MOAI Guide: Psychosocial risks in the workplace

MOAI Guide

How much do you know about psychosocial risks?

Psychosocial risks are factors that can negatively impact a person’s mental health or wellbeing.

Though work is a significant source of these risks, psychosocial risks are also present in our homes, families, communities and even our genetics.

A comprehensive view of psychosocial risk factors

Psychosocial risks are present across all areas of our lives.

Click on the icons below to find out more:

Outside of the workplace

Inside the workplace

Home environment Intrinsic factors Social environment Responsibilities Genetic factors Career development Demographics Social support History Organisation structure

Home environment Intrinsic factors Social environment Role and responsibilities Genetic factors Career development Demographics Social support History Organisation structure

Why manage psychosocial risks?

Psychosocial risks can have a negative impact on well-being and can lead to chronic stress, burnout and the development of common mental health conditions.

9%

of UK employees took at least one mental-health-related sick day in 2024 (1)

£51bn

Poor mental health cost UK employers £51bn in 2024 (2)

79%

of UK workers experience moderate to high stress, especially younger employees and women (3)

Identifying stressors and shields

MOAI helps users identify their stressors and shields. Rather than focusing on risk factors users can’t control, such as genetics or caring responsibilities, MOAI measures risk factors where individuals can make achievable and evidence-based changes. This could include accessing interventions to improve sleep, developing skills to navigate stressful situations or seeking support from their manager. Some of the stressors and shields we measure include:

Individual factors

Sleep
Exercise
Mental health
Job clarity
Workload
Schedules

Group factors

Conflict
Harassment
Working patterns
Leadership
Social support
Relationships with managers and peers

Organisational Factors

Communication
Policies and procedures
Job security
Decision making
Career progression

Your responsibilities

All organisations are required by law to conduct psychosocial risk assessments

By law all organisations with 5 or more employees are required to keep a written record of their psychosocial risk assessments. Although there is no formal requirement for organisations to consult employees in this process, the Health & Safety Executive recommends employees are consulted. And we agree. Why?

Not all psychosocial risks are easy to see
The impact of psychosocial risk is individual
Without consulting all employees, this approach is open to bias

Your legal duties

Taking care of your assessments

How we measure psychosocial risk

Our clinicians and data scientists have developed a unique model for measuring and mapping psychosocial risks, based on leading research from around the world
We create a company-wide digital assessment that is tailored to your industry, sector, team and organisation
This assessments is rolled out digitally to teams via the MOAI platform. We recommend this is repeated twice per year.
Our team analyses your risk data, which is summarised into an anonymous report
Your clinical lead guides your results to help you understand your next steps