Eight Minute Read

New research shows regional workers are more likely to suffer a work-related mental injury than city workers, take longer to recover, and are less likely to use the support on offer. For regional employers, that points to two clear priorities: care and management.

At its heart, workplace psychological health is a human issue. Behind every statistic is a worker whose health, livelihood and family are affected, and who deserves genuine care and support from the people they work for.

It’s also a business issue. Psychological health management is a legal duty, and mental injury costs time, productivity and good people. Like any other workplace risk, it needs to be managed well. The good news is that caring well and managing well go hand in hand, and many of the most effective steps are low cost.

In this article, we explore:

• What the data shows and what’s driving mental injury in regional workplaces
• Why support isn’t reaching regional workers
• What mental injury costs your people and your business, and why WorkCover matters
• Your legal duties under Victoria’s psychological health regulations
• Where to invest your time and budget, including free supports.

The Numbers at a Glance

Allianz’s national data shows regional workers take around 16 days longer to return to work after a mental injury than metro workers. Here are the headline findings:

Source: Allianz Australia workers’ compensation claims data and survey of 1,522 employees across Australia, 2026.

Regional workers’ wellbeing is under pressure too. Nearly a quarter (24%) of surveyed regional workers say their mental health is the worst it’s been in their working life.

What’s happening in Victoria

The Allianz figures are national, but WorkSafe Victoria data published by the Victorian Government shows the same pressure here:

• In 2024-25, 17% of workplace injury claims to WorkSafe Victoria were reported as mental injuries, up from around 9% before 2009 and 13% in 2021
• WorkSafe Victoria accepted more than 2,300 mental injury claims that year, and 53% came from six high-risk industries:
  • Construction
  • Education and training
  • Healthcare and social assistance
  • Manufacturing
  • Retail trade
  • Wholesale trade.

Sources: 01 Oct 2025, 13 Oct 2025, WorkSafe Victoria Mental Health Strategy 2021 to 2024

If you lead a business in one of these industries, the risk to your business is even greater than the average.

What’s Driving Mental Injury in Regional Workplaces

Three causes account for more than 80% of regional mental injury claims in Allianz’s FY26 data:

Life outside work matters too. Surveyed regional workers said a mix of personal and work pressures were affecting their mental health at work, with the top answers being:

• Their personal financial situation (43%)
• The quality of their relationships and sense of connection (33%)
• Workload, work pace and deadlines (32%).

You can’t fix someone’s finances, but you can control the work-related hazards that add to the load and make sure people know where to turn for help.

Why Support Isn’t Reaching Regional Workers

Regional workers are less aware of workplace support and less likely to use it, even though they’re experiencing more harm. Nearly three in four (73%) surveyed regional workers have never used mental health support offered by their employer.

Source: Allianz Australia and YouGov survey of 1,522 employees, 10 to 20 Aug 2026 

Distance adds to the problem. Long travel times, fewer local services and demanding schedules all stand between regional workers and help.

This is where your management make the biggest difference. The research found:

• Only 18% of regional workers say their manager takes preventative steps on mental health
• 17% say their manager only deals with issues once they come up
• Around one in three feel uncomfortable asking their manager for mental health leave (34%) or raising outside stressors affecting their work (34%).

What it Costs Your People – and Your Business

Behind every mental injury claim is a person who has been hurt at work. A mental injury can affect someone’s health, relationships, finances and confidence, and recovery often takes months. How you respond matters.

For the business, the costs go beyond the claim itself:

• Lost time: an average of 88 days off per claim, or nearly three months without a team member
• Covering the role: overtime, casuals or other staff stretching to fill the gap
• Pressure on the team: more stress, sick leave and resignations
• Your time: managing the claim, return to work planning and providing suitable duties for up to 52 weeks where reasonable
• The employer excess: the first 10 days of weekly payments, unless you’ve taken the excess buy-out option
• Compliance risk: WorkSafe Victoria can take action if psychosocial hazards weren’t managed
• Reputation: in a regional town, word travels fast and affects your ability to attract and keep good people.

