What characterises a healthy mental working environment? Get the answer here

What characterises a healthy mental work environment?

A healthy psychological working environment is, among other things, characterised by correlation between demands and resources in the workplace. If the employees do not experience a balance between demands and resources, this can lead to stress and a lack of motivation, which can mean that work tasks are not carried out optimally.

In this article, we will give you a better understanding of what a mental working environment entails, what characterises a healthy psychological working environment and how your workplace can create the framework for a healthy psychological working environment.

What is a mental work environment?

A psychological working environment is about the psychosocial conditions in the workplace. This could, for example, be the employee's working relationships with other colleagues, their bosses or customers. The psychological work environment also includes how the work is organised and the nature of the tasks, for example whether the tasks make emotional demands on the employee.

What is a mental work environment?

A psychological working environment which is healthy is, among other things, characterised by the following elements:

• The employee is happy to go to work
• The company's employees do not have regular cooperation problems
• The tasks and the associated expectations are clearly defined
• The workplace offers a reasonable learning curve
• The employees have an influence on how the tasks are to be carried out
• The employee experiences a connection between demands and resources. It is the employer's responsibility to ensure that there is a connection between the demands placed on the employee and the resources that the employee has available when they have to carry out their work tasks
• The employees have energy and surplus when the working day is over

Thus, a healthy mental working environment contributes to better cooperation in the workplace and employees can become more engaged and better prepared for their work tasks. In the next section, we will take a closer look at the benefits of a good mental working environment.

What are the benefits of a healthy mental working environment?

In a healthy psychological work environment, employees will experience commitment to work, motivating leadership, supportive colleagues and a safe environment where it is encouraged to be critical and talk openly about ideas, questions and concerns without being punished or humiliated. In this way, a healthy mental working environment contributes with positive energy in the workplace and can thus increase work satisfaction and efficiency.

The good mental working environment also encourages constructive feedback, an appropriate handling of changes and a common understanding of the work tasks that management and employees work together to solve. This entails, among other things, to improve well being and reduce sickness absence.

A workplace with a healthy psychological working environment can also experience that fewer employees choose to resign from their position, which in turn can have a positive impact on the company's bottom line.

On the other hand, a poor mental working environment can increase the risk of physical and mental health problems, e.g. cardiovascular disorders, depression, anxiety and post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).

In addition to the health consequences, a poor mental working environment can also lead to an increase in sick leave, work stoppages and impaired cooperation between the workplace's employees. In addition, a poor mental working environment can also reduce the quality of task solving.

How does management create the framework for a healthy psychological working environment?

There are several ways in which management can create a good psychological working environment. Therefore, there is no one-sided answer on how your workplace should create the framework for a healthy psychological working environment. It depends, for example, on your work tasks, current work environment problems and the culture you have in your company. However, communication is a key word when it comes to creating the framework for a healthy psychological working environment.

It is mainly the management's responsibility to establish a healthy psychological working environment. It is therefore crucial that the overall management prioritises ensuring a good psychological working environment. The management cannot create a healthy psychological working environment on their own – it is a joint task at the workplace, which is why it requires an effort that both the management and the employees work with and follow up on.

If the workplace encounters problems in the psychological working environment, the management must ensure that action plans are drawn up that can solve the various challenges. In addition, it must be clarified who is responsible for what and how the solutions are followed up. The approach you choose must be based on the specific work tasks at your workplace, and the problems that are relevant in relation to your psychological working environment. Communication must be clear and persistent throughout the workplace regarding the action plans, their implementation and how they will be followed up.

Finally, improving the psychological working environment requires respect for the fact that there may be different views on what creates the framework for a healthy psychological working environment. The employees' views can, among other things, be characterised by which roles, functions, experiences and responsibilities they have.

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