Health Benefits of Good Work (HBGW) is a program led by the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM), which commenced in 2015. It aims to quantify the benefits of improved health and well-being for workers and their families, which includes the impacts that good quality of work has on an individual’s health, social inclusion and productivity by:
- Working with an expert panel to develop a conceptual model of how work impacts health.
- Conducting a comprehensive review of existing evidence on this topic including international research, surveys of Australian workplaces as well as data from Australia’s national survey system for measuring health status (the National Health Survey) to identify what aspects within workplaces are most important for improving health outcomes.
- Scoping out how best to measure these workplace factors using existing data or through new surveys.
- Identifying appropriate indicators to measure changes in employee well-being, which can be used by employers when deciding how best to invest in improving workplace culture.
What does the Australasian Faculty of Occupational and Environmental Medicine (AFOEM) do?
AFOEM is a Faculty of the Royal Australasian College of Physicians (RACP), a professional association of doctors, who are interested in preventive medicine and occupational health. It also includes those practising general medicine or surgery, but who have become subspecialty trained in occupational medicine.
AFOEM is responsible for setting the training standards for specialty training of doctors in occupational medicine throughout Australia and New Zealand.
The aim of Health Benefits of Good Work
The overarching aim of this program is to develop and evaluate strategies for promoting good work in Australia. The project also seeks to promote better health and well-being to ensure that people can balance their work with family, social and private life commitments.
A group of 34 stakeholder advisories researchers called the Signatory Steering Group (SSG) informs the project's direction throughout. There are over 130 signatories from both Australia and New Zealand, including:
- Active Occupational Health Services
- Business Council of Australia (BCA)
- Human Factors and Ergonomics Society of Australia (HFESA)
- National Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation
The SSG has been instrumental in advising on key issues such as whether to implement a national survey or focus more on policy development, who should be involved in discussions about what good work looks like across different industries and sectors and how to measure good work outcomes, among more.
Benefits of the Health Benefits of Good Work (HBGW) program
The Health Benefits of Good Work (HBGW) initiative set out to improve workplaces and the quality of work and life for Australians. It aims to provide workers with growth opportunities so that they can expand their skillset and gain experience, networking opportunities with people in their industry, financial freedom to live the life they deserve, the ability to add meaning to society, and a chance at better mental and physical health.
By helping everyone overcome their professional challenges, the ultimate goal of HBGW is to empower people to live an overall better quality of life.