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Resolution 2267 (2019)
Stress at work
1. The world of work has become overwhelmed
by stress. Confronted with critical changes in work organisation
and labour relations, working people are faced with enormous pressure
to meet the growing demands of working life. When this pressure
is amplified by an imbalance between the perceived demands and the
perceived resources and abilities of individuals, it can become
detrimental to their well-being and health, both physical and psychological,
and endanger public safety in extreme situations. This troubling
reality adversely affects workers, organisations, national economies
and society at large. Stress at work is our collective responsibility
– and challenge.
2. European countries acknowledge workplace stress as a serious
public health issue and have integrated stress management into workplace
health and safety policies, with a growing but still insufficient
emphasis on psychosocial risks. However, the burden of work stress
in Europe and globally go beyond purely medical risks: with around
half of European workers considering stress to be common in their
workplace, stress prevention, management and reduction need to be
mainstreamed at different levels of public governance, as well as
in the private sector.
3. The Parliamentary Assembly considers that the situation in
Europe merits a “stress test” for all institutions in order to check
the inventory of measures currently in place to ensure workplace
stress prevention and management, and to identify areas that require
further intervention.
4. The Assembly notes that most European and national reference
texts evoke stress at work implicitly as part of mental health needs
but do not explicitly recognise mental health disorders linked to
stress as occupational diseases, reflecting the current guidance
from the International Labour Organization (ILO). Moreover, studies
by the World Health Organization (WHO) show that there is still
much confusion in the regulatory field between normal pressure and
stress at work; this confusion is sometimes used to excuse poor managerial
practice.
5. The Assembly also regrets widespread confusion concerning
the notion of occupational burnout (a state of extreme emotional
and physical exhaustion) and its recognition as an occupational
disease. While the ILO list of occupational diseases of 2010 cites
“post-traumatic stress disorder” and “additional mental or behavioural
disorders not mentioned”, the European Commission’s Recommendation
on the European Schedule of Occupational Disorders does not list
any stress-induced disorders. However, the burnout syndrome is increasingly
recognised at national level in Europe as a major occupational health
issue.
6. The Assembly welcomes national, corporate and European initiatives
aimed at improving balance between work and private life and ensuring
the effective exercise of the right to equal opportunities at work,
in line with the requirements of the European Social Charter (ETS
Nos. 35 and 163). It believes that member States should better take
the gender dimension into account through policy instruments in
light of evidence showing that women and men respond to and manage
stress at work in different ways and that women at work are the
worst affected, especially when they carry a double burden of work
and household responsibilities.
7. Considering that the very nature of work is expected to change
significantly over the coming decade as robots and artificial intelligence
applications step in to replace humans for many jobs and create
new man–machine teamwork patterns, the Assembly believes that this
looming source of permanent stress over job insecurity should compel
all stakeholders to review the organisation of work and distribution
of workloads and tasks in a way that enables reduction in stress
levels and fosters job sharing.
8. In light of the above considerations, the Assembly calls on
the member States of the Council of Europe to:
8.1. carry out an in-depth evaluation
of existing domestic legal and policy measures for workplace stress
prevention, management and reduction, bearing in mind the gender
dimension;
8.2. identify legislative and regulatory gaps in their workplace
health and safety policies with a view to ensuring a better coverage
of psychosocial risks, in particular for highly exposed sectors
of activity (such as health-care workers, social workers, police
officers, teachers and customer-service providers);
8.3. expand the national list of occupational diseases in order
to explicitly list stress-induced disorders, including occupational
burnout;
8.4. put in place obligations for all employers to:
8.4.1. adopt a comprehensive approach to stress assessment, management
and prevention with an organisational and individual focus;
8.4.2. implement specific protocols against bullying, harassment,
gender-based discrimination and other inappropriate behaviour at
work;
8.4.3. ensure adequate protection against workplace stress for
the more vulnerable categories of workers (young people, immigrants,
pregnant women and older workers);
8.5. study the implications of robotisation and artificial
intelligence for workers’ rights, ethics and the organisation of
work with a view to preserving jobs for people and a healthy work–life
balance;
8.6. encourage employers to adopt a stress-reducing organisation
of work with shorter, four-day weeks (with 28 to 32 work hours per
week), flexible work time options, greater autonomy, teleworking possibilities
and job-sharing schemes, notably for working parents and carers;
8.7. as appropriate, consider carrying out national or sectoral
awareness-raising campaigns on stress at work and on publicly available
or online information resources, support and training tools.