Why your WorkCover insurance matters

WorkCover covers most of the claim itself. Across Allianz’s national portfolio in FY25, the average mental injury claim cost the insurer $46,143 (around 2.8 times more than a physical injury claim), a cost most small businesses couldn’t absorb alone. In Victoria, an accepted claim generally pays the worker’s weekly payments after your 10-day excess, reasonable treatment costs and return to work support. For physical injuries, you also pay the first $903 of medical costs (2026-27, indexed annually).

How mental injury claims work differently

Mental injury claims follow some different rules from physical injury claims, and many employers don’t learn them until they need to:

• Early treatment: workers with a mental injury claim can usually access provisional payments for treatment while they wait for a decision, and no diagnosis is needed to start
• Support if rejected: provisional payments can continue for up to 13 weeks
• No medical excess: where provisional payments apply, you don’t pay the medical excess, though the 10-day weekly excess still applies
• Act quickly: forward a mental injury claim to your WorkSafe Victoria agent within 3 business days
• Stricter eligibility: since 31 Mar 2024, a mental injury must be diagnosed, cause significant dysfunction and be predominantly caused by work; stress or burnout from the usual demands of the job, or reasonable management action, isn’t covered.

Early treatment gives workers the best chance of a full recovery, whatever the claim outcome. Prevention costs far less, and most of it comes down to good management practice.

Your Legal Duties in Victoria

Since 01 Dec 2025, the Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 have required every Victorian employer to identify, control and review psychosocial hazards and risks.

When the regulations started, WorkSafe Victoria said inspectors would consider a business’s previous experience with psychosocial risk management. Nearly a year on, expect less leeway.

Start with WorkSafe Victoria’s Compliance Code

If you read one thing after this article, make it WorkSafe Victoria’s Psychological health compliance code. It’s written for employers, easy to follow, and sets out 16 psychosocial hazards with practical ways to control them. For regional employers, a few deserve extra attention:

• Remote or isolated work: long travel, working alone, and help that’s hard to reach
• Poor support: small teams and stretched managers can leave people without backup
• Poor workplace relationships: in small communities, conflict is harder to step away from
• Traumatic events: road incidents, serious injuries, bushfires and floods.

Where to Invest Your Time and Budget

For employers, the lesson is simple: offering support, such as an EAP, mental health training or a wellness program, is only half the job. Your people need to know it exists, know how to use it, and feel safe asking their manager for help. All of this works best when it’s backed by a culture of positive, proactive health and safety management, with psychological health given the same attention as physical safety.

Questions to ask yourself this month

• Could every worker tell me today how to get confidential support?
• Do all current people managers have training in psychological health and psychosocial hazards?
• Do we have workplace OHS policies which include psychological health practically?
• Do we have a current risk register that covers both physical and psychosocial hazards?
• Do we act on bullying and harassment reports promptly and fairly?
• Are we watching sick leave, turnover and complaints for early warning signs?

If you answered no or not sure to any of these, that’s where to start.

Free supports for Victorian workers and businesses

These free, confidential services suit regional teams because they’re delivered by phone or online. Share them with your team.

Find out more: Before Blue worker mental health coaching and Psychological Health Basics workshop.

If you shared the free TELUS Health Worker Mental Health Support Helpline with your team last year, it has now been replaced by Before Blue, which started on 28 Apr 2026 (see our earlier update). Update any materials that still list the old helpline.

If someone is in immediate danger, call 000.

How Full Circle HR can help

We know that running a business leaves little time to work through compliance codes, risk registers and policy reviews, even with good resources at hand. As a Gippsland-based team who understand regional work, we can lead the review and take it off your hands, or work alongside you through the process. That includes psychosocial hazard assessments, updating policies and reporting pathways, training your managers, and supporting return to work after a mental injury. In 2027, we’re ready to guide and support you through this process.

Your Next Step

As you plan for 2027, make psychological health part of your strategic and OHS planning. When you’re ready to map out the year ahead, get in touch and we can help you build it into your plan.