Looking beyond wellbeing initiatives
There is an important distinction between supporting employee wellbeing and managing psychosocial risk.
Wellbeing initiatives generally focus on supporting the individual. They may provide access to counselling, promote physical activity, raise awareness of mental health or help employees develop strategies for managing pressure.
These measures can be valuable. However, psychosocial risk management asks a different question: which aspects of the work may be contributing to harm, and what reasonable measures could help to control those risks?
The HSA identifies potential causes of work-related stress such as:
- excessive workloads;
- conflicting demands and lack of role clarity;
- limited involvement in decisions that affect the employee;
- limited influence over how work is performed;
- ineffective communication or inadequate support;
- poorly managed organisational change;
- job insecurity; and
- bullying, harassment or violence.4
Where factors such as these are present, individual support may help employees manage their effects. However, support alone may not address the underlying workplace issue.
For example, resilience training is unlikely to resolve a workload that remains consistently unmanageable. Similarly, an Employee Assistance Programme may support an employee affected by inappropriate workplace behaviour, but it does not remove the need to address the behaviour itself.
Wellbeing measures and risk prevention can therefore complement one another, but they serve different purposes.
Applying a preventive approach
Effective prevention begins with identifying psychosocial hazards, assessing the risks they create and implementing appropriate controls. Employee participation is an important part of the process, helping organisations understand where work demands, systems or behaviours may be contributing to unnecessary pressure.⁴
Practical measures employers can consider
The appropriate controls will depend on the organisation and the findings of its risk assessment.
Measures may include:
- reviewing workloads, staffing levels and deadlines;
- clarifying roles, responsibilities and reporting lines;
- involving employees in decisions that affect their work;
- improving communication during organisational change;
- addressing bullying, harassment or other inappropriate behaviour; and
- ensuring managers are equipped to respond to concerns.
The objective is not necessarily to eliminate all pressure from working life. Some pressure can be manageable or motivating. The priority is to identify circumstances in which workplace demands or conditions may create a foreseeable risk to health and to consider reasonable, proportionate controls.
Supporting employee wellbeing remains important. However, where work itself is contributing to poor mental health or work-related stress, prevention should also examine the work.