Psychosocial Hazards in work and life.

Today I want to chat about psychosocial hazards in work and life. What is a psychosocial hazard? It is where a person's mental and social safety is at risk. Possibly by people around them and also by things in place around them, say at work, that do no include or respect them. For example, we are all entitled to feel safe at work. Yet if there are cliques and a toxic environment that favours others over you, then you will not feel safe. It then becomes a psychosocial hazard.

I see this a lot in my EAP work. Workplaces, and those who run them, can become apathetic when it comes to taking good care of their staff. This can lead to break down in relationships in the job and to some extent, people's mental wellbeing. A great number of absenteeism, of staff leaving, of work cover/compensation/Fair Work Australia situations means that we are seeing the smoke. Where there's smoke, there's fire. To coin a cliche.

The break down of work place culture due to the human element has a ripple effect and trickles down the ranks. You could say those higher up is where it starts. To be honest it is really their responsibility. Brene Brown, the American author and researcher talks about it a lot. There are ongoing development and training staff can take and do and yet it still goes on.

The key here is for those higher up to stay plugged in. However, they are only human too and probably with problems of their own. The systems in place should allow for things to run cohesively and yet we lose sight of the common goals. Then enter the type of people who know how to rort the system. The not so well intended types. They may be ambitious ladder climbers and people who play games for amusement. There may be power struggles and dishonesty.

Now, there is HR and unions in some situations. But even these can be hit and miss. Some may favour the employer and so the unbiased help goes out the window. Leaving people vulnerable and afraid to rock the boat. EAP is seen as a way to deal with situation when in fact some situations are far more toxic and problematic than anything an EAP counsellor can help with. Many workers have no choice but to leave due to the toxicity being so ingrained in the workplace. This is such a shame. In some cases, their own client's may be at risk and many employees stay on and suffer due to altruism for the client's sake.

It is vitally important that leaders in companies really engage with the culture and aim to fix it. In some cases the dysfunction can be a case for legal action. It is their responsibility to ensure that there are no psychosocial hazards in the workplace. It is more than team training. It is monitoring and good leadership. Staying plugged in. Self care if you are a leader to avoid burnout.

In life we see this in family systems as well. Especially if there is dysfunction and toxicity. Many people stay in family systems out of loyalty and a romantic notion that families should stick together. Then eventually, when their mental health and physical health deteriorates, they have no choice but to walk away. This can be because they have recognised that they are not safe and that there were psychosocial hazards. They invariably take a while in therapy to unpack and put themselves back together again and heal.

Counselling for so long I see people suffer through these topics so much. Every case is different yet there are commonalities. The take home message is, if you are in this situation, you are not alone and there is help. Try EAP or counselling and then if you are in danger, find a way out. Then invest in yourself and your healing journey.

I hope this helps someone out there. Take care and I shall see you next month.

Lisa