The report shows that certain psychosocial risk factors in the working environment and employment policies are responsible for more than 840,000 deaths annually and nearly 45 million disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) lost each year.
This creates an estimated annual loss equivalent to 1.37% of the global GDP.
The mortality figure was estimated using two key sources of evidence. The first is data on the prevalence of five major workplace risk factors: job strain, effort-reward imbalance, job insecurity, long working hours, and workplace bullying and harassment.
The second source is scientific research demonstrating how these risks increase the likelihood of serious health conditions such as heart disease, stroke, and mental disorders including suicide.
These risk levels were then applied to the latest global mortality and health data from the World Health Organization and the Global Burden of Disease (GBD) study.
The GBD study is the most comprehensive worldwide effort to measure health loss. It tracks over 370 diseases, injuries, and risk factors across 204 countries to estimate the number of deaths and DALYs attributable to these risks each year.
This approach allowed the ILO to quantify both the human and economic burden, including productivity losses reflected in GDP costs.
According to the ILO, long working hours, a critical risk factor associated with cardiovascular disease and stroke, remain widespread. The organization estimates that 35% of the global workforce works more than 48 hours per week.
Exposure to bullying and other forms of violence and harassment is another major concern. The ILO estimates that 23% of workers globally have experienced at least one form of violence or harassment in their working life, with psychological violence being the most prevalent at 18%.
The report synthesizes a broad body of evidence showing that psychosocial risks are linked to a wide range of mental and physical health conditions. These include depression and anxiety, as well as metabolic diseases, musculoskeletal disorders, and sleep disturbances.
Work-life boundaries in digital age
A man works at a computer on a standing desk in this illustration photo taken Feb. 8, 2023. Photo by Reuters |
The report proposes three interrelated levels of the working environment to address the issue.
First is the nature of the job itself. This includes demands, responsibilities, alignment with workers’ skills, access to resources, and the design of tasks in terms of meaning, variety, and skill use.
Second is how work is organized and managed. This covers role clarity, expectations, autonomy, workload, work pace, alongside supervision and support.
Third are the broader workplace policies, practices, and procedures. These include working time arrangements, management of organizational change, digital monitoring, performance reviews, safety policies, and procedures to prevent harassment.
“These factors vary in each workplace, irrespective to the category of workers or occupations, and therefore, certain occupations or groups of workers may be at high risk,” Yuka Ujita, ILO Senior Specialist for Occupational Safety and Health, told Read International when asked whether office workers or manual laborers are more psychologically vulnerable.
While many psychosocial risks are not new, major transformations in the working world, including digitalization, artificial intelligence, and remote work, are reshaping the environment.
“While digitalization offers numerous benefits for occupational safety and health (OSH), technological advancements can also lead to work intensification, job insecurity and “technostress”, as workers face increasing pressure to adapt to rapidly evolving tools and processes,” Ujita said.
“The blurring of work-life boundaries due to mobile and online work can contribute to burnout, while intrusive surveillance and constant monitoring may infringe on privacy and reduce job autonomy. AI-driven decision-making risks task fragmentation, loss of job satisfaction and bias, potentially marginalizing certain groups and exacerbating inequalities in the workplace,” she added.
Ujita noted that businesses are generally becoming more aware of the benefits of a good psychosocial work environment.
However, barriers remain. She cited the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work, noting that “many enterprises find psychosocial risks difficult to address; enterprises often report a reluctance to talk openly about the issue; and some enterprises lack the expertise or resources to address these risks.”
The ILO stresses that psychosocial risks are largely preventable. Effective measures include improving job design, strengthening workplace policies, and fostering dialogue between employers, workers, and governments.
Manal Azzi, Team Lead on OSH Policy and Systems at the ILO, said: “Improving the psychosocial working environment is essential not only for protecting workers’ mental and physical health, but also for strengthening productivity, organizational performance and sustainable economic development.”
Comments are closed.