Managing psychosocial risks

The Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has developed a risk-assessment process (with a set of accompanying resources) which helps employers to manage work-related wellbeing in their workforce. This approach is centred on a set of benchmarks – the HSE Management Standards – for measuring good practice across six key areas of work that, if not properly managed, can lead to poor health, lower productivity, higher rates of sickness absence, and retention problems.

The six key areas (shown below) are demands, control, social support (from leaders and peers), interpersonal relationships, clarity of role, and involvement in organisational change – represent potential psychosocial hazards for the workforce.

The six areas covered by the HSE Management Standards

The HSE framework is a widely used and effective way to identify the most stressful aspects of work for different organisations or sectors. For health and social care organisations in particular, the approach has strong potential to help manage workforce stress and build a culture that supports resilience. It helps employers to assess how well they are managing each potential ‘hazard’ and to target interventions more effectively. 

The HSE risk assessment process

1. Identifying risk factors: Identify the risk factors using the HSE’s Management Standards Indicator Tool (i.e. the questionnaire – see below); this is usually administered via an online survey. Care must be taken to assure people of anonymity and confidentiality.

2. Who can be harmed and how?: Analyse the data using the HSE’s Analysis Tool and Indicator Tool User Manual. A ‘traffic light’ system is used to identify priority areas for attention (e.g. demands, control or support, or change management).

3. Evaluate the risks: Identify whether any groups of employees (e.g. job type, sex or mode of employment) are at greater or lesser risk than others.

4. Develop and implement interventions: A comprehensive workbook developed by the HSE provides guidance on how to shape interventions to address each of the hazards.

5. Monitor and review: Re-administer the survey to assess the effectiveness of the interventions.

The full range of resources and tools developed by the HSE as part of its Management Standards approach can be found here.

Identifying psychosocial risk factors using the HSE Indicator Tool

HSE has developed a self-report questionnaire – the HSE Indicator Tool – to help employers measure levels of risk across each of the six key work areas or potential hazards.

The questionnaire comprises 35 statements (e.g. ‘I have unachievable deadlines’); practitioners are asked to tick one of five options to indicate the extent to which each statement applies to them. The work areas, or hazards, are:

1. Demands: workload, pace of work and working hours

2. Control: levels of autonomy over working methods, pacing and timing

3. Support – peer support: assistance and respect received from colleagues and managerial support: supportive behaviours from line managers and the organisation itself, including encouragement and the availability of feedback

4. Relationships: conflict at work, including bullying and harassment

5. Role: role clarity and the belief that work fits into the organisation’s aims

6. Change: how well organisational changes are managed and communicated

Every type of job has its own stressors, so the HSE approach can be supplemented with questions that are particularly relevant to specific working contexts. Research findings show, for example, that the emotional demands of health and social care can be a particular source of stress, as is working within a ‘blame culture’ (Ravalier, 2018; Travis et al., 2016). Setting up a steering group can help leaders identify the more job-specific sources of stress experienced by practitioners, which might otherwise be overlooked when using a more generic approach. Steering groups and/or focus groups that are chaired by an independent facilitator in an informal environment are particularly effective in encouraging people to contribute. The HSE resources include advice on setting up a wellbeing focus group or steering group.