Project

Management of psychosocial factors in occupational safety and health – PsykOSH

Managing psychosocial factors is a part of occupational safety and health. If work becomes mentally stressful, the content and organization of work and the work community are significant factors in mitigating the strain. This research project will produce new information on the ways in which psychosocial factors are managed at workplaces, as we are currently lacking information on the quality and effectiveness of the methods used at workplaces.

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Timetable

8/2024–2/2027

Objectives

According to a report of the Occupational Safety and Health Panel, managing psychosocial workload factors is seen as challenging in workplaces. Different operating models and methods for assessing and developing well-being at work, recovery and preparedness for change have been developed for workplaces, but there is no overall picture of their use or impact.

Our goal is to produce new information on how knowledge of psychosocial factors is distributed to workplaces and how well the available methods help workplaces manage this complex topic as a whole.

Staying at work and the sustainability of careers are the most important topics in terms of both productivity and long careers. The management of psychosocial factors is essentially linked to the well-being, occupational safety and productivity of personnel.

The project contributes to supporting the Finnish Government Programme’s objectives of strengthening mental health, halving the number of absences due to mental health reasons and promoting proactive well-being at work. The changing nature of work requires a new, more comprehensive approach that is currently not fully supported by existing practices and procedures.

Data and methods

The research data will consist of

role-specific interviews carried out in the target organizations and
documents collected from the target organizations regarding the assessment of occupational safety and health and psychosocial factors.

We will also implement organization-specific workshops and one shared workshop for five companies.

Results and impact

We aim to create an overview and produce an operating model that facilitates the management of psychosocial factors through cooperation between various parties and roles.