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Psychosocial risks

Psychosocial risks are aspects of the design and management of work, and its social and organisational contexts, that have the potential for causing psychological or physical harm. Work-related stress is one of the health risks most frequently identified by workers in Europe. The factors that can cause stress for workers and influence their health and well-being can be related to the following: job content; work intensity and job autonomy; working time arrangements and work–life balance; social environment, including interpersonal relationships at work and social support; job insecurity and career development. 

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From January to June 2024, Eurofound supports the work of Belgium's presidency of the Council of the EU, providing valuable research results on specific topics linked with the presidency priorities.

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From July to December 2023, Eurofound supported the work of Spain's presidency of the Council of the EU, providing valuable research results on specific topics linked with the presidency priorities.

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Definitions

European Industrial Relations Dictionary 

Eurofound expert(s)

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Sara Riso is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound. She is involved in research projects in the areas of employment change and restructuring. She joined...

Research manager,
Working life research unit
Oscar Vargas Llave

Oscar Vargas Llave is a research manager in the Working Life unit at Eurofound and manages projects on changes in the world of work and the impact on working conditions and related...

Research manager,
Working life research unit
Publications results (22)

This article presents some of the key developments and research findings on health and well-being in the EU from Q2 2014 to Q1 2015 – primarily in terms of improving the psychosocial work environment. In terms of psychosocial risks, some European countries have made progress towards a culture of

28 April 2015

This article presents some of the key developments and research findings on health and well-being in workplaces in the EU during the first quarter of 2014. Physical and psychosocial risk factors, work-related health and well-being outcomes, violence and harassment at work and occupational health and

18 February 2015

This article presents some of the key developments and research findings on aspects of health and well-being during the third quarter of 2014. Mental health of employees, psychosocial problems caused by working conditions and legislation to help reduce stress in the workplace are the main focus of

18 February 2015

Acknowledging the complexity of the relationship between health and work, the report presents comparative information on the prevalence of psychosocial risks among workers and examines the associations between these risks and health and well-being. It also looks at the extent to which establishments

17 October 2014

Violence at work can manifest itself in many ways. The variety of negative behaviour covered under the general umbrella term of workplace violence is so large and diverse that it makes it difficult to adopt a unified and integrated approach dealing with all the forms of workplace violence

08 April 2014

This report looks at industrial relations practices regarding health and safety strategies in the European steel sector. The findings are based on desk research and a comparative analysis of company practices in three company case studies: ArcelorMittal in France, Rautaruukki in Finland and

08 April 2014

The health and well-being of individuals are two dimensions around which researchers and policymakers are re-arranging the debate on how to foster the progress of societies. Health and well-being have an intrinsic value, which should be part of the very definition of progress, and also a societal

15 May 2013

Data presented in this report support and complement previous analyses on quality of working life in Slovenia, which indicated increasing work intensity in Slovenian companies over the last decade. The report is based both on analysis of the standard European Working Conditions Survey questionnaire

24 September 2012

This issue of Foundation Focus looks at the relationship between work and health, using first findings from Eurofound’s fifth European Working Conditions Survey which was launched on 16 and 17 November 2010 under the Belgian EU presidency. With the additional support of the European Commission, the

29 March 2011

Workplace violence is a social phenomenon of a certain magnitude. Overall, approximately one in ten European workers report having experienced some form of workplace violence, either physical or psychological, in the previous 12 months. Foundation Findings provide pertinent background information

17 September 2010

Online resources results (233)

Survey confirms effectiveness of collective agreements

As part of the European Social Fund project, ‘The practical implementation in economic spheres and enterprises of regulations regarding working conditions and safety at work’, which began in 2008, the Free Trade Union Confederation of Latvia (LBAS [1]) undertakes a population survey. The aim is to

Job insecurity and effort-reward imbalance affect health and well-being

The National Research Centre for the Working Environment (NFA [1]) recently published the results from a substantial research project entitled ‘Psycho-social work environment, mental health and working capacity (in Danish) [2]’, carried out between 2007 and 2010. The study reveals that work-related

Importance of trust in creating committed employees

Richard Berglund, a social scientist at the Department of Work Science at the University of Gothenburg [1], followed three companies during four years for his doctoral thesis while these companies introduced ‘lean production’. Lean production entails a continuous process of quality and improvement

Sick leave rates during the economic crisis

Research by the Institute of Public Health of the Republic of Slovenia (Inštitut za varovanje zdravja [1]) into the impact of the economic crisis on absenteeism found that those industries reported to be most affected by the crisis also underwent substantial changes in sick leave rates. Analysis of

TUC survey shows rise in psychosocial hazards at work

The Trades Union Congress (TUC [1]) published the findings from its latest survey of health and safety representatives [2] in October 2010. A major part of the survey is designed to provide an indication of the hazards that health and safety representatives must deal with and the problems they face

Night work and working conditions in 2009

In February 2011, the French Agency for Studies, Research and Statistics (Dares, [1] part of the Ministry of Work, Employment and Health [2]) published the results of a study (in French, 187Kb PDF) [3] on night work [4] in France in 2009, including a comparison with the extent of night work in 1991

‘Evil Eleven Syndrome’: The dark side of workplaces

A theoretical framework of participatory action research developed by Associate Professor Sirpa Syvänen of the Tampere University School of Management in Finland during the course of her postgraduate studies (Syvänen, 2003) was used to examine the culture at workplaces in the social sector providing

Effort–reward imbalance and overcommitment for municipality employees

According to the effort–reward imbalance (ERI) model (see Siegrist et al, 2004), effort at work is reciprocated by adequate reward as part of a social contract. Rewards are transmitted in the following three ways:

Effects of shift work in the Norwegian petroleum industry on family and social life

Operations in the petroleum industry require continuous shift schedules. Although some health effects are known to result from shift work, less is known about its effect on the social and family life of the workers.

Happy at work: 10 years of research on job perceptions and evaluations

From 1999 to 2007, DIOVA [1], the directorate for the study into the improvement of working conditions within Belgium’s Federal Ministry of Work, Employment and Social Dialogue [2], supported and encouraged surveys on the psychosocial aspects of work in a range of companies and organisations. The


Blogs results (5)
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'Women belong in all the places where decisions are made', to borrow from the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg. These decisions are made everywhere and at every level: in the home and at the workplace; in the boardroom and on the shop floor. Which is why it is of such serious concern to see the ongoing deep

8 March 2023
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Women and frontline workers are most exposed to the risks of adverse social behaviour at work, such as burnout, exhaustion, anxiety and depression. This is according to the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021 (EWCTS). In this data story, we dive into EWCTS data (EU27) to examine the

A worker sitting on the floor

The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the way we live and work. With the lifting of restrictions across the globe, we are now able to examine the many repercussions on the world of work. In particular, the unique demands of the last few years have shone a harsh spotlight on the pressures brought to bear

17 January 2023
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Lower levels of health, increasing financial pressure and a significant degree of unmet healthcare: these are the findings of the fifth round of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey: Living in a new era of uncertainty – a report that presents an overview of responses from over 200,000 people

6 October 2022
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​​​​​​​While women appear to be more resilient than men to COVID-19 in terms of health outcomes, that is not the case when it comes to the economic and social fallout. Measures taken by governments to control the spread of the virus are exacerbating gender divides in unemployment, domestic labour

Upcoming publications results (1)

Over the last decade, Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) have changed the way employees work and communicate with each other. Despite the many benefits of digitalisation of work, the widespread access to digital devices in working life provides an alternative medium for new forms of a

September 2024

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