Much ado about nothing, the reality facing the application of NOM-035

The NOM-035 psychosocial risk factors It is two years old (and four years old) and although progress has been made in the diagnosis, a good part of the companies have not carried out an intervention plan to address what the evaluations applied to their workforce have shown. That is, the disease is known, but there is no treatment.

According to an AON report, the application of questionnaires to identify psychosocial risks and evaluate the organizational environment in companies is one of the measures that has been carried out the most, but there is a lag in actions to address the causes of the factors. that put the mental health of workers at risk.

From the perspective of Francisco Ortega, a specialist at the Observatory of Psychosocial Factors and Organizational Well-being (Obfapbio) of the UAEM, the situation that companies are experiencing regarding the NOM-035 It is linked to errors when interpreting the results obtained from the evaluations. “When it comes to establishing modifications or interventions, it is not clear to them what needs to be done,” he explains.

In this sense, a challenge that the regulations have, the specialist believes, is that the interventions that are carried out address the root of the problem that affects each organizational culture. “When interpreting is where there is more conflict, and if there is conflict for this, with more reason there are difficulties to establish prevention or intervention measures. A misinterpretation leads to unnecessary, inconclusive or poorly done interventions”.

Jorge Gutiérrez Siles, senior consultant at the firm Kaysa, considers that the current state of the standard is one of “disappointment”, but not because of what the instrument proposes, but because bugs in your app. “I think that the application has become a use and commercialization of easily accessible platforms, but that sometimes they only mask the problems. It’s like having a complicated disease, but instead of getting a good diagnosis, you take a placebo.”

From the point of view of the specialist, the absence of intervention plans it is only one of the challenges that the regulatory framework has, but the other side of the coin is that the diagnoses are not adequate either.

“The traffic lights that the standard establishes are initial indicators to start a whole management system that implies an analysis and present a whole mechanism to address the risk factors, but in all this part there is very little. As far as it has stayed is to have a traffic light; It is useless to know that there is an increase in workloads, after that we have to do an analysis with people to review their role”, says Jorge Gutiérrez.

The AON report shows that working hours and workload are the aspects with the greatest impact on workers. Psychosocial risk factors are situations related to work and the organizational environment that can affect people’s mental health and trigger stress, anxiety, depression or alteration of the sleep-wake cycle, among others.

For Jorge Mérida, creative partner of the firm ADN Wellbeing, in recent months there has been a revival in interest and continuity in the implementation of the standard in companies. “It seems that the companies are dusting off the diagnosis that they had made on some occasion at the end of 2019 or the beginning of 2020.” However, after impact of the pandemic and that the application of the instrument was frozen, it is likely that many organizations will need to start from scratch, he considers.

It agrees that in the last two years interventions to address psychosocial risk factors have been emerging. But it is likely that the health emergency caused by Covid-19 has not allowed many companies to even make an action plan. “I think they were in the diagnostic stage when the pandemic hit.”

has decreased the work stress? Is there less violence in workplaces? These are some of the questions that we must ask ourselves and that show the real impact of the application of the standard, adds Jorge Gutiérrez.

The costs to the business

Beyond regulatory non-compliance, the incorrect adoption of the standard has a negative impact on both the people’s health like in the business profitability. Jorge Mérida emphasizes that in companies where there is no active health promotion, any investment automatically translates into an expense.

For his part, Jorge Gutiérrez states that for every dollar invested in mental health care, there can be a return of up to four dollars, as long as it is done well. “Managers probably don’t know what they are losing and many times they think they have to comply with it to avoid an inspection, but they are not clear about how much absenteeism, turnover and presenteeism are costing them.”

The NOM-035 is a preventive standard that provides companies with the elements to identify psychosocial risk factors and, based on this, make changes to mitigate them in favor of mental health care for their employees. The preventive measures of the instrument entered into force in October 2019 and the application of the evaluations, a year later.

Specialists agree that the norm has brought down stigmas around the mental health at workrecognizing the psychosocial risks linked to work spaces and, although it has challenges, it is an instrument that will help create better work environments for employees and companies.

“We have realized everything that can affect the human being at work and the importance of keeping control of measures and prevention,” says Francisco Ortega.