Potential psychosocial hazards at NCI
SurveyMonkey
Q1 WHS Risk Assessments seek to identify possible hazards within the
workplace, and the controls that are needed to mitigate the risk. There is
a long list of psychosocial hazards identified by ANU and WorkSafe
Australia as possible risks in modern workplaces. Please look through
this list and tick those hazards you think are ones that should have
active controls in place for NCI to achieve a productive and positive
workplace. Feel free to make comments below to elaborate on your
selection, or suggest possible controls that could be used to mitigate the
risks.
Answered: 21
Skipped: 0
None of the
above
Environmental
– Workplace ...
Environmental
– Poor air...
Environmental
– Lack of WH...
Environmental
– Other: ple...
Organisational
– High job...
Organisational
– High...
Organisational
– High...
Organisational
– Direct...
Organisational
– Indirect...
Organisational
–Shift work,...
Organisational
– Frequently...
Organisational
– Low job...
Organisational
– Low job...
Organisational
– Poor suppo...
Organisational
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Potential psychosocial hazards at NCI
SurveyMonkey
– Workplace...
Organisational
– Poor...
Organisational
– workplace...
Organisational
– Perceived ...
Organisational
– Low role...
Organisational
– Poor...
Organisational
– Low...
Organisational
– Poor...
Organisational
– No...
Organisational
– Frequent...
Organisational
– Violent...
Individual –
innate...
Teaching –
SELT Aggress...
Other (not
listed above)
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
2 / 4
Potential psychosocial hazards at NCI
SurveyMonkey
ANSWER CHOICES
RESPONSES
14.29%
3
None of the above
9.52%
2
Environmental – Workplace not compliant with WHS requirements
14.29%
3
Environmental – Poor air quality, high levels of noise, extreme temperatures
4.76%
1
Environmental – Lack of WHS consideration for unsafe plant
0.00%
0
Environmental – Other: please list (in comments)
52.38%
11
Organisational – High job demand, long working hours
52.38%
11
Organisational – High workloads, time pressure, fast work pace
38.10%
8
Organisational – High emotional effort responding to distressing situations and to aggressive colleagues or students
14.29%
3
Organisational – Direct exposure to traumatic events at work
14.29%
3
Organisational – Indirect exposure to traumatic events at work
19.05%
4
Organisational –Shift work, casual employment, afterhours work, fatigue management
19.05%
4
Organisational – Frequently working in unpleasant conditions
19.05%
4
Organisational – Low job demands, too little to do, monotonous tasks
14.29%
3
Organisational – Low job control
33.33%
7
Organisational – Poor support, including emotional support, from employer, colleagues and managers
42.86%
9
Organisational – Workplace bullying, aggression, harassment and sexual harassment, discrimination etc
47.62%
10
Organisational – Poor relationship between supervisors/line managers and staff or HDR students or other workers
61.90%
13
Organisational – workplace conflicts
38.10%
8
Organisational – Perceived or actual lack of fairness, equity and diversity; discrimination against community groups
or members (e.g. LGBTQI)
42.86%
9
Organisational – Low role clarity; uncertainty about changes or frequent changes to tasks and work standards;
conflicting job roles
52.38%
11
Organisational – Poor organisational change management; poor consultation in change management
42.86%
9
Organisational – Low recognition and reward; low recognition in high WHS performance
47.62%
10
Organisational – Poor organisational justice; inconsistent application of policy and procedures; bias on resource
allocation
4.76%
1
Organisational – No standardised WHS management practices across the University
14.29%
3
Organisational – Frequent remote and/or isolated work
4.76%
1
Organisational – Violent events such as robbery, assault, being threatened by managers, colleagues or managers
19.05%
4
Individual – innate susceptibility to stress; disabled worker; pre-existing mental and/or physical conditions; age and
experience of worker, external stressors eg carer responsibilities, financial situation, relationship status.
0.00%
0
Teaching – SELT Aggression or abuse towards teaching staff from students
4.76%
1
Other (not listed above)
Total Respondents: 21
#
OTHER (PLEASE SPECIFY)
DATE
1
Satisfaction/morale in regards to remuneration and rewards - Although the work roles and
4/5/2022 11:23 AM
duties are very interesting and satisfactory, salary levels received are relatively low for
3 / 4
Potential psychosocial hazards at NCI
SurveyMonkey
highly skilled and niche work compared to similar levels of experience outside the
organization (both in government and private sector).
2
Hi Donna and Brian, This is so great - a lot of important topics/themes in this list. The ones
3/31/2022 12:25 PM
I selected were mainly from the organisational side - thought these might be ones not
directly covered elsewhere that could be considered as part of risk assessment and/or to
incorporate into core materials for NCI staff (e.g., awareness and best practice or ANU links
for handling/reporting of these topics for supervisors and staff I think could be very
benefitial). Happy to chat more or share thoughts. s47F - Public Interest Conditional E
3
Organisational leadership is indecisive. Staff work under high levels of ambiguity and are
3/30/2022 5:55 PM
not compensated accordingly. Workloads are almost entirely reactive with no opportunities
to analyse, plan and implement improvements. The change management process in NCI's
recent restructure was extremely poor. The strong shift to focus on what NCI might become
in future devalues many years of effort and delivery of services to the research community.
The approach undermined staff confidence and morale. Instant performance management
(or threat thereof) without even minimal efforts to work through issues and follow ANU due
process is extremely corrosive.
4
I have ticked all of the hazards that I think should have active controls in place for NCI to
3/30/2022 3:21 PM
achieve a productive and positive workplace. This is not to say that I have experienced all
of these hazards - that would be a very different list.
5
Environmental should have active controls in place ongoing. Happy with current controls.
3/30/2022 2:06 PM
Organisational conditions are unsatisfactory. Inconsistent. Unfair. Disrespectful.
6
1) NCI is comprised of several different silos. Nobody knows what anyone else is doing at
3/30/2022 1:15 PM
any given time. Often multiple teams are working towards the same outcome without any
collaboration. All staff meetings do not ameliorate this. Significant secrecy and uncertainty
within the organisation as a result. 2) See #random slack channel. Removing the venue for
conflict does not remove the conflict. 3) Organisational makeup is <20% women, most of
whom are in non-technical roles. 4) PDRs have not been completed in many years. Many
roles are ill-defined. 5) Re-org consulting with "lesser" staff did not occur until after the fact.
6) There are almost no progression opportunities for anyone at NCI if they wish to remain an
individual contributor. A good IC does not necessarily make a good manager. 7) The same
question to the same person will often receive multiple different answers depending on who
asked. Some people are strictly bound by (on many occasions, unwritten) rules and
procedures, while others can pick and choose which rules to follow or break with no
accountability.
7
Strong controls to help all of these would be: frequent, clear and overt messaging from the
3/30/2022 12:44 PM
Director about ongoing projects and activities, interest from the Exec and ADs about
projects taking place throughout the organisation and very clearly stated policy against
bullying and harassing behaviours. There should also be space given for junior or unheard
staff to have a voice about their work and their roles, so as to give them satisfaction in the
work they do.
4 / 4
