Workers’ compensation: stopping the stigma

SafeWork has just launched an awareness campaign running until November to raise awareness of the discrimination and stereotyping that too often follows a workers’ compensation claim.

Stigma around a work-related injury or illness is more common than you might think. According to the most recent Return to Work Survey (2025), over two in five injured workers thought they would be treated poorly by people at work when they returned, while 64.5 per cent of those with psychological injuries felt their supervisor thought they were exaggerating or faking their injury.

The risks associated with becoming one of these statistics are only increasing for employers.

Under workplace health and safety (WHS) laws, employers must treat psychosocial risks such as bullying or harassment arising from stigma just as seriously as they treat physical risks.

What is workers’ compensation stigma?

Workers’ compensation is financial or other support that workers can claim if they’re injured or become ill as a result of their work.

Stigma refers to the discrimination or stereotyping a worker might experience as a result of seeking workers’ compensation. It can come from co-workers, from employers, or even from your workplace’s own systems – inflexible management practices, poor access to information, and vague communication all quietly reinforce it.

There are red flags to watch for that indicate this kind of stigma is affecting your workplace:

• Workers are hesitant to report a workplace injury.
• Workers are worried a claim might affect their reputation as a hard worker.
• Workers feel a claim might put their job at risk.
• Supervisors or co-workers make comments suggesting a claim is exaggerated or faked.

It’s a common misconception that workers’ compensation operates like a paid holiday. The reality is very different: it exists to cover medical costs, provide psychological and counselling support, and help your best people return to work in a way that protects both their recovery and your business’s productivity and culture.

How to fight stigma in the workplace

How a claim is handled – from the moment an injury is reported to the day someone returns to full duties – shapes whether stigma takes hold, and leadership sets the tone from the top down. Five things make the biggest difference:

• Check in on the person, not the timeline. Rather than asking when someone will be back, ask what support they need to get there. Build this into a genuine return-to-work plan that assigns duties reflecting where they’re at in their recovery, not where they were before the injury.
• Talk about workers’ compensation before you need to. Raising awareness of the process proactively – rather than only when someone is going through it – is one of the most effective ways to reduce stigma before it starts.
• Put formal policies and procedures in place. Clear, well-communicated policies make workers more confident about coming forward with an injury or illness, and keep managers consistent in how they respond.
• Keep information current and accessible. Workers feel more supported when they can easily find clear, up-to-date material on how the workers’ compensation process actually works.
• Provide and promote support services. Actively make counselling and other support services visible and easy to access, rather than leaving workers to seek them out on their own.

Eliminating stigma is not all about compliance

Litigation risk is real, but it’s only part of the case for tackling stigma. The bigger prize is retaining skilled workers and protecting the culture you’ve built.

Stigma has a habit of making problems bigger, not smaller. Workers who feel unable to report an injury often keep working through it, which tends to lead to larger claims and longer recovery times down the track. On top of the physical injury, the stigma itself can cause secondary psychological harm, extending recovery even further.

The impact of workplace stigma trickles through the business. Stigma around workers’ compensation lowers morale and productivity across a team, and over time, it costs businesses their best talent – the people who decide it isn’t worth staying somewhere they don’t feel supported.

Getting ahead of SafeWork’s campaign isn’t just about compliance. It’s an opportunity to build a workplace where people trust that raising an injury or illness won’t cost them their reputation, their role, or their recovery.

How Citation Safety can help

Building a workplace culture that supports injured and unwell workers takes more than good intentions – it takes the right policies, training, and systems behind them. Citation Safety can help you review your current return-to-work practices, build manager capability, and put the formal processes in place to reduce psychosocial risk and support your people well before an injury ever happens.

Get in touch with Citation Safety to find out more.