Psychosocial working environment: Here are your rights
What is a good psychosocial work environment?
Your psychosocial working environment is the interaction between psychological and social conditions at the workplace. It concerns the work that you do, the framework for your work and your relationship with your manager and your colleagues.
A good psychosocial working environment is, among other things:
- When there is a good balance between your tasks and the framework for solving them.
- When the work tasks are meaningful to you.
- When you have an influence on your work tasks.
- When you get support and recognition from your manager and your colleagues.
- When there is a safe dialogue where employees can be critical, come up with ideas and talk openly about challenges and mistakes without fear of being punished or humiliated.
- When you receive adequate information about upcoming changes and have an influence on them.
What are your rights in relation to the psychosocial work environment?
Your employer has a duty to ensure that your work is entirely safe and healthy, both physically and psychosocically. The employer must therefore take steps to prevent factors such as a heavy workload and time pressure, unclear or conflicting demands, high emotional demands, offensive behaviour or work-related violence from harming employees’ health and safety.
The plan must describe the problems and their causes, how and when they are to be resolved, and who is responsible. There must also be follow-up to check whether the solutions are working. The Health and Safety Committee (AMO) – or, in workplaces without an AMO, the employees – must be involved throughout the APV process.
Read is why it is important to complete your workplace assessment (APV)
Your occupational health and safety representative can help
You can discuss challenges related to the working environment at your workplace with your health and safety representative, if you have one.
All workplaces with more than 9 employees have the right to an occupational health and safety representative (AMR), if there is one who will undertake the task.
Companies with fewer than 9 employees can also have an AMR, but it is not a right.
The employee-elected health and safety representative collaborates with the management to create a proper working environment.
How do I know if my psychosocial work environment is poor?
There is no single definitive sign of a poor psychosocial working environment. However, the following factors may indicate that the psychosocial working environment at your workplace is problematic. This is particularly the case if they are experienced by several employees or persist over a longer period of time:
- Sick leave is on the rise, or more staff are experiencing symptoms of stress
- You or your colleagues are withdrawing from the social or professional community
- Cooperation or the atmosphere at work is becoming more negative or conflict-ridden
- The general mood changes, with a greater tendency towards anger, irritation and crying
- Forgetfulness and difficulty thinking clearly
- You and your colleagues experience difficulties relaxing and calming down
What do I do if my working environment is poor?
Work must be organised in such a way that its impact on the psychosocial working environment is fully satisfactory in terms of health and safety, both in the short and long term.
What you can do if your working environment is poor depends, amongst other things, on the specific health and safety issues and the culture at your workplace.
IDA recommends that you:
- Talk to your colleagues, your working environment representative, your union rep and your immediate manager about the problems.
- Ask your manager for help in clarifying requirements, responsibilities and the prioritisation of tasks
- You complete your APV so that your company can see where the working environment is lagging and do something about it.
- If the above does not help, you can always contact the Danish Working Environment Authority's Call Centre.
- Contact IDA's legal advisors if you have questions about sick leave etc.
Contact the Danish Working Environment Authority's Call Center, AT.dk
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