Much of HR’s current practice aligns with the new psychosocial health code of conduct, meaning HR practitioners are well-positioned to lead their organisations through updated legislative requirements.
Fair work amendments, psychosocial hazard codes, the Closing Loopholes Bill and the Right to Disconnect legislation – in addition to a number of other external business pressures – have required leaders and HR practitioners to wrap their heads around a lot of change this year. On top of this, many of the new obligations that employers need to be aware of are still in the process of being clarified.
The concept of psychosocial health in particular is causing a fair bit of confusion for businesses.
People are talking about how overwhelming it feels and how hard it is to understand what the new requirements entail, let alone how to go about meeting them.
Below, I’ve outlined some of the ways we can link our current HR practices with new psychosocial safety duties.
What is psychosocial health?
Psychosocial health includes both the psychological and social factors that influence individual wellbeing at work. This includes workplace culture, employee relationships, work-life balance and mental health.
It encompasses many issues currently in conversation, such as understanding burnout, the impact of wellbeing on performance and engagement, and how remote or hybrid working affects workplace connection.
It includes a more thorough understanding of how work influences mental health, as well as the importance and impact of leadership on the experience of work.
It builds on what we know of psychological safety, belonging, respect and civility. In fact, ‘psychosocial health’ brings together so much of what seasoned HR practitioners and leaders have been doing for years now.
As much as there is a lot to get across, it’s worth remembering that anything new and unfamiliar can feel hard, and that doesn’t mean it will stay that way. Yes, there are increasing responsibilities that require time, work and resources for businesses, but when we get this right, there are myriad benefits: greater engagement, stronger organisational output and a healthier workforce.
Intersecting HR practices that promote psychosocial wellbeing
Many HR departments are already engaged in practices that directly contribute to enhancing psychosocial health, perhaps without explicitly labelling them as such. Below are seven that stand out:
1. Employee engagement
Historically, employee engagement efforts have focused on increasing job satisfaction and retention rates. These initiatives also can often address psychological needs such as belonging, recognition and personal development.
While some efforts are limited to the annual survey and possibly some pulse checks, there is opportunity to expand these efforts to further promote employee voice and to help identify and understand sources of employee dissatisfaction, and the options to help resolve the issues.
By reviewing these initiatives through a psychosocial lens, we can deepen our understanding of employee needs and refine our strategies to meet them effectively. This may support our ability to identify, understand and address underlying systemic issues impacting psychosocial health.
“The requirements to identify, assess, control and review psychosocial hazards and control measures could give HR the perfect business case to make changes you’ve wanted to implement for years.” – Lorraine Smith, General Manager Consulting NSW & ACT, Steople
2. Flexible working arrangements
Flexible working hours, remote work options and support for personal challenges and commitments have been part of progressive HR policies for years now. While the specifics can vary, these options are often crucial for managing work-related stress and preventing burnout, directly supporting the psychosocial health of employees.
Experience and increased research data ensures we are in a stronger position to understand and tackle challenges that emerge. These challenges may include isolation, limited connection and communication, limited visibility, reduced feedback, misunderstandings, a lack of opportunities to learn and observe or being unclear about who to go to for support.
By framing these policies within the broader context of psychosocial wellbeing, organisations can reinforce their commitment to supporting their employees’ overall health.
3. Conflict resolution
Effective communication and conflict resolution are not new areas of focus for HR and their importance to psychosocial health are clear.
By promoting respectful and empathetic communication, proactive feedback and open dialogue, organisations can significantly reduce interpersonal issues and enable a more supportive work environment.
The requirement to regularly assess and review the effectiveness of what we are doing may allow for better identification of trends and recurring challenges, such as issues with a particular individual, team or task, informing a more proactive approach to respectful and open discussions about what’s working and what’s not at an individual, team, and/or organisational level.
It may even help articulate the historically elusive return on investment for development initiatives through a more explicit link between upskilling initiatives and psychosocial impacts.
