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Mental health & PSA in the workplace: what you can do as an employer

19 November 2025 - Written by Lauren Yellow
To illustrate mental health and PSA in the workplace, a head filled with flowers

In short

  • Mental health is an essential part of a good working life;
  • Poor mental health can lead to higher absenteeism and outflow, good mental health increases productivity and job satisfaction;
  • Stress symptoms arising from work are also known as psychosocial workload (PSA);
  • Employers can take the lead in creating a safe and open corporate culture.

The taboo that used to lie on mental health is increasingly being broken. How you feel as a person affects all areas of life, including work. Mental well-being is therefore an essential part of a good working life.

In this article, we look at what you can do as an employer to improve mental health in the workplace. For this, we will give six tips you can start working on today. We will also give more insight into the importance of mental wellbeing among employees.

Effects of mental health at work

The mental well-being of employees can have major effects on a company. For instance, mental health issues can lead to increased absenteeism or higher outflow. The World Health Organization (WHO) estimates the number of working days lost worldwide as consequence of mental health problems on 12 billion days a year.1 Figures like these show how important it is to take mental health at work seriously and make it negotiable.

At the same time, good mental health can also have many positive effects entail. Examples include higher productivity, lower absenteeism and a better atmosphere in which employees perform their work with more enthusiasm.

Conversely, a pleasant and good working environment can actually lead to an improvement in a person's mental health. In particular, people with mental health problems can benefit from a good working environment, where they have more social contact and can develop a better self-image.2

What is psychosocial workload (PSA)?

Stress symptoms stemming from work are also called psychosocial workload (PSA) mentioned. This can be caused, for example, by excessive workload, but also by undesirable behaviour in the workplace.

In the Dutch Working Conditions Act the employer is required to make policies aimed at preventing or reducing psychosocial workload (PSA).3 It is therefore important to identify where the risks lie within your organisation. These risks are incorporated into a risk inventory and evaluation (RI&E). Based on this, a plan of action can be made.

What factors affect mental health?

In addition to legal obligations, there are also international guidelines that can support employers. In recent years, the WHO increasingly focus on mental health in the workplace.4  The guidelines they created can also serve as a tool for employers in the Netherlands. They list 10 categories that affect mental health within an organisation:

  1. Work content: Are the tasks challenging and varied enough?
  2. Workload: Is this normal, healthy pressure or does it structurally create a feeling of “always being behind the times”?
  3. Working hours: Is the work schedule clear in advance, are there irregular working hours?
  4. Control: How much control does an employee have over their own work and decisions within the organisation?
  5. Physical working conditions: Are all supplies present? Is there good lighting and a pleasant temperature? And is there enough space?
  6. Company culture: how are changes within the company handled, is there complex bureaucracy, how are problems solved?
  7. Communication with colleagues and managers: is information timely and clear, do employees know where to go with concerns or questions, and is there space to discuss difficult issues?
  8. Role assignment: How is the work distributed? And is there also clarity on the division of roles?
  9. Career development: Are there opportunities for promotion? Is there job security with an appropriate salary?
  10. Work-life balance: To what extent do employees manage to combine work and private life well?

What is your role as an employer?

Having gained an understanding of what mental health in the workplace entails, it is time to determine what concrete steps are needed. As an employer, you can take the lead in working towards a mentally healthy workplace. This goes beyond a single training or information session. To build a culture where mental health is discussable, it needs to be a standard theme within the organisation. Here, managers also have an important role to play. If they are open about their emotions and vulnerabilities, this will lower the threshold for others.

It is not only important to ask the right questions, but also to have the right attitude. By having an open attitude, you give employees space to express themselves without fear of being rejected. Solutions do not have to be found immediately; sometimes a listening ear is enough.

Tips you can start working on today!

The WHO list shows how many aspects do affect how employees feel. Attention to mental health is therefore a broad concept. This might make it difficult to decide where to start. For that reason, we have collected some tips that you can start with in the short term:

  1. Make sure everyone is aware of who the confidant is and how to reach them.
  2. Create a policy around work-life balance (e.g. no e-mail traffic in the evening).
  3. Schedule 1-on-1 conversations that focus on the employee's well-being.
  4. Organise training courses on, for example, conflict resolution, work stress or mental health in general.
  5. Include mental health in your policies and onboarding.
  6. Set a good example yourself by respecting your own boundaries and being open with employees.

Employee survey

Do employees feel seen and valued? Is there good communication with the manager? Do they feel safe? All these things affect how an employee feels within the organisation.

The anonymity of a employee survey can make the step of being open about mental wellbeing smaller. Managers can use the results to find out what employees are up against and thereby seek targeted solutions. In addition, despite the fact that the results will remain completely anonymous, the employee survey can be used as a conversation starter.

A healthy mind in a healthy organisation

Not only a healthy body, but also a healthy mind is essential to function well at work. Within an organisation, everyone can contribute to building and maintaining an open culture where mental health is discussable. That way, together you create a stronger and more resilient organisation.

An employee survey can provide insight into the mental well-being of employees and where any complaints come from. By catching signals early, you as an employer can respond to the needs of employees and take early action when you notice that the mental well-being of one or more employees is deteriorating.

As an employer, you can take the lead in this. This need not be grand or complicated: small steps can already make a lot of difference. For instance, schedule extra interviews with employees, actively listen to their experiences and regularly review existing policies. By consciously paying attention to mental health, you not only invest in the well-being of your people, but also in the sustainable strength of your organisation.

  1. ‘Mental Health at work,’ https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work. ↩︎
  2. Matthew Modini et al, ‘The mental health benefits of employment: Results of a systematic meta-review,’ Australas Psychiatry 24:4 (2016): 331-336. ↩︎
  3. ‘Psychosocial workload (PSA),’ Health and Safety Portal, accessed 18 November 2025, https://www.arboportaal.nl/onderwerpen/themas/psychosociale-arbeidsbelasting. ↩︎
  4. World Health Organization, ‘WHO guidelines on mental health at work,’ (2022), 3. ↩︎