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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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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 (23)

During the pandemic, many young people had to change their plans for the future. While at the end of 2023 young people’s labour market situation was more favourable than it had been in recent years, many obstacles remained on their route to independence, such as the rising cost of living and

21 May 2024

Using data from the European Working Conditions Telephone Survey 2021 and building on a theoretical model that differentiates between job stressors and job resources, this report examines key psychosocial risks in the workplace and their impact on health.

23 November 2023

The Living, working and COVID-19 survey, first launched by Eurofound in early 2020, aims to capture the wide-ranging impact of the pandemic on the work and lives of EU citizens. The fifth round of the Eurofound survey, which was implemented in spring 2022, also sheds light on a new uncertain reality

07 December 2022

The fifth round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded from 25 March to 2 May 2022, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe two years after COVID-19 was first detected on the European continent. It also explores the reality of living in a new era of uncertainty caused by t

07 July 2022

A new European Disability Strategy was launched in 2021 with the aim of intensifying progress on ensuring the full participation of people with disabilities in society. The increase of EU policy focus on people with disabilities is timely: the COVID-19 pandemic magnified the challenges they faced in

21 March 2022

Following a long recovery from the economic crisis (2007–2013), young people in the EU proved to be more vulnerable to the effects of the restrictions put in place to slow the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic. Young people were more likely than older groups to experience job loss, financial insecurit

09 November 2021

The third round of Eurofound's e-survey, fielded in February and March 2021, sheds light on the social and economic situation of people across Europe following nearly a full year of living with COVID-19 restrictions. This report analyses the main findings and tracks ongoing developments and trends a

10 May 2021

This flagship report summarises the key findings of Eurofound’s research on working conditions conducted over the programming period 2017–2020. It maps the progress achieved since 2000 in improving working conditions and examines whether all workers have benefited equally from positive change. It

26 February 2021

This report presents the findings of the Living, working and COVID-19 e-survey, carried out by Eurofound to capture the far-reaching implications of the pandemic for the way people live and work across Europe. The survey was fielded online.

28 September 2020

In the space of just a few weeks, the COVID-19 pandemic caused by the novel coronavirus has radically transformed the lives of people around the globe. Apart from the devastating health consequences on people directly affected by the virus, the COVID-19 pandemic has had major implications for the

06 May 2020

Online resources results (233)

Negative health outcomes resulting from bullying in the workplace

Concluding a 2006–2009 research programme on bullying at the workplace, the National Research Centre for the Working Environment (Det Nationale Forskningscenter for Arbejdsmiljø, NFA [1]) recently published the report /Bullying and negative behaviour at the workplace/ (Mobning og negativ adfærd på

Working conditions of non-standard workers

Methodological changes introduced in the last Spanish Working Conditions Survey – that is, collecting data only among workers and conducting interviews in the worker’s home instead of at the workplace – allowed gathering information on several, previously ignored groups of workers. This includes

Impact of restructuring on health and safety of workers

In June 2005, a project on ‘Work organisation restructuring in the knowledge society’ (WORKS [1]) was launched, funded by the European Commission [2] under the Sixth Framework Programme [3]. The WORKS project analysed the impact of organisational change – taking place in the context of restructuring

Public administration employees report problems due to working on computers

The project ‘Workplace stress – prevention opportunities’ focuses on the identification of the most frequent and significant stressors in the workplace and also seeks to examine the stress factor of excessive mental load and other negative phenomena such as harassment and violence [1] in public

Working environment shown to play role in early retirement

Since the Labour Market Commission (Arbejdsmarkedskommissionen [1]) thematised early retirement from the labour market, the issue has been widely debated and analysed. The Labour Market Commission was set up in December 2007 to propose initiatives to permanently increase employment, while tackling

Gender differences in quality of work and life

The project ‘QUALITY of life in a changing Europe [1]’ (2006–2009) has been conducted in eight countries – Bulgaria, Finland, Germany, Hungary, the Netherlands, Portugal, Sweden and the UK – under the European Community Sixth Framework Programme. Based on quantitative and qualitative research, the

Employers underline importance of well-being at work

The Confederation of Swedish Enterprise (Svenskt Näringsliv [1]) recently published a study (in Swedish, 262Kb PDF) [2] to evaluate employers’ perspectives on the reasons behind some workers’ dissatisfaction and inability to get on at work. The research is a follow-up to an earlier study (in Swedish

Work-related accidents and risks among migrant workers

An increasing number of workers in Norway are immigrants. At the beginning of 2008, this group accounted for about 9% of the economically active population. The occupational distribution among immigrants, however, differs significantly from that of the total workforce in Norway. Immigrants are more

Migrants subject to poor working and employment conditions

In March 2009, the Centre for the Research of Health at Work (Centro de Investigación en Salud Laboral, CISAL [1]) within the University Pompeu Fabra (Universitat Pompeu Fabra, UPF [2]) published the report ‘Immigration, work and health’ (ITSAL: Inmigración, Trabajo y Salud (3.9Mb PDF) [3]). The

Work appraisal discussions now commonplace

In a best case scenario, having influence over one’s working conditions and work tasks occurs continuously every day. Methods of yearly planning and discussion have also been developed over time. These may play an important part in allowing employees to influence their own working conditions


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
Data results (20)

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