Work shouldn’t hurt. Yet for millions of workers across Australia, it still does.
The latest Work Shouldn’t Hurt survey reveals that more than 1 in 5 (21%) of respondents experienced a work-related mental health injury or illness in the past 12 months – and more than two-thirds of those workers needed time off work to recover.
(Perhaps even more telling – the other third did not take time off because they had no entitlement to leave, did not want to be seen as bad workers or were concerned about missing deadlines, finding a replacement or catching up after time away; further highlighting that the burden of workplace injuries continues to fall on workers.)
Now in its fourth edition, the Work Shouldn’t Hurt survey tracks workers’ experiences of health and safety over time, helping identify where progress has been made and where serious problems remain.
Widespread work-related psycho-social injury rates
The 2025 survey shows that there has been a slight reduction in mental health injuries, with the rate returning to the immediate post-pandemic rate – however, it remains persistently high in a number of industries, including education and health.
Encouragingly, there was an increase in workers who reported that there was as much importance placed (by employers) on mental health hazards as physical (and that health and safety is placed ahead of service, production and output), and a decrease in those who reported that not having access to leave is a barrier to taking time off work following a mental health injury.
These results are positive and reflect both the reduction in insecure work (thanks to union-won changes to work laws), along with union efforts to build awareness and understanding of mental health at work.
But mental health injuries (including those cause by a spike in violence and aggression in the workplace and discrimination) continue to dominate, being reported nearly twice as often as physical injuries.
Stress and the risk of burnout remain significant concerns, with 35% of all workers reporting they were regularly or always exposed to stress in their workplaces.
Women suffer more injuries to their mental health than men, and younger workers are the most exposed to psychosocial hazards at work, with a quarter of workers aged under 34 sustaining mental health injuries.
Importantly, workers continue to be more likely to seek medical advice and make a claim for workers compensation for physical injuries than mental health issues.
Some workers are carrying an even heavier burden
One of the most alarming findings of this year’s survey is the experience of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers.
The report found injury rates among Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers were twice as high as those experienced by non-Indigenous workers. Across almost every measure, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander workers reported poorer health and safety outcomes.
They were significantly more likely to experience violence and threats of violence at work (17% compared with 6%), workplace conflict (22% compared with 11%), and discrimination, harassment or racism (20% compared with 6%).
These findings highlight the urgent need to strengthen workplace health and safety protections while continuing union efforts to eliminate racism and discrimination from Australian workplaces.
Safer workplaces don’t happen by accident
The purpose of Work Shouldn’t Hurt has always been simple: to identify what’s hurting workers and provide the evidence needed to drive change.
The latest findings make it clear that while progress is possible, there is still a long way to go.
No worker should face violence, discrimination, unsafe workloads or unnecessary risks simply for going to work.
That’s why union members continue to fight for stronger health and safety protections, better workplace consultation, properly resourced Health and Safety Representatives, and safer jobs for every worker.
