Without encouraging collaboration, the mental health of workers is a utopia

Two serious problems emerge when it comes to workers’ mental health: burnout and harassment. But what few people know is that both have a cause and consequence relationship with the so-called “psychosocial risks”.

To understand what psychosocial risks are, imagine a work environment where people are always under pressure, have little help from colleagues or supervisors and feel that they have no control over their tasks. These situations constitute examples of psychosocial risks and affect emotions.

Psychosocial risks are related to the way work is organized into aspects and circumstances that interact with our subjective version – that is, psychological, and also social. In other words, it means saying who we are in life and in the world outside of work.

When constant, psychosocial risks can lead to occupational health conditions identified as burnout, a state of physical and mental exhaustion. To the people with burnout feel tired all the time, disillusioned with their work and doubt their own ability. It’s as if the energy to face day-to-day work simply disappears.

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In places where burnout is common, relationships between people can deteriorate. In this tense environment, the harassment – ​​whether moral, organizational, sexual or any other type –may arise.

But psychosocial risks are the root of the problem. Harassment is a clear symptom that things are not going well at work, reflecting the strain on relationships and a lack of mutual respect.

+Read also: Causes of psychiatric disorders in professional life

Psychosocial risks are responsible for the installation of a negative cycle: the more they are present, the greater the risk of people feeling exhausted and inappropriate behavior, such as harassment.

On my journey, I have heard countless times from people diagnosed with burnout that, yes, they harassed many people in an attempt to cope with the demands without the necessary support and resources.

It’s like a snowball, where one thing leads to another, worsening the work environment. The solution lies, firstly, in the restoration of the work collective, in mutual trust, in collegiality. This involves, in practice, ensure that workers have support, adequate resources and, above all, recognition.

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That person with a good sense of humor, who remembers everyone’s birthday and who is always ready to help (even to the detriment of their own tasks) needs to be valued and understood as someone essential in the workplace. A A culture of super productivity tends to give little space to these people – and the result is a competitive but unsupportive environment.

It is important to reduce psychosocial risk factors by offering, whenever possible, more autonomy in tasks, flexible schedules, working hours that allow more rest and adequate training and support, just to name a few examples. This way we reduce exposure.

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However, understanding how psychosocial risks arise and, from there, influence the emergence of cases of burnout and harassment is the first step towards creating a healthy and positive workplace.

A culture of respect and collaboration is what truly protects people. It is the structure that allows our immunity against exposure to psychosocial risks.

In this sense, the biggest secret to share with you is that the mental health of workers will be a utopia until an environment of solidarity and respect between peers exists again.

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*Luciana Veloso Baruki is a pioneer auditor in harassment inspections at the Ministry of Labor, lawyer, postgraduate doctor in Mental Health and Psychiatry, business administrator and founder of the @assedionet profile on social media