I spend on average a third of my life at work. What I experience there, the relationships, the demands, the autonomy, the recognition, the meaning, profoundly influences my overall mental health. Psychosocial risks (PSR) at work are now recognized as a major public health issue. According to the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work (EU-OSHA), work-related stress is the second most frequently reported health problem in Europe, after musculoskeletal disorders. Its human and economic cost is considerable: absenteeism, presenteeism, turnover, loss of productivity, chronic illnesses. Understanding the mechanisms, risk factors and protection levers is both an individual and collective issue.
1. Psychosocial risks at work: definition and classification
Psychosocial risks (PSR) refer to the risks to mental, physical and social health caused by working conditions, work organization and relationships at work. The Gollac report (2011), a French reference on the subject, identified six families of risk factors:
| Factor risk | Description | Concrete examples |
|---|---|---|
| Intensity and complexity of the work | Quantitative and qualitative overload, frequent interruptions, excessive versatility | Deadlines unrealistic meetings, piling up meetings, conflicting tasks |
| Lack of autonomy | Low decision-making latitude, little room for maneuver, prescribed work | Rigid procedures, micro-management, no power of initiative |
| Poor quality of relationships | Conflict, lack of support, workplace violence, harassment | Isolation, unresolved conflicts, authoritarian management |
| Value conflicts | Discrepancy between personal values and organizational practices | Having to do what one considers harmful, useless or unethical |
| Job insecurity | Fear of losing your job or being downgraded | Restructuring, fixed-term contract, feeling of chronic instability |
| Emotional requirements | Relationships with difficult audiences, having to hide emotions | Contact with suffering, relational tensions with clients or patients |
2. Indicators of suffering at work to monitor
Several indicators make it possible to measure the state of mental health in an organization, at the individual and collective level:
- ●Absenteeism and turnover rate: high absenteeism or significant turnover are often the first signals of collective professional unhappiness.
- ●Presenteeism: come to work despite failing physical or mental health. Presenteeism actually costs more than absenteeism in terms of lost productivity and risk of worsening.
- ●Quality of relationships: repeated conflicts, tensions between teams, aggressive or authoritarian management, silence and collective disengagement.
- ●Individual signals: frequent somatic complaints (back pain, headaches, digestive disorders), unusual irritability, repeated errors, progressive isolation, loss of interest in work.## 3. Protective factors for mental health at work
The Karasek model (demand-control-support) and the Siegrist model (effort-reward) are the two best validated theoretical frameworks for understanding what protects or weakens mental health at work. The best documented protective factors:
- ●Autonomy and control: having room to maneuver over the organization of one's work is one of the most powerful protective factors. Autonomy reduces the deleterious effect of high demands on health.
- ●Social support: from the manager and colleagues. The feeling of not being alone in the face of difficulties is a major buffer against professional stress.
- ●Recognition: being recognized for one's work, financially, symbolically and relationally, is a fundamental need. Its absence is one of the factors most correlated with burnout.
- ●Psychological safety: concept from Amy Edmondson (Harvard): the conviction that I can take interpersonal risks (express disagreement, admit an error) without fear of reprisal. It is the foundation of high-performing and healthy teams.
- ●The meaning of work: understanding why my work is useful and how it contributes to something bigger than me. Loss of meaning is one of the most direct factors of burnout.
4. What I can do at my level as an employee
Identify my specific stressors. Keeping a professional stress diary (situations, intensity, feelings) for 2 weeks allows you to identify recurring triggers and act at the source rather than on the symptoms.
Set clear boundaries. Define and communicate my limits on availability (out of hours, weekends), workload and unacceptable behavior. Unexpressed limits are not respected.
Develop a professional support network. Cultivate authentic relationships with trusted colleagues, identify a supportive manager, join professional networks. Social support at work is one of the best stress absorbers.
Use available resources. Some companies offer employee assistance programs (EAP), psychological support services, and stress management training. These resources are confidential and exist to be used.
Report concerning situations. Staff representatives (CSE), the HR department and the RPS referent are legitimate contacts for reporting situations of collective suffering. Silence makes things worse, warning in good time can prevent irreversible damage.
5. The health check: a tool for preventing RPS
A regular health check-up is an opportunity to assess the state of my mental health in a professional context: level of perceived stress, quality of sleep, energy level, job satisfaction, indicators of early exhaustion. These data, evaluated regularly, make it possible to identify deterioration before it becomes irreversible, and to act in primary prevention, before the breaking point.
💡 tips to remember
- The 6 families of psychosocial risks (intensity, autonomy, relationships, values, insecurity, emotional demands) are documented and measurable. Identifying them in my professional context means acting in prevention.
- Autonomy in the organization of one's work is one of the most powerful protective factors: even in a heavy workload, having room to maneuver significantly reduces the impact on health.
- Psychological safety, being able to express disagreement or admit a mistake without fear of retaliation, is the foundation of mentally healthy, high-performing teams (research by Amy Edmondson, Harvard).
- I keep a professional stress diary for 2 weeks: identifying recurring triggers allows us to act at the source rather than on the symptoms.
- A regular health check-up including an assessment of perceived stress, sleep and job satisfaction makes it possible to detect a deterioration in mental health before the point of no return.
