Digital Workplace Transformation Demands Stronger Psychosocial Health Safeguards
Digital workplace transformation requires coordinated psychosocial health prevention strategies, ILO advises.
Event / Health
Workplace Psychosocial Health Crisis
International Labour Organization publishes major report on work-related psychosocial risks, documenting 840,000 annual deaths from stress, harassment, and excessive working hours. Report identifies five major risk factors, disproportionate impacts on vulnerable workers, and economic cost of 1.37% of global GDP. Technological transformation and digitalization creating new workplace challenges.
0 reported locations
No reported coordinates available.
Daily activity
0 articles0 articles
2026-08-18 to 2026-11-15 · UTC publication dates
Coverage begins 28 Apr, 09:38 UTC
Follow the documented timeline or explore the related reporting.
What happened
ILO recommends strengthened research and improved coordination on workplace psychosocial prevention
The International Labour Organization recommends strengthening research to obtain regular, harmonized, and internationally comparable data on psychosocial workplace risks. It also recommends more rigorous evaluation of current policies to identify and distribute effective approaches, and improved cooperation between workplace health authorities, public health institutions, and social partners to enhance prevention of psychosocial hazards.
ILO reports 840,000 annual deaths from work-related psychosocial risk factors
The International Labour Organization (ILO), drawing on data from the World Health Organization (WHO), estimates that work-related psychosocial risk factors lead to approximately 840,000 annual deaths attributable to cardiovascular diseases or mental disorders. While acknowledging that disease origins are often multifactorial, the report indicates that multiple longitudinal studies demonstrate consistent links between negative psychosocial workplace exposures and mental and cardiovascular health.
ILO identifies five major workplace psychosocial risk factors
The International Labour Organization identifies five major psychosocial risk factors linked to work: stress, excessive working hours, exposure to harassment, imbalance between efforts and rewards, and job precarity. The report emphasizes that 35% of workers globally work more than 48 hours per week and that 23% have experienced at least one form of violence or harassment during their careers.
Workplace psychosocial environment undergoing transformation due to telework and digital technologies
Telework, digitalization, and artificial intelligence are driving profound changes to the psychosocial workplace environment globally. The ILO notes growing recognition of prevention of psychosocial hazards as a national priority across all regions as workplaces adapt to new technologies and work arrangements.
Vulnerable workers face disproportionate psychosocial workplace risks
Immigrants, persons with disabilities, seniors, young workers, and those in precarious or informal employment are exposed to psychosocial workplace risks at higher rates than other workers. These vulnerable populations face greater susceptibility to stress, harassment, and other psychosocial hazards in their work environments.
Economic cost of work-related mental and cardiovascular diseases reaches 1.37% of global GDP
The annual economic cost of cardiovascular diseases and mental disorders associated with psychosocial workplace risks is valued at 1.37% of global GDP. This represents a substantial economic burden on the global economy from work-related health conditions.
Read the coverage
2 alternative perspectives
ILO Quantifies Workplace Psychosocial Crisis: 840,000 Deaths Annually
Workplace psychosocial hazards cause 840,000 annual deaths and cost 1.37% of global GDP.