Part Two Psychosocial Hazards Series: High Demand Jobs and Clarity in Roles

Role clarity and assessing the levels of job demand are often underestimated and aren’t always identified as a psychosocial risk. How often would you put mental health injury and a cruisy job together? Or perhaps one of your team members is a go-getter who has always performed over and above but is now making a lot of mistakes.

Welcome to the second instalment of our Psychosocial Hazards Series. 

The Cost of Ambiguity in Roles and High Job Demands

It can be dangerous when high job demands—those that require a lot of physical, mental, or emotional work—are severe, continuous, or routine. Low productivity, stress, and burnout can result from high job demands, according to Safe Work Australia. This is particularly concerning because, in 2021–2022, a sizable portion of workers’ compensation claims were linked to mental health problems related to the job, highlighting the need for effective job demand and role clarity management.

To complete the work, one must put in a lot of physical, mental, and emotional effort. Severe, continuous, or frequent high job demands become hazardous; they go beyond simply working hard all the time. High physical demands include heavy lifting boxes, trench excavation, and long hours worked without enough breaks. Or perhaps your team member istrying to do too much in too little time.

High mental strains can arise from not having the required skills or training for the job or, especially when mistakes have major consequences, from the lack of error-prevention systems.

High emotional demands can be categorised as being exposed to violence, harassed, bullied, helping those in need, or projecting false emotions.

Here are some practical ways you can identify if job demands are high or low: 

Consult with your team: Include your team in the conversation! They might express concerns regarding workloads, anxiety, or deadlines. 

Observe and Examine Behaviour: When job expectations are too high, employees might hurry or make many mistakes. Examine time off, overtime, accident, incident, or workers’ compensation records.

Encourage Reporting: Treat worker concerns seriously and with respect to encourage reporting and a confidential open-door policy. 

Seek Out Other Hazards: Consider how other risks may interact and mount up to raise risk.

Analyse Exposure: Learn how long, how often, and how severely workers are exposed to hazards.

Managing Work Intensities

Planning the day: Plan non-urgent work to be done at slower times of the day. This will help you manage your workload more successfully.

Break times matter! Give employees enough breaks to prevent burnout and maintain output.

Procedure Efficiency: Eliminating pointless steps in procedures may improve control of work demands. Conversely, ensuring the necessary steps are covered is equally important. 

Quiet Time: If the workspace is mentally demanding, find quiet places. Giving employees quiet areas where they can focus on challenging tasks uninterrupted can reduce stress and boost output.