Poor Support

Poor support is when you do not receive enough support from supervisors or other workers. It is a psychosocial hazard.

We have a right under the OHS Act to a working environment that is safe and without risks to health, so far as is reasonably practicable. This includes work practices and systems of work that do not unreasonably or unnecessarily increase the risk of work-related stress.

Feeling supported within your role and/or performing your job effectively, and receiving the necessary support within the workplace – including from colleagues and co-workers – is essential for our mental health and wellbeing.

Not receiving adequate support – whether it is by not being provided with necessary resources, or from management, or within your workplace or working environment more broadly – can increase the risk of work-related stress and be harmful to both our physical and mental health.

This can also include not receiving enough resources and information to do your job well, safely or on time, not being able to receive help easily, and a workplace that discourages support from colleagues.

Poor support in the workplace is a psychosocial hazard, and it can also sit alongside other psychosocial hazards (such as low job control, high or low job demands, low recognition and reward, low role clarity, remote or isolated work and poor workplace relationships) to make a bad situation worse, and increase the stress caused for workers.

Download “Surveying Safety: Poor support in the workplace ” to identify the risk in your workplace.