SafetyInsights.org

This scoping review evaluated the evidence surrounding how psychosocial safety climate (PSC) influences health, safety and performance of workers.

93 papers were screened from an initial sample of >13k records.

Providing background:

• Psychosocial working conditions or exposure to psychosocial hazards by workers is dependent largely on the interplay between job demands and job resources – resultingly, many work stress models draw on the job demand-resource  and effort-reward equation
• Work environments with high job demands and fewer job resources expose workers to impaired health outcomes that lead to impaired performance and less productivity
• PSC is the shared belief held by workers that their psychological safety and wellbeing is protected and supported by senior management
• PSC  is capable of “buffering the effect of high job demands on workers’ health and safety” and in organisations with high PSC “the well-being and safety of workers are prioritised [11, 12], commitments and efforts are made by senior management to involve and leverage workers’ participation in designing jobs and programmes that help create a safe and healthy work environment for improved well-being, safety and productivity” (p2)

Results

Key findings from this literature review were:

• PSC directly affects job demands, job insecurity, effort-reward imbalance, work-family conflict, job resources, job control and quality leadership
• PSC also directly affects social relations at work, including workplace abuse, violence, discrimination and harassment
• PSC has a direct effect on health, safety and performance outcomes, as a result of moderating the impact of excessive job demands on workers’ health and safety
• PSC boosts job resources effect on improving workers’ wellbeing, safety and performance

Discussing the results, it’s said that PSC, as an “upstream job resource construct”, was found to be essential in designing jobs by matching job demands to resources. PSC was consistently associated with a negative association (that is, as PSC goes up, perceived demands go down and vice versa) with job demand variables such as psychological demands, emotional demands, work intensification, work pressure, conflicting pressures, job insecurity, work-family conflict and more.

PSC was positively associated with job resources (e.g. as PSC goes up, resources go up) – including job control, social support, quality leadership, decision authority and influence, emotional resources and more.

PSC was also negatively associated with workplace abuse, like stigma, discrimination, bullying and harassment.

PSC also has a strong buffering effect for the health and safety of workers – helping to reduce the effect of precarious work on the health and safety of workers.

Where managers’ priorities are overly focused on productivity, this can affect the job demand and resources for workers via a resource-limited work environment; thereby impacting worker health and safety. In low PSC contexts, excessive job demands are expected, due in part to a lack of feedback from workers or the lack of opportunity for workers to voice their frustrations concerning high job demand

There is a high likelihood of reduced job demands in a high PSC organisation, because workers will be involved, consulted and participate in designing their jobs, workplace safety programs and other interventions that create a healthier and more decent workplace.

Hence, “PSC was observed as an upstream job resource and its presence at the workplace is a signal for reduction in excessive job demands and helping workers to fulfil their requirements, that achieve organisational goals and a sense of belongingness” (p8).

The positive association between job resources and PSC indicates that in high PSC environments, workers have the confidence to access the needed resources to accomplish their job demands and responsibilities.

In high PSC environments, workplace social relations are strengthened – providing cues and signals that resources are available to respond to abuse or harassment. Also, in high PSC environments workers who are abused were given more opportunities to find solutions. This type of solving workplace conflict or abuse might not be present in low PSC contexts, driving turnover and workplace hostility.

In high PSC contexts, managers give cues to workers about social relational aspects of work, including how workers should interact with each other and what types of behaviours are rewarded or punished.

Moreover, high PSC also translated to improved productivity and performance. High PSC was linked to fostering “satisfaction of psychological needs, job satisfaction, job commitment, and mental health maintenance, which translate into improved productivity” (p9).

When workers perceive that their wellbeing is a priority to managers, like in high PSC environments, workers become intrinsically motivated, leading to better performance outcomes.

Likewise, low PSC environments foster a belief by workers that their health and wellbeing aren’t a priority to management, and hence produces low-quality work that “threatens and obstructs worker job satisfaction, resulting in psychological distress, exhaustion, fatigue, impaired well-being and organisational performance” (p9).

In all, the evidence found PSC to moderate the effect of psychosocial work factors on health, safety and performance. While PSC reflects, largely, worker perception of the environment – it’s still managers that “possess the power and resources to design quality jobs through pro-worker and robust organisational policies and practices” (p9).

TL;DR – High PSC isn’t just about creating a warm and fluffy environment (or ethically the right thing to do), but is genuinely also good business – higher performance and productivity.

Authors: Amoadu, M., Ansah, E. W., & Sarfo, J. O. (2023). BMC public health, 23(1), 1344.

Study link: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1186/s12889-023-16246-x

LinkedIn post: https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/influence-psychosocial-safety-climate-occupational-ben-hutchinson