REPORT Project 5: A weekend for every worker
women workers interviewed recognised that a tolerance of sexism, sexist and sexual behaviour impacted their wellbeing while working in construction. Some women said they would not sit with their own work crew at lunch time as they “don’t like the way they talk … just sexual things, kind of perverted”. As a result, women on site converted a shed that was provided by Roberts Co. for breastfeeding, into a lunch shed for women. It was labelled, quite accurately by some men on site, as a “women’s retreat”. Female waged workers working for subcontractors said they did not complain about their male peers’ sexist behaviour for fear of backlash, being offered fewer work hours or appearing weak.
of stress involved with the job too which carries, which can get you down a bit. You have bad days at work and things like that, and then you have an argument with your wife at home, then it’s a flow-on effect.” Work conditions and team relationships on site also affected wellbeing.
“When I was at [name of construction company], I did get a little bit depressed, just given the hours I was doing and missing out on my family, and that sort of stuff, which was another part of the reason I resigned from
Just over a quarter (28.8%) of workers surveyed said they had received wellbeing and mental health training. More than half of these workers (59.7%) received this training on the Project 5 site and the remainder (40.3%,) received the training elsewhere. Despite the lack of wellbeing and mental health training, over two-thirds of workers (67.9%) said they could recognise mental illness in themselves and over half (56.8%) said they could recognise mental health in others. Workers also recognised the need to be “attuned” to people’s behaviour on site to identify when they may need support for wellbeing and mental health issues.
there … I did speak to my wife. I went to the doctor and I also got a bit drunk once and told one of my friends at the pub.”
Construction worker
During Project 5, workers said they had seen a change in their wellbeing compared to working a six-day work week. According to one: “Since I’ve been working five days, I became a different person. I became a better person. More relaxed. Sometimes you don’t have the time to listen to little things and it was just always busy, busy, busy. Became a more anxious person than just a normal, normal human being.”
Most workers (82.9%) indicated they would ask for help if they thought they had a mental illness. The first points of contact would be their general practitioner (doctor) (55.2%), followed closely by their partner, friend, counselling service and family member (see Figure 20). According to workers, having someone approachable to talk to about their mental health was important.
While the five-day work week improved the wellbeing of all construction workers, other factors impaired the wellbeing of women construction workers. For example, a small cohort of
Whowould wouldyou youask askfor forhelp? help? Who GP
55.2%
Partner
48.5%
Friend
44.8%
Counselling services
42.8%
Family member
41.2%
Other
4.6%
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Figure 20. Where workers would seek help for mental health issues (n=253).
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