The Importance of Addressing Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace

An employee will spend at least one third of his total daily time working in the office. It is not surprising that the work environment has a crucial impact on a person's thinking and behavior, even outside the workplace.

Keeping employees motivated, safe, and physically and mentally healthy is an effort to manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace. In a safe workplace, motivation will emerge to work and maintain relationships between employees. This is what will make the work environment more conducive to achieving common goals.

What is Psychosocial Harm?

Psychological and psychosocial safety in the workplace is a different issue. By definition, psychosocial refers to all relationships between humans and their behavior and social environment.

On the other hand, psychological factors relate to feelings and experiences related to thoughts and mental health. Based on this, it can be said that psychological factors are one aspect of the psychosocial situation.

Quoting from an article from The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the psychosocial environment has relevance to improving performance and well-being.

Certain types of work and work environments such as working alone, remote work, shift work, and repetitive work can contribute to psychosocial risks. It is important to identify and understand psychosocial hazards or common stressors that may cause conflict, distress, or physical health risks.

Examples of Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace

1. Work relationships: lack of close relationships at work and an isolated work environment affect motivation. Bullying, discrimination, aggressive or violent behavior, and various forms of harassment can also cause psychosocial harm.
2. Job insecurity and organizational change: lack of job or position prospects can cause mental stress. Lack of recognition for achievements can also cause job discomfort.
3. Job demands: effort that may be too much for a position to be handled by one person, when it should be several different people. Lack of job support or clarity can also be a psychosocial hazard.
4. Traumatic events: violence from inside or outside the company such as harassment, threats of danger, pressure and fear. In certain cases, external factors such as customers, robbers, or natural disasters can also affect mental health.

The Importance of Managing Psychosocial Safety

Apart from being dangerous for employees' mental health, psychosocial security also has a role in keeping companies compliant with regulations. The following are several things that need to be considered in minimizing psychosocial dangers in the workplace.

1. Maintain employee motivation

It is important to manage psychosocial hazards in the workplace to ensure that employees remain motivated, safe, and physically and mentally healthy. A psychosocially safe workplace is a workplace that encourages more work and can help foster better relationships between employees.

2. Minimize the impact on others

Not only is it dangerous for employees as individuals, psychosocial dangers can also have an impact on the people around them. When an employee feels tired, his or her attitude tends to be unfriendly, which can disturb family, friends and even co-workers.

3. Future legal compliance

Protection for workers is something that is also regulated by the government. Not only in Indonesia, other countries such as Western Australia also regulate it in the form of updating the 2020 Occupational Health and Safety Law, as well as creating a Code of Practice (Psychosocial Hazards in the Workplace) to reflect the management of psychosocial hazards.

Companies need to remain committed to providing and maintaining reasonable employee health. Even though there are no strict mandates to comply, understanding psychosocial hazards can help companies stay in legal compliance if there are certain standards required of employees.

Psychosocial dangers have many ways to overcome them, depending on the nature of the danger. Some harms can be reduced by eliminating stress triggers or improving communication between employers and employees, and workers and customers. However, also consider interventions for drastic changes such as restructuring certain organizational processes and relocating or repositioning employees.