To truly build psychosocially safe and thriving work environments, HR practitioners must proactively identify and mitigate psychosocial hazards before they become risks. Here are four common hazards to watch out for.

HR’s role in managing psychosocial risks has long been on the strategic agenda since the introduction of the Code of Practice in 2023, and the state-based legislation is now catching up.

In February, the Victorian government announced new regulations mandating employers identify and control psychosocial hazards in workplaces. Expected to take effect by December this year, these changes align all state jurisdictions with national work health and safety regulations. 

“As an HR practitioner, you’re thinking about how to prepare the business and the workforce for the future of work. It’s not only about how you ensure that the workforce is engaged and productive, but that they’re safe and well,” says Anna Dawson, a registered organisational psychologist with expertise in psychosocial risk management. She led the development of SafeWork NSW’s updated Psychological Health and Safety Strategy 2024-2026. 

“[Ensuring] the ‘safe’ and ‘well’ part is all about managing the emerging risks.” 

By adopting a systematic risk management approach, organisations can identify potential psychosocial risks and implement controls to mitigate potential harm (HRMOnline has written previously on conducting a psychosocial risk assessment). 

Below are four common psychosocial hazards, with tips from two experts on how to effectively manage them and contribute towards building a psychosocially safe workplace. 

1. Work/role overload

Work overload is one of the most common causes of workplace stress, says Dawson.

“The nature of the hazard is quite unique to the organisational context,” adds Dr Fiona Brown, a registered psychologist and principal consultant at FBG Group. 

In some cases, long hours and overtime are the issue. In others, it’s the intensity of the work – employees may leave work on time, but struggle to meet unrealistic deadlines or engage in ‘panic working’ behaviours. 

It’s vital for HR practitioners to understand the root causes of work overload, as more often than not work or role overload is driven by a combination of other psychosocial hazards.

For instance, Dawson cites drivers of low job control (when employees have little control over how or when their job is done), poor team dynamics or poor support (from supervisors, colleagues and a lack of resources). 

How HR can address this hazard: 

“Supervisors play a key role in fostering a healthy and safe team environment, and if they’re not checking in with the team, they might miss important aspects,” says Dawson. 

She suggests equipping them with conversation cards and other structured wellbeing check-in tools to manage one-on-one conversations. These templates might include:

• Prompts on what the priority is at that point in time. Dawson recommends tackling no more than three big projects at a single time.
• A plan on how they will complete the work as a team. 
• A reminder for managers to allow space for employees to raise their concerns. For instance, provide useful, open questions they can draw upon: “What can I do to help you achieve these tasks?”, ‘Is there anything else on your mind this week?’

Given that managers might be under significant strain themselves, Brown emphasises the importance for HR to allocate mutual accountability for different psychosocial controls.

“We don’t want managers to be the meat in the sandwich, where they feel like it’s all their responsibility. 

“We need a whole-of-organisation approach because the controls that we design may need other departments to implement them. For example, if we are looking at the workload in a particular area, we might need to look at the workflow from other areas in order to modify this.”

“We see [organisational change] escalating to a risk when it’s not communicated well by the organisation, or it hasn’t drawn the link for how it impacts on that team and the role.” – Anna Dawson, Organisational psychologist and psychosocial risk management expert

2. Poor organisational justice

A less commonly cited psychosocial hazard – yet one equally critical to watch out for – is employees’ perceptions of fairness at work. 

“Someone might feel like they’ve signed up for a job or role, but the task they’ve been allocated to do is not what they thought,” says Dawson. 

Over time, that misalignment in belief can lead to the sense that there has been a “breach of psychological contract” in what was seemingly promised, and a fracturing of workplace relationships.

One growing form of organisational injustice is the inconsistent application of workplace policies or procedures across the organisation. 

Dawson highlights flexible work policies as a common source of contention. 

For instance, an organisation may suggest that flexibility is open to everyone. Someone with parental responsibilities might be granted hybrid arrangements, but a request for flexibility from another employee who doesn’t have parental responsibilities is rejected. If the rationale behind the decision is poorly communicated, this might result in a sense of injustice and erode trust.