4. Supportive leadership development
Leaders play a critical role in shaping the psychosocial health of their teams. Leadership development programs that emphasise emotional intelligence, empathy, clear and regular communication, positive and constructive recognition and connecting the day-to-day work to purpose and vision, will already be contributing to better psychosocial outcomes.
Of course, the challenge is often achieving real on-the-job outcomes, and supporting leaders to effectively implement new skills on top of a workload that already feels unmanageable.
The psychosocial health of leaders themselves is also important to understand and support.
While traditional training methods have limitations – and often need to be better connected to a broader strategy that addresses the organisational systems, norms and values that influence leader behaviours – there is a growing body of knowledge to inform effective learning design.
Approaches such as experiential learning, simulations and real-time feedback can increase effectiveness in context.
We can also space out learning and ensure we practice and revisit to embed new behaviours. In addition, we need to help leaders prioritise people leadership and ensure their day isn’t crowded with too many low value-adding transactional tasks.
5. Psychological safety
Thanks to the work of Harvard University professor Amy Edmondson and a number of others, we are increasingly aware of the importance of psychological safety to ensure we feel safe enough to speak up when we disagree, have an idea or need to ask a potentially challenging question.
“Psychosocial health includes both the psychological and social factors that influence individual wellbeing at work… [including] workplace culture, employee relationships, work-life balance and mental health.” – Lorraine Smith, General Manager Consulting NSW & ACT, Steople
Many organisations are already working on creating cultures where people can provide regular feedback and have difficult conversations.
Initiatives include organisational surveys and team or individual diagnostics, working on vision, purpose and values, defining behavioural expectations, insight workshops and collaborative planning sessions, individual and team coaching and targeted learning programs, among others.
Consultation is key, and it will always be more effective when people feel safe to share their experience. For the businesses that get this right, they are far more likely to hear about potential psychosocial hazards early, enabling a more proactive assessment and application of viable control measures.
6. Effective selection and onboarding
It’s important to ensure that people have the level of skills required to perform to avoid undue pressure as they get up to speed, and to help them integrate into the team and organisation.
While there are many things that can be learned on the job, expectations of responsibilities and performance need to be clearly articulated right from the start.
Effective assessment for selection approaches, using a combination of valid and reliable tools, goes a long way in helping to ensure new hires are set up for success by having the fundamental skills needed, and understanding how to best support them through their onboarding.
The onboarding process itself should also be examined – many will readily admit that while they have a process, the existing approach is in need of modernisation to effectively bring new people up to speed faster and help them feel connected to the organisation quickly.
7. Organisational justice
Needless to say, it’s crucial to investigate complaints and allegations, and take prompt and decisive action in cases of inappropriate and poor behaviour in the workplace.
This is not news to HR, and takes up much of the focus of practitioners’ time. The key is to edge further away from reactivity and get more proactive about prevention.
The reality is that many initiatives to build psychosocial health, organisational wellbeing and positive team cultures can be quickly undermined by perceptions of poor organisational justice.
Strengthening existing psychosocial strategies
Integrating a proactive approach to managing and enhancing psychosocial health doesn’t require us to reinvent the wheel. The first step is to recognise and build on the robust foundation already laid by traditional HR practices.
The requirements to identify, assess, control and review psychosocial hazards and control measures could give HR the perfect business case to make changes you’ve wanted to implement for years.
Haven’t we always known that building genuinely healthy workplaces can boost productivity, performance and results? Haven’t we seen firsthand the impact of psychosocially unhealthy practices and systems? Haven’t we been championing this approach for years now? This is HR’s time to shine.
By linking these existing efforts with an understanding of psychosocial wellbeing and the evolving legislative landscape, we can enhance our workplaces in ways that are both innovative and familiar, ensuring a healthier, more productive future for all employees.
Lorraine Smith is the General Manager Consulting NSW & ACT at Steople.
Learn how to navigate the complex landscape of psychosocial wellbeing at work with this new short course from AHRI.