Psychological health and safety in today’s market Psychological health and safety in today’s market

Establishing a psychologically healthy and safe workplace is critical to maintaining your employees’ overall health, safety and wellbeing.

In brief

• Prioritizing psychological health and safety is vital for employee well-being
• Organizations enhance workplace protection through strategies like belonging, work-life balance, and resilience

Psychological health and safety in today’s market

Why does this matter? 

Establishing a psychologically healthy and safe workplace is critical to maintaining your employees’ overall health, safety and wellbeing.

There is strong evidence that certain attributes and features of a workplace can impact employees’ mental health and psychological safety. The Mental Health Commission of Canada has found that 20% of Canadians will experience a mental health problem or illness annually, and that 50% of Canadians will experience a mental health problem or illness by the age of 40. ¹ Additionally, Mental Health Research Canada has found that only 47% of employees in larger workplaces (500+ employees) are experiencing a positive workplace culture, and that 1 in 5 employees continues to report burnout frequently at work. ²

With the introduction of ISO 45003:2021 and the World Health Organization’s Global Mental Health at Work Framework, psychological health and safety at work has become a priority for organizations globally. Governments have been establishing regulatory requirements to incorporate psychological health and safety in the workplace over the past decade. 

How do we integrate psychological health and safety into the business?

Psychosocial risk factors are defined as “work conditions that can have either a positive or negative effect on employee psychological health and safety.” ³ It is imperative that we understand the impact of our systems and work environment on workers’ psychological health and safety, and that we integrate the management of psychological health and safety into all aspects of the employee experience.

One way your organization can gain a better understanding of your current state when it comes to managing your people’s psychological health and safety is to assess the level of readiness to adopt psychologically healthy and safe systems.

Reviewing your current systems can help shed light on the processes already in place that are promoting and protecting psychological health and safety, and where there may be opportunities to improve. Additionally, this process can help identify the risk factors or hazards you’re managing adequately and those that may require intervention.

According to a new study by the Workforce Institute at UKG, “for almost 70% of people, their manager has more impact on their mental health than their therapist or their doctor — and it’s equal to the impact of their partner.” ⁴ Managers tend to have significant control over the day-to-day experiences employees encounter in the organization. However, responsibility doesn’t always fall on managers’ shoulders. It is important to support your managers with the training and resources they need to foster a psychologically healthy and safe working environment.

The National Standard of Canada for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace outlines a few guiding principles for creating a psychologically safe work environment, including:

• Responsibility is necessarily shared by management, employees and unions.
• Mutually respectful relationships are foundational and need to be defined.
• Everyone has a responsibility to do no harm to the psychological safety of others.

When managing psychological health and safety, it is important to remember that establishing and maintaining a psychologically healthy and safe work environment is a collective effort where all individuals in the organization play a part.

How can work be a protective factor?

The workplace can become a protective factor when organizations consider upstream strategies, including proactive and preventative solutions that optimize employee focus and energy to work successfully and safely. A few examples of upstream strategies include:

• Enhancing belonging
• Supporting work-life balance
• Building resilience
• Encouraging people to seek help
• Encouraging conversations about wellbeing
• Making the workplace accessible and inclusive

As a result of implementing upstream strategies, you can benefit from improvements in recruitment and job retention, employee engagement, sustainability and resilience, and health and safety. Additionally, a supportive workplace can reduce the onset, severity, impact and duration of a mental health disorder. ⁵

How do you take this back to your organization? 

1. Understand your current state.
2. Integrate psychological health and safety into everyday routines.
3. Engage in continual improvement over one-and-done strategies.
4. Make everyone accountable for their impact on the psychological health and safety of others.