PeopleSense: Psychology & Wellbeing by Altius

PeopleSense: Psychology & Wellbeing is Altius's specialist division providing workplace wellbeing, exercise physiology, and psychology solutions to organisations across Australia, covering complex injury management, injury prevention, and Employee Assistance Programs (EAP). The team has delivered more than one million counselling and wellbeing sessions, with 180+ permanently employed psychologists across Australia supporting 400 sessions every day.

Employee psychological wellbeing refers to an employee's mental state at work, their ability to use their own abilities, cope with normal work-related stress, and contribute productively, rather than simply the absence of mental illness. 

Employee wellbeing generally improves when organisations combine proactive support, like early check-ins and risk identification, with practical, ongoing resources people can actually use, rather than relying on one-off perks. PeopleSense brings this together through Wellbeing Programs, which support employees directly.

Signs of poor employee wellbeing can include increased absenteeism, reduced engagement or productivity, visible stress, withdrawal from colleagues, or a rise in workplace conflict. These signs are often gradual, which is why regular, proactive check-ins tend to catch them earlier than waiting for a crisis. PeopleSense's Wellbeing Programs are built around this kind of early identification, using structured wellbeing checks to flag concerns before they escalate.

Employee wellbeing refers to the overall physical, mental, and emotional health of employees at work, shaped by things like job satisfaction, stress levels, work-life balance, and the support available to them. PeopleSense addresses this holistically, covering everything from Psychological Counselling & Assessments to Exercise Physiology, on the basis that mental, physical, and workplace wellbeing are all connected.

An example of employee wellbeing in practice might be an employer offering confidential counselling support, running regular wellbeing checks to catch stress or burnout early, or providing coaching around physical health, rather than employee wellbeing being any single perk on its own. At Altius, this looks like PeopleSense's combination of Employee Assistance Programs (EAP) for confidential counselling and Exercise Physiology for recovery and long-term physical wellbeing.

There's no single, universally agreed set of "pillars" of workplace wellbeing; different frameworks describe it differently. Some point to four pillars (mental, physical, social, and financial), others to five ways to wellbeing (connect, be active, learn, take notice, give), and others to six, including job security and work-life balance. The common thread is that wellbeing at work is multidimensional, not just physical health. PeopleSense reflects this by covering the physical, psychological, and social sides of wellbeing together through Exercise Physiology and Wellbeing Programs, rather than treating them separately.

Employee wellbeing is important because it directly affects retention, productivity, absenteeism, workplace culture, and safety. While EAP services provide employees with access to confidential support when challenges arise, organisations also need to address the workplace conditions that can impact mental health and wellbeing. Altius supports both. Through EAP and Psychosocial Risk Management services, we help organisations identify and address potential psychosocial hazards while ensuring employees have access to the support they need. This end-to-end approach helps organisations move beyond responding to issues and towards creating healthier, safer, and more resilient workplaces.