Kathryn Austin, Pizza Hut Restaurants' HRD, on how employers can address mental health

The past month has seen multiple members of the workforce, and a high-profile academic, highlight the state of mental health in the workplace.

Last week numerous workers, both current and former, spoke to Mic.com about how their current mental health issues can be attributed to Apple.

Earlier in the month Ian Hickie, Professor of Psychiatry at The University of Sydney and Co-Director of the institution’s Brain and Mind Centre, told The Guardian Australia: “An overemphasis on employee assistance programs and simplistic, 1970s-style HR processes which are secretive and isolating exacerbate the problem [of mental health] and discourage an open workplace conversation.”

This was compounded by research from Canada Life Group Insurance which found that an alarming 80% of staff members wouldn’t take time off for a stress related illness, with over one in ten (13%) employees saying their organisation doesn’t take mental health illness seriously.