Now it'll be easier to feel happy at work

What is psychosocial work environment?

Most people have some idea of what a working environment is. It's about how you feel at work, both physically, ergonomically and mentally. And the latter is exactly what psychosocial work environment is about. The law has now been amended to ensure that this part of the working environment is good. Let's take a look at it.

What does the change in legislation mean for you as an employer?

You are required by law to have an overview of the physical working environment in your company. For example, if you work with something dangerous, and must take precautions to minimize risk. As of January 1, 2026, you are required to have as good an overview of the psychosocial working environment as the physical one.

These are examples of psychosocial work environment:

• Requirements are diffuse and contradictory = poor psychosocial work environment
• Stresses and emotionally difficult conditions are followed up = good psychosocial conditions
• Too high a workload and too little time and no willingness from management to prioritize = poor psychosocial work environment

Why is a good psychosocial work environment important?

What is so important about a psychosocial work environment? Quite apart from the law? Well, you only have something to gain if people feel good mentally at work. People who are happy will perform much better than those who are unhappy at work. A good mood is contagious, so when people feel good it'll spread throughout the company.

News travels fast, and that's also true when people are unhappy at work. If your company is struggling with the psychosocial work environment, your company will get a bad reputation and you'll miss out on the best candidates when recruiting. Not only that, but you may even be subject to an injunction from the Labor Inspection Authority.

But what do you need to do?

• Get an overview of how things are at your company
  Map out what conditions are like at your company
• Assess the risk
  Find out if there are conditions in your company that can lead to bad stress, conflicts, sick leave or other things that can lead to unhappiness.
• Initiate measures
  Set up measures and deadlines. Follow up and adjust the measures if necessary.
• Include it in your HSE work
  How people feel psychologically relates to safety, so make the psychosocial working environment part of your HSE work.

We've updated the staff handbook in Huma to reflect the new changes in the Working Environment Act. Read more about the staff handbook here.