How HR can address this hazard:

Communicate decision-making processes transparently where relevant, especially if there are discrepancies between the policy and its practical implementation.

With the flexible work scenario posed above, the complete conditions for requesting flexible working arrangements should have been communicated to the broader workforce, including how to request one, what may be requested and when it may be refused. 

However, a misalignment on workplace policy also functions as a warning signal for HR practitioners, says Dawson. 

“Why is the policy not implemented to its full intent? Is it time to review the policy and update that? Or is it due to a lack of understanding from the supervisor in terms of how it’s interpreted? Is there guidance material to support the practical application of the policy?”

3. Lack of role clarity

Businesses are increasingly operating in leaner environments with high levels of uncertainty. This can have trickle-down effects on the employee experience, such as employees not understanding what’s required of them on a day-to-day basis. 

Research from Gallup in 2023 revealed that, globally, only half of employees strongly agree that they know what is expected of them at work.

Poor role clarity might manifest through confusion around roles and responsibilities, or because employees do not understand how their work fits into the bigger picture, says Brown.

A lack of role clarity not only impacts how employees get their work done (particularly, when paired with high workload), but it can cause them significant anxiety and stress. 

How HR can address this hazard:

Ensure that job descriptions are clear and up-to-date. And, if appropriate, consider adopting a dynamic role description which evolves over time as an employee’s role changes. 

By enabling employees to define how they will achieve designated goals, in mutual agreement with their manager, dynamic roles can clarify expectations, give them greater control over their job and minimise ambiguities caused by overly prescriptive job descriptions – especially as business objectives change.  

Read HRM’s article on how this organisation reconfigured job descriptions into dynamic roles. 

It can also be helpful to connect the dots of the role to the bigger picture, says Dawson. This might involve rethinking how you approach performance management. 

“Those [performance] conversations tend to focus on whether [the employee] has met the target or not for some organisations; it’s very transactional. 

“Flipping it into one of growth and development reframes it to be more focused on [how they’re] contributing to the bigger purpose of their role, their team and their organisation.”

She suggests incorporating the SMART framework, developed by Professor Sharon Parker at Curtin University’s Centre for Transformative Work Design, in these quarterly conversations to discover possible improvements to work design. 

The framework identifies key characteristics of work as:

• Stimulating: Ensuring there’s enough variety in the job to keep it engaging and stimulating.
• Mastery: Individuals know what to do and whether they’re doing it well via consistent feedback.
• Agency: Ensuring employees have the autonomy to complete their tasks and the agency to make relevant and appropriate decisions.
• Relational: The level to which an individual experiences a sense of support, purpose and social contact in their role.
• Tolerable demands: Ensuring the work itself is sustainable.

Sharing these reflective prompts (for example, ‘Do you currently feel like you are getting enough variety in your work?’) with employees can turn traditional one-way performance discussions into a collaborative conversation. 

4. Poorly managed organisational change

Workforces of today are set to experience more change in their professional lives than in recent history, yet employees are less willing to embrace this change. 

“We see [organisational change] escalating to a risk when it’s not communicated well by the organisation, or if it hasn’t drawn the link for how it impacts on a team [or individual],” says Dawson.

“If people can’t understand how that change impacts on their own role, then that causes anxiety.”

How HR can address this hazard:

HR leaders are in a powerful position to ensure the people experience is kept front and centre within change management strategies. 

Integrate psychosocial risk assessments into every stage of the change phases, and continually review these before the change is rolled out, says Dawson. 

“When you implement change, you look at financial risk, reputational risk and governance. The people are at the heart of the business and I think it’s [equally] important to embed people risk. 

“Work with the executive team to determine what kind of change is required, and have those prompts to discuss the people implications as a part of normal business risk discussions.”

By adopting a proactive lens to psychosocial risk management at all levels of the organisation, HR practitioners can not only meet evolving compliance requirements, but build a mentally healthy workplace culture where all employees are supported to thrive.

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