SafeHR
SafeHR
With the release of the International Labour Organization’s (ILO) World Safety and Health Day 2026 report, psychosocial risk has moved firmly into focus as one of the most pressing challenges facing organisations today.
To explore what this means for HR in practice we spoke with our experts, Matthew Rouse, Managing Director of SafeHR and SafeWorkforce, and Sophie Appleyard, HR Technical Consultant at SafeHR, about why this issue can no longer sit on the periphery of people strategy.
Psychosocial risk isn’t new. But the way it’s being understood has changed.
Matthew Rouse explains:
“This is a commercial issue, it’s a safety issue, but it’s also a performance issue… both at an organisational level and an individual level.”
That shift reframes psychosocial risk from a wellbeing initiative into a core organisational risk that directly affects how businesses operate and grow.
The global data makes it clear that this is not a niche issue.
According to the ILO, psychosocial risks are linked to over 840,000 deaths annually, alongside nearly 45 million years of healthy life lost. The economic impact is equally significant, with around 1.37% of global GDP attributed to these risks.
In the UK, the Health and Safety Executive reports that 1.9 million workers are experiencing work-related ill health, with stress, depression and anxiety accounting for a significant proportion of cases. The cost to UK businesses is estimated at £22.9 billion annually.
This reinforces a clear point: psychosocial risk is no longer just a people issue, it is a business-critical risk.
A key driver behind this shift is the way work itself has evolved.
Hybrid working, digital tools, and increased flexibility have created new opportunities, but they have also reshaped expectations and blurred boundaries around working time.
Sophie Appleyard explains:
“There’s blurred boundaries… people start earlier, work later… the working day has become longer for a lot of people.”
This shift is particularly visible in SMEs, where roles are often less defined and individuals take on multiple responsibilities. Over time, this creates sustained pressure that can be difficult to identify early.
Despite the scale of the issue, psychosocial risks rarely present themselves in obvious ways. Instead, they show up in the day-to-day experience of work.
This can include unclear job roles, conflicting priorities, or a lack of structure around workload and expectations. In some cases, it’s a culture of constant availability, where employees feel pressure to remain connected even when they should be switching off.
Sophie highlights the impact of uncertainty:
“It’s not clear what the goals are… what people are trying to work towards… and that uncertainty can cause stress.”
These issues often build over time, making them harder to detect until they begin affecting performance, wellbeing, or retention.
Many organisations are already taking steps to address wellbeing. Policies exist, staff surveys are run, and initiatives are introduced.
However, these measures do not always translate into meaningful change in the day-to-day experience of employees.
The challenge is that surface-level interventions often fail to address the underlying causes of workplace stress, such as workload design, role clarity, and management capability.
Matthew Rouse is clear on the issue:
“If you’re just doing a tick box… you’re missing the point.”
The issue is not a lack of effort, it’s a lack of alignment between process and real-world experience.
Workforce expectations have changed significantly in recent years.
Employees are more willing to leave roles that don’t support them, but not all employees feel comfortable raising concerns. This creates a hidden layer of risk, where issues go unspoken until they result in absence or resignation.
Sophie Appleyard notes:
“Some people don’t feel comfortable saying they’re struggling… they worry about how it might be perceived.”
This makes it harder for organisations to intervene early, increasing the risk of losing valuable talent.
For SMEs, these challenges can escalate quickly.
Limited resources, less formal structures, and competing priorities can make it difficult to proactively manage psychosocial risk.
At the same time, the impact of losing even one employee can be significant.
These organisations often don’t lack intent, they lack capacity. Which is why simple, practical approaches are far more effective than complex frameworks that are difficult to maintain.
One of the most critical challenges is ownership.
Psychosocial risk does not sit within one function alone. It cuts across HR, health and safety, and leadership. Each has a role to play, but none can address it in isolation.
Without clear accountability, risks are identified but not acted upon, creating a gap between awareness and action.
The external landscape is also shifting, with growing regulatory focus on work-related stress and psychosocial risk.
Organisations are increasingly expected not only to acknowledge these risks, but to demonstrate how they are being actively managed within everyday operations.
This marks a shift from guidance to expectation, reinforcing the need for more structured and proactive approaches.
For many organisations, the challenge is not recognising psychosocial risk, it’s understanding where to begin.
In practice, this starts with understanding how work is actually experienced across the organisation. This includes reviewing workload, role clarity, management capability, and communication.
As Matthew Rouse explains:
“We’re not looking for perfection… we’re just looking for a start.”
That principle is important. Progress doesn’t come from over-engineered solutions, but from simple, practical steps that build momentum over time.
One of the clearest takeaways is that organisations don’t need to have all the answers straight away, but they do need to start.
For Sophie, the first step is understanding where your business really stands. Many organisations assume they are doing well simply because they treat their employees fairly and haven’t had any formal complaints. But this can create a false sense of security.
As she explains:
“A lot of businesses assume because they treat staff reasonably well that they are managing the risks… but I don’t think you should wait until there’s a problem.”
Instead, the focus should be on being proactive, identifying potential risks early and taking steps to manage them before they escalate.
This also means looking more closely at the signals already within the business. High staff turnover, for example, isn’t just a resourcing issue, it can be an indicator of deeper challenges around workload, culture, or clarity.
From Sophie’s perspective, organisations should be asking themselves why people are leaving, what patterns are emerging, and whether there are underlying pressures that have yet to be addressed.
Alongside this, there is value in strengthening the fundamentals. Clear job descriptions, well-defined roles, and up-to-date contracts all help reduce ambiguity and create a more stable working environment.
But perhaps most importantly, Sophie emphasises that progress doesn’t need to be immediate or overwhelming.
“You don’t need to do everything overnight… even small steps to start with can make a real difference.”
Taking those first steps, however small, can begin to shift organisations from reactive to proactive, building a stronger foundation for both employee wellbeing and long-term performance.
From Matt’s perspective, while the scale of the issue is significant, the real opportunity lies in how organisations respond.
Much of what the data highlights is not unexpected, but it is often not acted on early enough. For HR, this creates a clear starting point: making risks more visible and creating an environment where they can be addressed openly.
“The opportunity here isn’t about building complex systems… it’s about starting somewhere and making it simple.”
Rather than over-engineering solutions, the focus should be on understanding what is actually happening across the organisation. This includes building a culture where employees feel able to speak up, raise concerns, and share what they are experiencing without fear of judgement.
Creating that level of psychological safety is critical. Without it, many of the issues linked to psychosocial risk remain hidden until they escalate into more serious problems.
For HR, this reinforces the importance of visibility, not just through data, but through open communication, clear structures, and a culture that encourages early intervention.
Looking ahead, psychosocial risk will continue to move up the agenda.
The combined impact of AI, hybrid working, and changing expectations are reshaping the workplace. These shifts bring opportunity, but also complexity, requiring organisations to think more carefully about how work is structured and managed.
For HR, this represents a shift from reactive support to proactive risk management, addressing the issues before they embedd.
At SafeHR, we help organisations turn insight into action.
This includes identifying psychosocial risks within existing structures, improving visibility of key data, and implementing practical solutions that work in real-world environments.
Our focus is on making this manageable, particularly for SMEs, so that organisations can take meaningful steps without adding unnecessary complexity.
Psychosocial risk cannot be addressed through policy alone. It sits within the everyday experience of work, how it is designed, managed, and supported.
As expectations continue to evolve, organisations that take this seriously will be better placed to retain talent, improve performance, and build sustainable growth.
Because ultimately, how work feels is shaping how businesses perform.
For personalised advice and tailored HR solutions, contact us today and see how we can help your business thrive.
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