About 840,000 deaths each year are linked to psychosocial risks at work, ILO warns

Long hours, job insecurity, and workplace stressors are among key psychosocial risks affecting workers globally. A new ILO report highlights how the way work is designed and managed can influence both health outcomes and organisational performance.

More than 840,000 people die each year from health conditions linked to psychosocial risks at work, according to a new global report by the International Labour Organization (ILO).

These risks include long working hours, job insecurity, high job demands with limited control, and workplace bullying and harassment. The report notes that they are mainly associated with cardiovascular diseases and mental health conditions, including suicide.

At the same time, the impact is also seen in years of healthy life lost. The report estimates nearly 45mn disability-adjusted life years (DALYs) are affected annually, reflecting time lost to illness, disability, or premature death. It also puts the broader economic cost at around 1.37% of global GDP each year.

How work environments shape wellbeing

Published ahead of World Day for Safety and Health at Work 2026 (28 April), the ILO report, The psychosocial working environment: Global developments and pathways for action, focuses on how work is designed, organised and managed, and how this can shape employee health and wellbeing.

It defines the psychosocial working environment as the combination of job design, workplace interactions, and management systems that influence daily working life. These elements can affect both workers’ health and how organisations perform.

To better understand these risks, the report outlines three key layers:

1. The nature of the job itself: Demands, responsibilities, alignment with workers’ skills, access to resources, and the design of tasks in terms of meaning, variety, and skill use.
   
2. How work is organised and managed: Covering role clarity, expectations, autonomy, workload, work pace, and supervision and support.
   
3. Broader workplace policies, practices and procedures that govern work: Employment and working time arrangements, management of organisational change, digital monitoring, performance and reward processes, occupational safety and health (OSH) policy and management systems, procedures to prevent violence and harassment at work, and mechanisms for worker consultation and participation.

The report emphasises that psychosocial risks stem from these workplace elements and can be prevented through organisational approaches that address root causes, rather than symptoms alone. It also highlights the importance of embedding psychosocial risk management into occupational safety and health systems, supported by social dialogue between governments, employers, and workers.

Understanding the estimate behind the figures

The estimate of over 840,000 deaths a year is based on global data covering five key psychosocial risk factors at work.

These include:

1. Job strain,
2. Effort-reward imbalance,
3. Job insecurity,
4. Long working hours, and
5. Workplace bullying and harassment.

Researchers combined this exposure data with scientific evidence linking these risks to serious health outcomes, including heart disease, stroke, and mental health conditions such as depression, anxiety, and suicide.

These findings were then applied to global health data from the World Health Organization (WHO) and the Global Burden of Disease study to estimate both mortality and disability impacts, as well as related productivity losses.

The report also highlights links between psychosocial risks and a broader range of conditions, including sleep disturbances, metabolic diseases, and musculoskeletal disorders.

Workplaces evolving, risks shifting

While psychosocial risks have long existed in the workplace, the report notes that they are being reshaped by ongoing changes in how work is structured.

For instance, digitalisation, AI, remote work, and new forms of employment are changing work patterns. These shifts can bring benefits such as flexibility but may also introduce new pressures or amplify existing risks if not carefully managed.

This makes proactive attention to how work is designed increasingly important, the report suggests, particularly in ensuring workloads, expectations and support systems remain balanced.

Commenting on the severity of the matter, Manal Azzi, Team Lead on OSH Policy and Systems, ILO, said psychosocial risks are emerging as one of the most significant challenges for occupational safety and health in today’s world of work.

"Improving the psychosocial working environment is essential not only for protecting workers’ mental and physical health, but also for strengthening productivity, organisational performance and sustainable economic development," she added.

A growing area of workplace focus

As the world of work continues to evolve, the findings point to a growing opportunity for employers to strengthen how work is structured, supported and experienced.

In closing, the ILO highlights that improving psychosocial working environments is not just about reducing risks, but also about creating healthier and more supportive workplaces for employees. By taking early and practical steps to address these issues, the report concludes that countries and businesses can improve worker wellbeing, support better performance at work, and build stronger, more resilient economies over time.

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