Workplace culture

Injured workers were asked how much they agreed or disagreed with six statements about the workplace where they sustained their injury to gain a perspective of workplace culture.

These were converted into a scale from one to five, where one was “strongly disagree” and five was “strongly agree”. A score of three indicates “neither agree nor disagree”. The average score for all respondents is reported along with the proportion who agreed with the statement.

The attributes of the workplace that were rated included:

Work importance:

“The work that you do at your workplace is very important to you”

Work satisfaction:

“You are very satisfied with the work you do”

Valued at work:

“People at work really value what you do”

Management’s help with RTW:

“Generally, management at the place where you work will do what they can to help you get back to work”

OH&S spending:

“Your employer is prepared to spend the money and time required to make the workplace safe”

RTW policies and procedures:

“Your employer has clear policies and procedures about returning injured workers to work”.

Victorian injured workers tended to rate their own satisfaction with work (4.3/5) and the importance of work to them (4.5/5) more highly than they rated their employer's performance in terms of workplace culture. Fewer injured Victorian workers agreed that people at work valued what they do (3.9/5), perceived management to help with RTW (3.5/5), thought that their employer had clear RTW policies and procedures (3.5/5) and was prepared to spend time and money on OH&S (3.4/5). Victorian workers were close to the noational average on all these measures.