Background

As the construction industry faces mounting pressure to deliver critical infrastructure, it has reached a crossroads. Issues like chronic overwork, high suicide rates, and a severe lack of diversity are no longer just “part of the job” – they are systemic risks costing the Australian economy approximately $8 billion annually.

That’s why the Construction Industry Culture Taskforce (the CICT) was formed – to look at what the key barriers are that need to be overcome to create a better industry culture and to devise ways to overcome these barriers.

That work undertaken by the CICT has led to the release of the 2025 Culture Standard for the Construction Industry. This framework is designed to move the industry from “whispering” about health to making it a core pillar of project success.

 What is the Culture Standard?

The Culture Standard is a procurement-based framework that establishes clear requirements for how construction projects should be managed to prioritise people. It is built upon three interrelated pillars:

• Wellbeing: Prioritising mental health through stigma-free support programs and schedules that manage workload pressures. 

• Time for Life: Ensuring workers have adequate rest by targeting a 5-day work week (5 days in 7), capping hours at 50–55 per week, and providing consecutive days off 

• Inclusion & Diversity: Creating workplaces free from offensive material, providing proper amenities, and setting transparent targets to increase female participation and close gender pay gaps.

Why was it developed?

The industry’s current performance in these areas is among the poorest in Australia. Key drivers for the Standard include:

• The Wellbeing Crisis: Construction workers face suicide rates double the national average, with 75% reporting high stress.

• The Diversity Gap: As the most male-dominated industry in the country, construction is missing out on a massive talent pool during an acute labor shortage.

• The Productivity Myth: Research from CICT pilot projects proved that reducing hours does not harm productivity; instead, a rested workforce is safer and more efficient.

How will it be used?

The CICT’s goal is for the Standard to become a mandatory part of public sector procurement and the Australian Constructors Association has been lobbying governments to adopt it for that purpose. This would mean that:

• Clients (government agencies) would prioritise the Standard in requests for tenders.
• Contractors would need to demonstrate exactly how they will meet the Standard’s requirements as part of their bid.
• Compliance would be monitored throughout the project life cycle, from delivery to handover.

How to implement the Culture Standard

Successful implementation requires a shift in how projects are planned and led:

• Project Scheduling: Instead of 6- or 7-day site operations being the default for workers, schedules must be built around a 5-in-7 model with “healthy programming” that allows for recovery.

• Flexibility Plans: Each project must develop and promote a specific “Project Flexibility Plan” to support workers with personal and family commitments.

• Leadership Commitment: Leaders must move beyond “safety banter” and proactively advocate for the Standard, ensuring mental health first aiders are available and that gender-biased hiring is eliminated.

How this interacts with positive duties

In recent years, new positive duties have been legislated federally and by each State and Territory to eliminate or reduce risks from psychosocial hazards. Many of these hazards relate directly to the three pillars in the standard (wellbeing, time for life and inclusion and diversity).

A positive duty to prevent sexual harassment and gender-based behaviour and related victimisation and workplace environmental factors is also in place under both federal land State legislation.

So there are already multiple statutory duties on employers and others to address the issues that the Culture Standard has been developed to fix.

Other related duties

In addition to those positive duties, organisations with 100 or more employees have to lodge annual returns on Gender Equality/Pay Gaps with the Workplace Gender Equality Agency and this year, organisations with 500 or more employees have to provide plans detailing targets and action plans for improvement against these targets.

The WGEA publishes information on every respondents’ pay gap each year.

Our thoughts

We have been providing HR service to construction businesses for over 25 years and we are well aware of the challenges that the industry has in each of the 3 pillars in the Culture Standard.

We believe that the right approach to addressing the positive duties to eliminate or reduce risks from psychosocial hazards and to prevent sexual harassment and gender-based behaviour will go a long way towards addressing the matters contained in the Culture Standard.

Mostly, it requires a fundamental change in the way that industry stakeholders think and act. That starts with government and major (head) contractors in how they design work and engage others (eg sub-contractors and other service providers). Educating them and creating a psychologically safe environment for them to engage in the conversation and be part of the solution is critical.

How we can help

Ridgeline HR has been helping organisations including many construction businesses with compliance and cultural matters since 2000.

We have a strong record of working effectively with Government and with industry associations as well as in conducting compliance and cultural assessments of client organisations.

We can help you to design and implement an integrated cultural change program that will address your obligations as set out above and will help you to demonstrate that your organisation meets the Culture Standard.