Identification of key determinants of caseworker workplace wellbeing in Family and Community Services, NSW

Workplace wellbeing encompasses emotional health, cultural safety, a sense of achievement, and value alignment with fundamental work tasks. It is the product of the dynamic relationship between:

• Individual factors – resilience, prior experience, individual health, skills and capacities
• Nature of the role – psychological and physical demands, ethics and conflict
• Organisational factors – workplace culture, resources, technology, training and support.

Each of the above factors exists within the context of cultural, societal, legal, political and regulatory frameworks that influence relationships within and between the individual, the task and the organisation.

This study interviewed staff selected via a stratified random sampling method. The strata included rural/ metro, small teams/large teams, males/females, new/mid/long-serving staff, recent departures; all proportionately sampled across every administrative region. This sampling method, along with high response rates, lends high confidence that those interviewed were a representative sample of the FACS workforce.