Reducing the psychosocial risk at work as the task of socially responsible companies

Abstract

Although corporate social responsibility is a permanent feature of activities of many companies, only a few companies can show a strategic approach and use complex solutions. It is emphasized that factors which could cause a positive change are institutional incentives such as tax benefits, and a bigger involvement of stakeholders, mostly employees. As far as providing hygienic working conditions is concerned, one must focus on better connecting occupational health and safety (OHS) with positive targets of the company, i.e. health promotion, efficiency increase and business excellence. It is becoming all the more important since the results of European research point out that the main source of stress at work is its psychosocial layer. Problems such as work-related stress, mobbing or discrimination are commonly considered to be the main challenges for OHS. The aim of the article is to emphasize that protecting the employees from psychosocial factors is not only necessitated by the law, but also is an ethical issue and a part of social responsibility of business. The article presents author's prevention model of psychosocial risk which can be implemented in any enterprises. It also shows examples of good practices of psychosocial risk reduction based on the cases presented in the literature.