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Mental health “has never been a bigger issue” among real estate agents and property managers, acting president of the RiSE Initiative, John Cunningham, has stated.
According to RiSE, real estate outfits that overlook the mental wellness of their employees are jeopardising their financial performance, especially considering data from the Australian Government Productivity Commission estimates mental ill health costs the Australian community $220 billion per annum.
This sum included government expenditure, the cost to individuals, and up to $39 billion in lower economic participation and lost productivity. Furthermore, according to ADP Research Institute’s latest data, almost half (46 per cent) of Australian workers claimed their work suffered as a result of poor mental wellness.
Mr Cunningham believes it is paramount that real estate offices “get our people right first”, especially when considering “the changing market and ongoing exhaustion from the pandemic”.
In doing this, he outlined that only then can real estate firms “expect better performance and better financial results”.
“With the direct connection between wellness and business performance, the importance of us changing our behaviour as an industry couldn’t be clearer,” he said.
His sentiments were echoed by Dean Firth, head of business banking at Macquarie Bank, who said real estate principals dreaming of improving office profitability should embrace the clear link between mental wellness and professional performance.
“When real estate businesses get this right, we’re seeing greater staff loyalty and retention, and they’re outperforming their competitors,” Mr Firth said.
It follows comments from Committee for Economic Development of Australia (CEDA) senior economist Cassandra Winzar earlier this month, who acknowledged Australian businesses for how they’ve prioritised “physical safety in the workplace over recent decades; however, psychological safety has not been given the same priority”.
She explained that prioritising employees’ mental health extends beyond “offering free yoga classes, fruit boxes, or mental health awareness morning teas”, especially as “these initiatives make no discernible impact on staff mental health”.
“What does make a difference is ensuring jobs are well designed, that managers are training to address mental health issues, and that organisations adopt firm-wide mental health strategies,” Ms Winzar said.
Speaking during National Mental Health Month in October, Mr Cunningham provided six ways agents and property managers can manage their mental wellness. They include:
- Reality checks
- Releasing tension
- Managing emotions
- Urge surfing
- Managing their workday
- Utilise free counselling
He concluded that mental health “used to be something we [real estate agents] didn’t talk about”; however, now “those walls of shame and embarrassment have come down”, inviting real estate practitioners into conversation and action.
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