Aim: Discourse around workplace mental health is changing. Legislative changes, new guidance from regulatory bodies and increasing labour market competition indicate that a singular focus on managing mental ill-health at work, while important, is too narrow. There is now increasing awareness that well-designed work and working environments can not only protect against ill-health, but they can also promote performance and wellbeing (Parker et al., 2017). The Future of Work Institute’s Thrive at Work initiative was established to help employees, organisations, and industry navigate the challenge of creating a work environment that supports the full spectrum of mental health – from negative ill-health to positive wellbeing (Parker et al., 2022). The aim of this symposium is to introduce the Thrive at Work initiative and discuss how the initiative brings together research theory, data insights, and practical interventions to enhance workplace practices and generate new scientific knowledge on mental health and wellbeing.

Content: The three presentations in this symposium will discuss applied research conducted under the Thrive at Work initiative. The first presentation will introduce the Thrive at Work initiative and its underpinning theory and integrative framework that helps to tackle the full spectrum of mental health. The second presentation will present novel insights from the organisational data that has been collected from the Thrive at Work Initiative to-date. This data will provide a "zoomed out" lens on workplace mental health and wellbeing challenges across Australian workplaces, with a focus on sustainable wellbeing. The third presentation will provide a "zoomed in" lens by walking through a case study from an Australian organisation. This case study will illustrate how the Thrive at Work process is applied in practice to co-design fit-for-purpose interventions with a workforce by drawing on both theory and data.

Goals: The goals of this symposium are to introduce the Thrive at Work initiative and explore how the initiative integrates theory, data insights, and practical interventions to improve workplace practices and contribute back to the research evidence-base. The symposium will emphasise a shared problem space between academics, practitioners, and business leaders – helping to build connections and further bridge the academic-practitioner divide.

At the conclusion of the event, attendees will be able to:
- Gain an understanding of the theoretical lenses from different research disciplines that are important to consider when trying to address workplace mental health and wellbeing.
- Gain an understanding of the state of mental health and wellbeing, and organisational practices to support mental health and wellbeing across several Australian organisations.
- Gain knowledge of how to integrate theories and employee perception data to co-design fit-for-purpose interventions with a workforce to improve mental health and wellbeing.
- Evaluate and prioritise psychosocial risks to be addressed for a specific workforce.