What are psychosocial risks (PSR)?

Psychosocial risks are occupational risks that should not be taken lightly. They can affect any employee and are increasing in the current context. Indeed, new psychosocial risks are emerging with the remote working mode, often imposed since the beginning of the Covid-19 crisis. 37% of those recently interviewed point to isolation and admit to suffering psychologically from the current situation. It also appears that for 83% of employee representatives, the crisis has aggravated psychosocial risks. Would you like to know more? IPAG takes stock of PSR, risk factors, symptoms and possible solutions.

Psychosocial risks (PSR): Definition

Psychosocial risks, or PSRs, are a set of occupational risks that affect the physical or mental health of an employee. These psychological or physical concerns have a real impact on the company and its operations, since they can put employees in no condition to do their jobs effectively. They are one of the recently discovered occupational diseases affecting mental health and present many risks to physical and mental health. There are many forms of psychosocial risks:

• Stress : acute or chronic stress can be aggravated by assignments, a work environment or an unsuitable job. If it persists over time, stress can have an irreversible psychological effect, on a person.
• Burn-out : also known as burnout, burn-out is a serious depressive disorder. The employee suffering from it no longer finds meaning in his or her work, is physically and morally exhausted and cannot achieve the desired results. He or she loses complete control over his or her professional life, which almost always has an impact on his or her personal life.
• Depression: This mental disorder is characterised by a loss of interest in one's usual activities, great sadness, low self-esteem and is often accompanied by feelings of guilt. Depression also causes fatigue and difficulty concentrating.
• Harassment: there are several types of harassment: sexual harassment, physical harassment and mobbing. Bullying can be direct, indirect, collective or individual. Harassment can contribute to burn-out, depression and stress. In the most serious cases, it can lead to suicide.
• Attacks: isolated or repeated moral or physical attacks are part of psychosocial disorders.

Psychosocial risk training

What are the psychosocial risk factors at work?

• As you can see, there are many psychosocial risks. Each risk described can interact with and add to the others. It is important to understand the causes of psychosocial risks at work in order to anticipate and combat them. These include:
• Insecurity of the job, of the work situation
• Lack of autonomy: an employee who feels oppressed, restricted, monitored and judged is likely to develop PSR.
• Poor relations within the company: tensions with the hierarchy or team members are difficult to manage on a daily basis. In the long run, they can create anxiety and contribute to burn-out. These conflicts can also be a source of harassment.
• High demands at work: intense or complex assignments can affect the quality of working life. Good organisation at work and assignments that are adapted to the talents and skills of employees are essential to ensure that everyone can flourish in their jobs and avoid unhappiness at work.
• Too many emotional demands: our emotions are sometimes put to the test at work. Strained relationships with clients, having to hide our emotions, or being subjected to verbal or physical abuse can cause PSR.
• Conflicts of values: having values that differ from those of the company or one's colleagues is a factor in psychosocial risks. The employee may feel isolated, left out, judged or out of step with the company. One thing leading to another, they generally lose the meaning of their work and develop PSR.

Training in the prevention of psychosocial risks

In addition to affecting health and safety at work, PSRs can have a particularly significant impact on a company and its employees. It is therefore important to have people capable of anticipating, preventing and managing psychosocial risks within a company. Do you want to guarantee good working conditions for your employees? To be able to carry out a professional risk assessment? Are you a manager who would like to receive training in the prevention of psychosocial risks? In the assessment of professional risks? IPAG offers a training course on psychosocial risks. This short training course takes place over one day and covers all the issues surrounding psychosocial risks.

How to detect psychosocial risks?

Knowing how to identify the main signs of PSRs is essential for good prevention of psychosocial risks. All the PSRs mentioned above can manifest themselves in different ways. In combination, some indicators are obvious signs of PSR. Absenteeism, late deliveries, repeated conflicts, mood swings, high fatigue, isolation, frequent work stoppages are all indicators of PSR. Generally speaking, significant changes in behaviour, a significant drop in productivity or difficulty in carrying out the simplest tasks are signs of suffering at work.

Psychosocial risk course

Do you think one of your colleagues is suffering from PSR? The situation should not be taken lightly. We recommend that you contact a manager or an employee representative who is familiar with psychosocial risk prevention measures in companies. This prevention actor will be able to take action to ensure your colleague's health and safety at work.