Are Psychosocial Hazards Sabotaging your Workplace?

Psychosocial hazards are defined by WorkSafe as ‘the aspects of design and management of a workplace, that have the potential to cause psychological or physical harm’. Psychosocial risks and hazards in the workplace can result in stress, burnout, office politics, isolation, and impact employee wellbeing and productivity.

Psychosocial risks are the likelihood that a hazard will cause harm in a particular workplace or role. For example, high sedentary demand is a psychosocial hazard that would be high risk for an office job but not a risk for a job such as farming.

Wellbeing encompasses good physical health and good mental health. Wellbeing is not simply defined by the absence of disease or illness, but a holistic depiction of one's quality of life – the ability to contribute to the world with a sense of meaning and purpose.

Every workplace has different risks, and those risks can be experienced differently across roles, teams, and environments. What is vital to note is that wellbeing is a continuum, and there is no one-size-fits-all approach; what we can do is hope to identify and mitigate psychosocial risks.

Common workplace psychosocial hazards

Psychosocial hazards and wellbeing are important for several reasons:

• Increasing employee satisfaction - Improved mental and emotional states can contribute to greater life and work satisfaction. It contributes to a better workplace culture.
• Strengthening worker retention - When an organisation cultivates a poor work culture with psychosocial hazards, employees are likely to seek alternative employment, leading to higher turnover rates.
• Improving productivity and performance - The OECD (2018) estimated that poor mental health costs the NZ economy 4-5% GDP annually through lost labour productivity, increased healthcare expenditure and social spending.
• Meeting ethical and legal obligations - Organisations can be prosecuted for failing to provide a safe and healthy work environment. However, steps such as directive letters and enforceable undertakings will be implemented first.

Simply asking about and having an open and safe line of communication is a great start. Knowing when and where to refer people when the distress is out of your scope is another key action - a business is not responsible for workers' personal issues, but it is kind and useful to be interested on both a personal and professional level.

Some general ways to mitigate workplace psychosocial risks include:

• Hiring compassionate and resolute leaders / managers
• Talking to your people and responding to what they share and identify
• Integrating psychosocial risk management into your health and safety practices
• Creating policies and procedures around mental health and wellbeing.

Every workplace is different

Because each company is different and is full of various personalities that are impacted uniquely by different hazards, ensuring that your efforts are not isolated initiatives with no further actions is crucial. Any policies and procedures must be implementable and fluid.

The most useful approaches are practical, proportionate, and tailored to the organisation. They should help you understand what is really happening, involve staff in a safe and respectful way, and focus effort where it will make the biggest difference.

Recommended resources

• Workwell – Working better through wellbeing - A free initiative that provides wellbeing resources, workshops and networking opportunities. They also conduct surveys to identify gaps that can be addressed in the workplace.
• Worksafe's Mentally Healthy Work - A collection of short essays exploring key topics in workplace mental health and wellbeing. This essay explores how health and safety practice, legislation, research policy, and cultural developments are changing our understanding and mental health at work in Aotearoa New Zealand.
• GoodManagement Training - Leadership training designed to build managers’ confidence and capability in supporting staff wellbeing, having effective conversations, and navigating psychosocial risk management processes
• Psychosocial Risk Management: How to Identify and Control Workplace Hazards with Dana Carver - This webinar explores real-world case studies and practical approaches to identifying and managing psychosocial risks. It covers factors such as workload, role clarity, leadership, culture, and organisational change, and discusses how organisations can move beyond compliance to create healthier, higher-performing workplaces.

Unità is Scarlatti’s psychosocial risk assessment service, helping organisations identify risks, understand their causes, and prioritise practical actions. It combines staff insights with evidence-based analysis to provide a clear picture of workplace wellbeing and track progress over time.