In 2019 several political parties made an agreement on "new and improved efforts in the working environment area" in order to strengthen the focus on mental wellbeing in the workplace. As part of the agreement, it was agreed that, for the first time ever, an executive order focusing only on the psychological working environment would be prepared.
Following consultation in 2019, the final executive order was recently issued by the Working Environment Authority. The executive order aims to clarify the psychological working environment rules for employers and employees in order to facilitate the prevention of mental wellbeing issues.
The new executive order will be supplemented by new guidelines from the Working Environment Authority in the following areas:
- large workloads and time constraints;
- vague and conflicting requirements at the workplace; and
- high emotional demands in social work.
The executive order entered into force on 1 November 2020.
