Questions

Are companies meeting ethical obligations to workers’ mental health at home? Recent research has found workers required to work from home during the COVID19 pandemic suffering considerable mental stress. In response to such stresses, companies like NAB, CBA and EY have implemented various measures to help workers cope with extended lockdown conditions. Critically assess the ethical and Workplace Health and Safety (WHS) strategies companies like these are taking to protect the mental wellbeing of their employees working at home. Your answer should begin by outlining the main ethical obligations businesses have to protect workers’ mental health in light of at least one relevant ethics theory and the NSW WHS Act (2011), including analysing the main arguments for each framework. Then apply these frameworks to explain the core responsibilities employers like NAB, CBA and EY have to protect the mental health of workers’ at home, incorporating the respective legal duties organisations (PCBUs), officers and workers would have in managing these risks. Finally, draw on these frameworks to critically assess how far the strategies NAB, CBA and EY have made public meet their ethical requirements and why, considering alternative or additional strategies these companies might consider. Your answer must incorporate and reference ideas from at least two peer-reviewed academic journal articles from either course readings or your own research.

Reading links 

- https://www.theguardian.com/business/2021/jul/04/revealed-rise-in-stress-among-those-working-from-home

- https://www.smh.com.au/business/workplace/how-some-companies-are-making-it-easier-for-families-to-work-from-home-20210727-p58d9i.html