We are committed to empowering our people to achieve good general health and wellbeing and enhance their work performance and productivity.
The Health Resource Centre – which provides free information, referrals, advice and support for all employees – experienced an upsurge in requests for ideas and support during 2006/07. These requests were in direct response to workplace health promotions that included information on family activities and nutrition. In 2006/07, we instigated our Domestic and Family Violence Policy with training sessions for managers and supervisors. An independent evaluation showed that 73 per cent of managers and supervisors considered that the policy and its implementation has considerably increased their confidence and skills to deal with the issue. As a result of this program, we received a New South Wales Violence Against Women Prevention Award for our work in the prevention of violence against women. We also supported International Day for the Elimination of Violence Against Women (White Ribbon Day) on 25 November 2006 by distributing white ribbons to the 35,000 Australia Post people who wanted to wear them. Our Mensline Australia partnership, which provides a dedicated telephone contact line for our male employees, continues to be strongly supported, with 38 per cent more calls received during 2006/07 than in the previous year. Half of the callers said their personal problems had affected their work – including absence, reduced work performance, poor concentration and lack of motivation. An internal survey showed that 92 per cent of respondents considered the service “useful” and 88 per cent said they would recommend it to workmates. The Staying Connected workshops for separated fathers received high praise from 100 per cent of participants during the year. Our financial education program, Money for Keeps (which was launched in 2005), continued to deliver high-quality, independent information for our people and their families. Topics covered so far have included budgeting, credit and debt, savings, and an introduction to taxation. In early 2007, we released an interactive Money for Keeps CD. The CD included all program materials to date, as well as financial tools and games for the whole family. Results of a 2006 survey showed that more than 90 per cent of participating staff are now more aware of how to change their financial situation and 80 per cent said they were spending less and saving more. In addition to the services listed, the Health Resource Centre can provide information and referrals for staff with financial difficulties or those requiring assistance with debt counselling, financial advice regarding separation or divorce, and so on.
We continued our successful rehabilitation and return-to-work programs. We also maintained our focus on injury prevention and workplace safety through a range of initiatives, including:
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The incidence of work-related lost-time injuries fell by 2.6 per cent this year. The graph below shows a consistent, decade-long decline in our lost time injury frequency rate (LTIFR), with the LTIFR reaching a record low of 7.4 lost-time injuries per million work hours in 2006/07. 