MEPs have called on the European Commission to bring forward new EU measures to better protect workers from work-related psychosocial risks and stress.
The European Parliament agreed a set of recommendations on Tuesday for an EU proposal to prevent, eliminate or reduce risks linked to work-related stress, burnout, and mental and physical disorders, it informed.
Psychosocial risks can include factors such as excessive workload, high work intensity, bullying and harassment.
The legislative initiative report was adopted by 413 votes in favour, 210 against and 29 abstentions.
MEPs said employers should have obligations to protect workers’ mental and physical health and ensure safe and dignified working conditions.
They also called for the Commission and EU countries to explicitly recognise work-related psychosocial risks as giving rise to occupational diseases.
Violence, harassment and workplace monitoring
Employers should adopt and implement policies that define and prohibit violence, harassment, bullying and discriminatory behaviour that undermines workers’ dignity or health, the Parliament said.
MEPs also called for early detection mechanisms, risk-based prevention protocols for third-party violence, and timely support for workers exposed to psychosocial risks.
MEPs recommended employers carry out regular psychosocial risk assessments and adopt action plans with concrete measures, including looking at issues such as excessive workload and high work intensity.
Changes such as restructuring, teleworking arrangements, or introducing automated decision-making and automated monitoring systems should be subject to a prior psychosocial risk assessment in cooperation with workers and their representatives.
Employers should also ensure algorithmic management systems do not create excessive burden or monitoring and that there is always human oversight, the Parliament added, repeating its view that workers have a right to disconnect from work.
Workers absent because of work-related psychosocial risks should have the right to a supported return to work, including individual return-to-work plans that could adjust working time, work organisation or workload.
More than 840,000 people die each year worldwide from health conditions linked to psychosocial risks, the International Labour Organization has said.
The European Commission has three months to reply to Parliament’s request, either setting out planned steps or explaining why it would refuse to propose new legislation.
