Leading national training and education provider, Allara Learning, has teamed up with R U OK? To develop a new online course for the hospitality industry.
The move comes after R U OK? Commissioned a survey of hospitality workers which revealed:
- 80 per cent of hospitality workers agreed that mental health issues, such as feeling depressed, anxious or manic, are a challenge currently facing those in the industry;
- While 50 per cent of respondents said they had been asked by someone at work in the past 12 months if they were ok when they really needed it;
- Around 40 per cent had thought about asking someone if they were okay, but didn’t. When asked why, a third indicated that they didn’t feel it was their place to ask the question.
While it is encouraging that half of the people surveyed said they had been asked are you OK? When they needed to talk, R U OK’s Campaign Director, Katherine Newton said the results showed that there is more that needs to be done to help hospitality workers feel comfortable checking in with each other.
The new course designed by R U OK? And Allara Learning is designed to help hospitality workers identify the signs of someone who may be struggling, determine the right time and place to ask the question and navigate a conversation is someone responds ‘No, I’m not ok’.
Allara Learning CEO Andrew Lewis said: “While many in the hospitality industry understand the value of compliance and skills training, the importance of staff’s mental health and well-being is sometimes overlooked.
“We hope this new R U OK? course encourages hospitality workers to look out for one another and provides them with the practical skills to help a colleague who may be struggling.”
The online course will be complemented by workplace resources, featuring the tagline ‘Chances are one of your work family need to talk’. Resources include display posters, stickers for roster boards and conversation guides.
The R U OK? online course will be made freely available to the hospitality industry from the Allara Learning website.