Design for Care Virtual Launch

A work design approach to improving staff mental health and well-being  

In recent years, a spotlight has been firmly placed on the challenges facing the Health Care and Social Assistance Industry workforce. With increased scrutiny, and rising numbers of workplace injuries - especially psychological injuries at work - the time to unpack these challenges and find practical, sustainable solutions is now. 

Although there are many factors that can impact mental health and well-being at work, including high levels of psychosocial risk in the Health Care and Social Assistance Industry, our focus is on work design.

At this Launch event, Professor Sharon Parker will speak about SMART work design, and the role that work design can play in improving the working lives and mental health of the Health Care and Social Assistance Industry. The audience will also hear from a panel of our industry partners and research experts, who will offer their unique insight into the work design issues facing the Health Care and Social Assistance (H&SA) Industry.

Attendees will learn about the new “Design for Care” research project led by researchers at Curtin University in partnership with University of Sydney and Monash University. Design for Care is aimed at understanding how to design work to reduce psychological injury in the H&SA workforce. This event will also provide information for potential industry partners who are interested in learning more about the eligibility criteria for participating in the research. 

Attendees will have the chance to ask the researchers questions about the Design for Care research project and work design for mental health through a Q&A session.

 Event details

Date: Wednesday 27 October 2021

Time:12.00pm - 1.30pm (AEDT)

Platform: Microsoft Teams

Cost: Free

Who should attend: Senior leaders, mental health/ organisational change professionals, and related stakeholders in the New South Wales Health Care and Social Assistance Industry. 

Register

Please note this event will be recorded. Personal information collected is handled in accordance with the Australian Privacy Principles. For further information please consult Curtin University’s Privacy Statement.

Keynote speaker

Sharon K. Parker

ARC Laureate Fellow Sharon K. Parker is a John Curtin Distinguished Professor at Curtin University, Director of the Centre for Transformative Work Design at Curtin University, a Fellow of the Australian Academy of Social Science and in 2019, she was named among the world’s most influential scientists and social scientists in the Web of Science 2019 Highly Cited Researchers list. She is a past Associate Editor for Academy of Management Annals and has published more than 150 articles in leading journals on topics including work design, proactive behaviour, and job performance.

Panellists

Raashi Kumar

Raashi Kumar leads the Strategic Investments and Innovation team (formerly known as the icare Foundation) at icare NSW. In this role, she is responsible for working with icare stakeholders to find innovative approaches to address psychosocial risks and deteriorating health and social outcomes in NSW workplaces. Raashi is passionate about taking a whole of person approach to empowering people to thrive in life, not just work.

Karn Nelson

Karn Nelson is the Executive General Manager (Strategy and Innovation) at Whiddon. Karn is responsible for strategic planning, research and innovation at Whiddon. This includes innovating in the wellbeing space, improving quality of life for older people with care needs and developing Whiddon’s award-winning relationship based care approach.

Jacky Hopwood

Jacky Hopwood is the Executive General Manager (People and Culture) at Whiddon. Jacky provides leadership and direction across the full remit of the People and Culture function at Whiddon. This includes industrial relations, workforce planning and solutions, remuneration and benefits, reward and recognition, culture and engagement and WHS including employee wellbeing.

Paula Holden

Paula Holden is the Chief People Officer at Key Assets Australia. As an established Senior Executive and Board Director, Paula brings over two decades of experience in various ‘for profit’ and ‘for purpose’ organisations. She has built her professional practice in Human Resources, Customer and Safety, always seeking to build capability and synergise the people experience with the overall business strategy. Paula is deeply passionate about inclusion and helping others see their potential in themselves.

Associate Professor Anya Johnson

Associate Professor Anya Johnson is the Deputy Head of Discipline in Work and Organisational Studies at the University of Sydney Business School. Anya is co-director of the Body, Heart and Mind in Business Research Group and the 2020 recipient (with Helena Nguyen and Sharon Parker) of the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) 2020 Award for Innovation and Excellence in Research. Anya is an Associate Editor of Group and Organisation Management and has published in leading journals on the topic of teams and work design, mental health and wellbeing in the workplace.

Associate Professor Helena Nguyen

Helena Nguyen is an Associate Professor and Co-Director of the Body, Heart and Mind in Business Research Group at the University of Sydney Business School. She is also Associate Editor of the Australian Journal of Management. Helena’s area of research expertise is in the area of emotions at work and employees’ health and wellbeing. Her research aims to improve the lives of employees and the effectiveness of organisations by examining the factors that facilitate well-being and job performance. She is the recipient of several prestigious awards and grants, such as Australian Research Council, NHMRC and most recently (as part of a team including Professor Sharon Parker and A/Professor Anya Johnson), the Australian Business Deans Council (ABDC) 2020 Award for Innovation and Excellence in Research.

We acknowledge the traditional custodians of the lands on which we work and live across Australia. We pay our respects to Elders, past, present and emerging.