The impact of COVID-19 on the workplace wellbeing of police services in Australia

ABSTRACT

Workplace wellbeing is a fast-developing subject in employment relations. This qualitative study examined the workplace wellbeing of police during COVID-19. There has been a significant critique of the narrow focus only on individual resilience and stress as the cause of workers’ poor mental health and wellbeing. Research into frontline workers’ mental health and wellbeing has mainly focused on the cumulative effect of trauma and operational stress injuries on individual resilience, with insufficient consideration of the impact of organisational culture, systemic and environmental factors. Drawing on a survey of 665 police professionals from all states and territories in Australia, this research investigated individual, the nature of work, organisational and environmental factors that negatively impacted worker wellbeing during the pandemic. The paper concludes that incorporating the full range of factors related to workplace wellbeing would inform an improved, holistic approach to maintaining and enhancing employee wellness. Understanding the influence of these factors during COVID-19 has implications for employment relations theory and the practical management of frontline emergency service workers’ workplace wellbeing generally and in times of crisis and disruption.

KEYWORDS:

• Workplace wellbeing
• frontline emergency service workers
• COVID-19
• police

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author(s).

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the Charles Sturt University [20183].

Notes on contributors

Larissa Bamberry

Associate Professor Larissa Bamberry has extensive experience researching organisations, labour markets and gender relations in regional Australia. She has undertaken a range of qualitative and quantitative research projects for government and industry focussed on regional regeneration, workforce wellbeing and regional skills and labour markets.

Alain Neher

Dr Alain Neher is a Course Director and Senior Lecturer at Charles Sturt University. Before joining academia, he worked for more than 25 years in industry including management and leadership roles in private, public, and not-for-profit organisations, as well as in armed forces logistics focussing on support services.

Stacey Jenkins

Dr Stacey Jenkins is a senior lecturer and former head of the School of Management and Marketing at Charles Sturt University. She is currently an advisory committee member of the Australian and New Zealand Workplace Mental Health Symposium and her research contributes to the global Sustainable Development Goals SDG(s) of good health and wellbeing; gender equality; and peace, justice and strong institutions.

Clare Sutton

Clare Sutton is a Senior Lecturer in paramedicine at Charles Sturt University. Her research interests relate to resilience and the promotion of health and wellbeing in emergency service workers, student paramedics and volunteer responders. She has extensive experience in the emergency services sector and has been program lead of paramedicine at CSU and Chair of the Mental Health and Wellbeing Special Interest Group for the Australasian College of Paramedicine (ACP).

Mark Frost

Dr Mark Frost is a Senior Lecturer with the School of Business at Charles Sturt University. He currently teaches in management and is researching in areas such as expatriate human resource management, corporate entrepreneurship, the role of innovation and technology to facilitate effective dispersed and virtual team performance, valuing soil management practices and micro electricity grids.

Russell Roberts

Professor Russell Roberts began his career as a Clinical Psychologist in South Australian, before moving to Queensland to establish the Clinical Psychology Program at Griffith University (GC). He then served as Executive Director of a comprehensive mental health service organisation in regional NSW and has served on the NSW Mental Commission Advisory Council, is a board member of the ANZ Mental Health Association, and Chair of the Australian Workplace Mental Health Symposium.

Abhishek Dwivedi

Dr Abhishek Dwivedi is a Senior Lecturer in Marketing in the School of Business, Charles Sturt University. He researches brand strategy, customer-brand relationships, and social entrepreneurship. He has published in the European Journal of Marketing, the Journal of Business Research, the Journal of Brand Management, the Journal of Marketing Theory and Practice, and the International Journal of Advertising.

Peter OMeara

Professor Peter O’Meara is an Adjunct Professor in the Monash University Department of Paramedicine and a Director of the Global Paramedic Higher Education Council. Peter is an internationally recognised expert on paramedicine models. He is a registered paramedic, with qualifications in health administration, public policy, and agricultural health and medicine.

Alfred Wong

Dr Alfred Wong is Senior Lecturer in the School of Business. His expertise is in statistical analysis, including large and meta-data sets, financial management, and applied economics. His research interests are in the areas of empirical finance and applied health care economics. He has won several teaching and research awards, published in international peer-reviewed academic journals and successfully completed several industry research grants. Alfred is a member of the Global Association of Risk Professionals, USA.