The important distinction between personal stressors and person factors in psychosocial risk management
As organisations work towards better understanding of what sits within their duty of care under psychosocial risk regulations, a common query relates to distinguishing between personal stressors in an employee's life outside work, and person factors in the workplace. HR and safety professionals grapple with the line of responsibility and how each should be considered under the psychosocial regulatory framework. Achieving clarity is essential for meeting regulatory obligations and establishing best practice in supporting employees in a fair and practical way.
Personal stressors: what sits outside work
Personal stressors refer to stress-inducing circumstances originating outside of work. These can include relationship difficulties, caring responsibilities, financial pressures, or personal health issues.
While these stressors undeniably affect an individual's overall wellbeing and can influence how they cope and perform at work, they are not considered part of the workplace psychosocial hazard landscape. Logically, PCBUs are not responsible for preventing or managing personal stressors directly.
That said, many employers offer initiatives that may assist employees to manage their personal stressors including: employee assistance programs (EAP) accessible for work and non-work related stressors, and often by family members; flexible work arrangements; and promoting a supportive workplace culture. And of course, in some circumstances employers have an obligation to provide reasonable adjustments. Ultimately, supports that assist employees to bring their best self to work return organisational benefit. However, they do not constitute psychosocial risk management addressing the hazards in the system of work.
Where it becomes grey is that some of these personal stressors may become relevant person factors in the workplace.
Person factors at work: individual differences that interact with work
Person factors refer to individual health and person characteristics that influence how a worker interacts with work (including general work safety), and how they might experience or respond to psychosocial hazards at work. This may include factors like perceived work autonomy or control, health conditions and medications, past experiences (distressing workplace experiences or incident exposure), or pre-existing mental health conditions.
To be clear, understanding person factors interacting with work-generated hazards does not extend to delving into the personal. There remains a work-related boundary that maintains the focus on work-related risk, rather than on person factors. However, employers are obligated to acknowledge and manage the person factors which are known or knowable within the workplace as a potential safety risk, psychosocial or otherwise. These person factors may reflect a vulnerability to poor stressor outcomes that interact with psychosocial hazard exposure arising in the workplace.
Most explicitly in the psychosocial risk regulations, employers are required to manage social factors in work (Code of Practice, WorkSafe WA), the interactions person-to-person. Rather than feared, this can be embraced as opportunity to support productive, innovative and safe workplace cultures that work and thrive based on human interactions.
Why this personal- person distinction matters
Blurring the lines between personal stressors and person factors at work can lead to uncertainty about where an organisation’s obligations start and end. Some employers worry about being held accountable for issues beyond their control while balancing the important employee right for privacy.
Regulations are clear that the focus is on managing hazards and risks that arise from work. This includes assessing how work conditions, such as excessive demands, poor support, low role clarity, or interpersonal conflict might impact individuals. You can feel confident about focusing your activities on identified work-related hazards and their impact.
Importantly though, the presence of personal stressors do not absolve an employer of their duty to manage work-related hazards and obligation to make reasonable adjustments. Even if a worker is experiencing significant personal stress, if workplace hazards are contributing to or exacerbating the risk of psychological harm, the employer has a duty to take reasonable steps to identify and address that workplace hazard and manage the risk.
Engage your employee's in risk management
Finally, it is always worthy to remember that both employers and employees hold responsibilities for health and safety in the workplace. Employers can not assume employees have the knowledge of what it means to "take reasonable care" of their psychosocial health and safety as it relates to their work. Employers can empower the employee's role in managing safety, including psychosocial risk, in the workplace by informing employees what to report and equipping them with the means to do so (safely!) when it comes to individual person factors interacting with work.
It is valuable for employers to have policy, procedures and training that support identification, definition and communication what psychosocial reasonable care means and what person factors at work employees should report.
Practical advice
- Identify and manage work-related hazards: Centre your psychosocial risk assessment on aspects of work that are hazards, and on their controls.
- Respect privacy and confidentiality: While it may be helpful to understand how person factors interact with work, focus on (already available) organisational data. Avoid probing into person factors or personal stressors beyond what is required to be known in work and an employee chooses to share, respectively.
- Provide support options: Offer access to support services and flexible arrangements that can help employees manage both work and personal challenges, while recognising these supports are not substitutes for managing workplace hazards. In some scenarios, a case management approach will also be appropriate.
- Train and support leaders and managers: Equip them to have supportive, sensitive conversations without overstepping boundaries. It is also important to support leaders given the potential psychosocial risk associated with this workplace responsibility.
We welcome participating in industry based collaboration and knowledge sharing in this space, let's connect. Please don't hesitate to reach out for a confidential discussion about specific 'grey area' scenarios you are facing.