Psychosocial Risks Assessment and Services

The Portuguese Psychologists’ Association estimates that workers will be absent due to the stress and psychological health problems for up to 6.2 days a year.
Loss of productivity due to absenteeism caused by stress of up to 3.2 billion a year. The indirect costs of psychosocial risks alone translate into huge financial losses for Portuguese companies.

It’s important to talk about Psychological Health at Work and its integral role in Occupational Health, because psychosocial risks not only have a huge financial impact, but an immeasurable human cost.
And every company is dependent on its human capital.

What are psychosocial risks?

Psychosocial risks arise from deficiencies in the design, organization and management of work, as well as from a problematic social work context, and can have negative effects on psychological, physical and social levels.

According to COPSOQ II (Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire), the main psychosocial risk factors are as follows:

• Quantitative requirements;

• Work pace;

• Cognitive/emotional demands;

• Influence at work;

• Transparency of the work role performed;

• Rewards;

• Labor disputes;

• Work/family conflict;

• Burnout;

• Stress;

• Depressive symptoms;

• Among others.

The existence of one or more of these Psychosocial Risks can contribute to the development of psychological health problems at work, with negative consequences for both employees and companies.

Consequences for workers:

Personal and family suffering;

Physical ailments, such as muscle and joint pain;

Cardiovascular problems or hypertension;

Mental illness, such as depression or burnout.

Consequences for companies:

Absenteeism and/or presenteeism;

An increase in the number of accidents at work and/or occupational illnesses;

Decreased productivity and quality of work;

Need to replace employees and health costs

Against this backdrop, there is a clear need to assess and manage psychosocial risks.

Psychosocial Risk Assessment

The employer has to assess all the risks to which workers are exposed and which cannot be avoided, such as psychosocial risks.

Psychosocial risk assessment should be carried out by an occupational psychologist.
The COPSOQ is the method that has an international consensus on the validity and comprehensibility of assessing psychosocial factors at work.
The version of the COPSOQ to be applied must be defined by the psychologist in conjunction with the company’s Human Resources and can be adapted to the reality of each organization.

After applying the COPSOQ, the psychologist will collect and process the data.
The results are then made known to the company and do not contain any data identifying the individual employee.
After analyzing and understanding the results of the assessment, it is important to draw up an Intervention Plan for Psychosocial Risk Management, which should contain preventive and corrective measures.

The plan should be put together with the occupational health team and the company’s human resources, so as to come up with holistic, practicable actions adapted to the main problems identified.
The psychologist should start implementing the plan based on the priorities for action in order to minimize or eliminate the risks.
The first and most important step is therefore to carry out a psychosocial risk assessment in order to get to know the reality of the organization.
But this step alone is insufficient to improve psychological well-being; action is now needed to manage psychosocial risks.

Managing psychosocial risks

The Psychosocial Risk Intervention Plan necessarily derives from the assessment that carries it out and can be as varied as the characteristics of each company.
In general, we can say that a good psychosocial risk management strategy is one that has defined objectives, is adapted to the organization’s main risks, is realistic to implement given the resources available and is continuous over time.

Here are some preventive and corrective measures that can be part of psychosocial risk management:

Preventive/corrective measures

1. Continuously assessing the possible psychosocial risks in the company;

2. Encouraging good communication in the workplace by implementing different tools and improving the organizational culture;

3. Organize teambuildings to improve the relationship between workers;

4. Promoting health and well-being:

   –   Facilitating access to individual psychological counseling when necessary;

   –   Promoting training/awareness-raising activities on mental health.

5. Work adaptation (flexible working hours, for example);

6. Provide rehabilitation for your employee;

7. Involve employees in decision-making/participation whenever possible, in order to foster a sense of commitment to the job;

8. Adopt practices that better reconcile work and family life;

9. Encourage respect for breaks and rest periods;

10. Appreciate any signs and symptoms of psychosocial maladjustment in the employee and show willingness to provide the most appropriate support, considering the specifics of each situation.

To ensure a healthy and productive working environment, it is essential that companies continue to invest in preventing and correcting psychosocial risks.
In doing so, they not only look after the well-being of their employees, but can also reap the benefits of more motivated, committed and productive teams.

See our infographic here.

Read also: Occupational Risk Assessment Services Lisbon