 2022.
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