IDA's opinion: Stress should not be the responsibility of the individual

Half of IDA members feel that stress is seen as the employee's own problem in their workplace. This creates an unhealthy working environment that increases the risk of employees falling ill with a stress-related illness that can have serious consequences for their personal life and health.

But stress is not just the individual's problem. Every year, sick leave costs society and Danish companies billions.

That is why IDA works to influence health and safety legislation - for the benefit of workers, companies and society.

Here are three IDA suggestions to help break the stress curve:

Stress must be recognised as an occupational disease

Stress can be as harmful as physical illness and cause lasting damage, which is why it should be recognised as an occupational disease. This means that the workplace can be held liable and individual workers can get compensation if the employer has not done enough to ensure a safe working environment.

Workplace assessments must be made public

IDA is supports making it compulsory to publish your workplace assessment (APV) and related action plan. In this way, IDA members can gain insight into which workplaces have a good mental health environment and where stress prevention is a priority.

This encourages employers to prioritise the creation of a safe working environment for employees.

Education must be included in the Working Environment Act

Management is one of the most important factors for the working environment, and therefore managers need to become better at dealing with stress, conflict and challenges in the psychological working environment.

Specifically, IDA wants the Working Environment Act to prescribe that all companies with more than 35 employees must train their managers and work environment representatives to deal with challenges related to stress and the working environment.