BGA | BUSINESS IMPACT
“We need to educate future leaders in applied psychology to prepare them to implement strategies and make crucial decisions with a healthy level of resilience to psychosocial risks”
year – a significant increase on the previous estimate. The total represented the sum of employer costs relating to absenteeism and presenteeism (estimated at €272 billion), loss of productivity (€242 billion), healthcare costs (€63 billion) and social welfare in the form of disability benefit payments (€39 billion). The need to act now In the context of increasingly alarming data, it seems clear that we need to act now to protect the future of business. In the short term, we need more evidence on the cost-effectiveness of training and other professional interventions that are focused on stress and other psychosocial risks at work. It is also clear that we need to implement workplace interventions, programmes or peer‑support initiatives. The Calculating the cost of work-related stress and psychosocial risks report concludes that “appropriately planned and implemented workplace interventions focusing on preventing stress, improving [the] psychosocial work environment and promoting mental health are cost-effective.” However, in the longer term, we need to do more to educate our future leaders in applied psychology. This will better prepare them to implement strategies and make crucial decisions with a healthy level of resilience to psychosocial risks. It will also help leaders to coach others effectively and develop teams with good coping skills and resistance to stress. In 2019, the European Agency for Safety and Health at Work’s Third European Survey of Enterprises on New and Emerging Risks (ESENER) showed that organisations are still afraid to speak openly about psychosocial issues and lack the professional knowledge and support to handle them. Notably, some 44 per cent of respondents reported a lack of awareness of these issues among management.
In the 21st century, it is particularly disheartening to find that, in 25 out of 33 countries polled by ESENER, the most common reason cited by respondents when asked why it has been difficult to implement organisational policies in this area is the reluctance to speak openly about mental health and psychosocial risks related to work. There is a strong business case for targeting these problems at business school because of the impact our future leaders can have in the organisations they go on to join. Benefits of incorporating psychology Psychological skills have become as necessary to modern business life as the English language or basic financial literacy. Fast-track courses and short‑term training in related soft skills will slowly be replaced with more rigorous and in-depth knowledge of connections and relationships between psychosocial phenomena, personality, mental health and job performance, productivity and profit. Previously, the benefits of studying elements of psychology during a business degree were linked largely to giving students a greater understanding of how consumers behave or think and, therefore, how to sell products that serve their needs. However, possessing knowledge and practical skills relating to psychology has benefits that are far wider than this and can help managers and leaders to protect themselves and key people against burnout, depression, presenteeism, absenteeism and other unwanted psychosocial risks that affect business strategies and performance. In addition, it will facilitate and support organisational change, while protecting against
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