Mental Health & Resilience
Leadership Development
Physical Wellbeing
Workplace CultureWorkplace wellbeing programs for government departments
Government teams operate under conditions few other workplaces share: psychosocial risk obligations, near-constant organisational change, budget scrutiny, hybrid and distributed workforces, and a high level of public accountability. Holistic Services Group has supported government departments, agencies, councils and statutory bodies across Australia since 2003, with programs built for exactly these pressures.
HSG’s workplace wellbeing programs for government are health, mental health and capability services delivered to federal, state and local government organisations, including psychosocial risk programs, leadership development, difficult conversations training, mental health awareness, resilience training, and physical wellbeing services such as ergonomics and corporate massage. Programs are delivered onsite across Australia and online nationwide.
Common workplace wellbeing challenges in government
Government workplaces share a distinct set of pressures:
- Psychosocial risk compliance: meeting WHS obligations to identify and control psychosocial hazards, not just physical ones
- Organisational change and change fatigue: restructures, machinery-of-government changes and shifting priorities
- Hybrid and distributed workforces: keeping dispersed teams connected and supported
- Leadership and manager capability: equipping managers to lead under scrutiny and through change
- Employee engagement and retention: sustaining morale amid budget constraints and public accountability
Why it matters for government
Psychosocial risk in government workplaces carries a measurable cost through extended time away from work, disruption to teams and pressure on service delivery. Effective workplace mental health initiatives can also provide a clear organisational return.
- Mental health claims carry real costs: mental health conditions now account for 12% of all serious workers’ compensation claims and result in a median 35.7 weeks of time lost from work, nearly five times the median for all serious claims, according to Safe Work Australia’s Key Work Health and Safety Statistics 2025.
- Investment can deliver value: Australian research found an average return of $2.30 for every dollar invested in effective workplace mental health initiatives, according to PwC’s Creating a Mentally Healthy Workplace research (2014).
Talk to us about practical support for psychosocial risk management and workforce wellbeing across your department or agency.
Services most relevant to government teams
HSG’s government work centres on the areas where the sector’s pressures and its obligations meet. Most agencies start with psychosocial risk or manager capability and expand:
Workplace mental health & resilience
Support employees in managing pressure, building resilience, and strengthening psychological safety.
Leadership development & manager capability
Equip managers with practical skills to lead people, navigate difficult conversations and support healthy team performance across onsite, remote and hybrid teams.
Physical wellbeing, ergonomics & corporate massage
Help reduce daily physical strain through ergonomics, movement, corporate massage, fitness, yoga and broader corporate health programs.
Workplace culture, connection & team engagement
Strengthen communication, belonging, and collaboration across on-site, hybrid, and distributed teams.
Ready to build an ongoing program across these areas? Workplace wellness programs
Trusted by 1,600+ organisations across Australia and Asia-Pacific
Supporting corporate, government, healthcare, education and not-for-profit sectors
HSG has supported more than 1,600 organisations across corporate, government, healthcare, education and not-for-profit sectors, including Microsoft, Telstra, Commonwealth Bank, BHP, the Department of Defence, St Vincent’s, the University of Sydney, Deakin University, The Smith Family and headspace National Youth Mental Health Foundation.
Featured client story: WorkSafe Tasmania
Challenge: with staff working from home, a government work health and safety regulator needed to ensure home-office setups did not create new injury risks.
Program: individual ergonomic assessments, including remote home-office assessments by a qualified physiotherapist.
Outcome, in the client’s words:
Requested an assessment of home office setup. The physio Wade called on time and gave me useful tips on how to prevent neck and wrist injuries when working at home. Very happy with the service.
Andrew Tunstall
WorkSafe Tasmania
What government teams say
This was a great circuit breaker in the office; I left feeling relaxed and reset to continue my day. Elena was great and friendly and supported the yoga session to suit the office environment.
Amy Nilon
Suburban Land Agency (ACT)
Tammy was very organised and professional. All staff had a great massage experience!
Julia Cordina
Legal Aid NSW
Why government organisations choose HSG
Holistic Services Group has delivered workplace wellbeing since 2003 and is trusted by more than 1,600 organisations, including the Department of Defence, the Department of Finance, the Australian Federal Police, Legal Aid NSW, the Energy & Water Ombudsman NSW (EWON), the Suburban Land Agency (ACT) and WorkSafe Tasmania. Programs are delivered by specialist facilitators who each hold professional credentials in their discipline, onsite across every Australian capital and online nationwide. HSG responds to all enquiries within 12 hours.
How it works
Simple, structured delivery from brief to program rollout
1. Tell us what you are trying to achieve
Share your goals, team size, timing and location. You do not need a finished brief.
2. Receive a tailored recommendation
HSG suggests suitable services, delivery formats and program options.
3. We coordinate the delivery
HSG matches the right specialist facilitator and manages the practical details with your team.
Workplace wellbeing trends in the government sector
Government workplace wellbeing is moving from one-off activities toward structured, evidence-based programs, with psychosocial risk increasingly central to how agencies support their people. Three themes are shaping that shift:
- Psychosocial risk is central: since the 2023 WHS reforms, agencies are expected to eliminate or minimise hazards such as high job demands, low job control, poor support and exposure to traumatic material through practical controls, including work design, systems of work and supervision, according to Safe Work Australia’s Model Code of Practice: Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work (2022).
- Enforcement is already occurring: in October 2023, Court Services Victoria was fined $379,157 for failing to provide and maintain a safe workplace amid serious psychosocial risks and a harmful workplace culture, according to WorkSafe Victoria’s account of the prosecution (2023).
- Workload pressure remains widespread: 56% of Australian Public Service employees reported workloads above capacity in the 2025 APS Employee Census, including 17% who said they had too much work, according to the Australian Public Service Commission’s 2025 APS Employee Census.
Talk to us about your department’s psychosocial risk obligations.
Frequently asked questions
Yes. HSG works with government clients through standard procurement and purchasing processes and can provide documentation, such as current insurances and provider details, on request. Programs scale from a single workshop to an ongoing arrangement.
Yes. HSG has delivered programs across federal departments, state agencies and local councils, for office-based, hybrid and frontline teams, onsite in every Australian capital and online nationwide.
Yes, they are complementary, and for the government sector the distinction matters. An EAP is reactive support, while psychosocial risk obligations require proactive, higher-order controls such as work design, manager capability and training (Safe Work Australia). HSG’s programs are built to support that proactive side, alongside your EAP.
HSG reports on attendance, participation and staff feedback after each delivery, and many government clients move to ongoing programs. Our experience with Government organisations shows that over time, this work can support engagement, retention, manager capability and psychosocial risk management. Australian research has found an average return of $2.30 for every dollar invested in workplace mental health (PwC, 2014). More recent international research has reported returns of up to £6.30 for every £1 invested (Deloitte UK, 2024).
Yes. HSG tailors content and format to your agency’s context, whether that is a single session, a wellbeing day, or a structured multi-month program aligned to your psychosocial risk and capability priorities.
Start the conversation
Tell us what your team needs, and we’ll help you identify the most suitable service, format or next step.
We respond to all enquiries within 12 hours.
