Is My Workplace Making Me Stressed? Signs of Psychosocial Hazards
You're tired. Not the normal kind, the kind where Sunday evening fills you with dread and your jaw is clenched before you've even opened your laptop. You might blame yourself. Poor sleep habits, not enough exercise, not resilient enough.
But sometimes the problem isn't you. It's where you work.
And if you work in Victoria, the law now agrees.
What changed on 1 December 2025
The Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 took effect on 1 December 2025, sitting under Victoria's Occupational Health and Safety Act 2004. These regulations create a positive duty on Victorian employers to proactively identify, manage, and where reasonably practicable eliminate psychosocial hazards in their workplaces.
This isn't optional guidance. A breach can trigger improvement notices or criminal prosecution through WorkSafe Victoria.
The regulations treat psychosocial hazards with the same seriousness as physical hazards, a wet floor, faulty wiring, or an unguarded machine. The difference is that psychosocial hazards are harder to see and easier to dismiss. Which is exactly why the regulations exist.
What counts as a psychosocial hazard
The regulations define a psychosocial hazard as any factor in work design, systems of work, the management of work, the carrying out of work, or personal or work-related interactions arising in the working environment that may cause an employee to experience negative psychological responses creating a risk to their health or safety.
That's a broad definition, and deliberately so. The Compliance Code published alongside the regulations lists specific examples, including bullying, sexual harassment, aggression or violence, exposure to traumatic events or content, high job demands, low job demands, low job control, poor support, poor organisational justice, low role clarity, poor environmental conditions, remote or isolated work, poor organisational change management, low recognition and reward, and poor workplace relationships. Gendered violence and vicarious trauma are also specifically recognised.
So what does this actually look like day to day?
You're always "on" but never in control
You have too much to do, not enough time, and no say in how you do it. Deadlines are set without your input. Priorities shift daily. You're expected to be responsive at all hours but can't make basic decisions about your own workflow.
Under the regulations, this is a combination of high job demands and low job control, two recognised psychosocial hazards. It's not a personality flaw. It's a feature of how your work is designed, and your employer has a legal obligation to address it.
The goals are unclear or constantly shifting
You finish a project and find out the requirements changed two days ago. You're told to "take more initiative" and then pulled up for not checking first. Performance reviews surprise you because nobody told you what success looked like.
The regulations recognise low role clarity as a psychosocial hazard. When you can't tell what's expected of you, or when expectations contradict each other, your brain stays in a low-grade threat state. You spend mental energy guessing what people want instead of doing your actual job.
Support doesn't exist, or it's performative
Your manager says their door is always open, but when you raise workload concerns, the conversation ends with you agreeing to try harder. There's a wellness app on your benefits page, but your team is still down two people with no plan to hire.
The regulations are specific about this: employers can use information, instruction, or training as a control measure, but it cannot be the predominant measure. It can only be used as the sole control when no other option is reasonably practicable. In other words, a mindfulness webinar doesn't discharge your employer's duty if the actual problem is that three people are doing the work of five.
Victoria is more prescriptive on this point than other Australian jurisdictions, where training and information can be used more flexibly.
The social environment is toxic
People are publicly criticised. Information is hoarded as a power tool. Bullying is reframed as "direct communication" or "just their style." Conflict is either constant or completely suppressed, both are bad.
WorkSafe Victoria's advisory line data from 2023-24 shows that the top three psychosocial hazards reported were bullying, poor support, and aggression or violence, followed by poor workplace relationships and poor organisational justice. These aren't edge cases. They're the most common complaints.
The work never stops, and rest is frowned upon
You eat lunch at your desk because everyone does. You answer emails on holiday because not doing so feels risky. Someone who leaves at 5pm is described as "not committed."
Sustained overwork without adequate recovery is a psychosocial hazard. The harm isn't just from the hours, it's from the culture that treats rest as a liability. If taking your entitled leave or logging off on time requires courage, the norms around you are creating risk.
You've changed, and not for the better
Sometimes the clearest sign is personal. You used to enjoy things and now you don't. You're more irritable with people who don't deserve it. You've started dreading work in a way that feels physical, headaches, stomach problems, trouble sleeping.
The regulations define psychological responses to include cognitive, emotional, and behavioural responses, and the physiological processes associated with them. That means physical symptoms caused by workplace stress fall within scope. Your body's response is recognised, not just your mood.
The numbers behind this
Mental injury claims have been climbing steadily in Victoria. WorkSafe's 2023-24 Annual Report shows that 18% of all new claims that year were for mental injury, up from 16% in 2022-23. In 2024-25, 17% of claims were reported as mental injuries. Safe Work Australia's national statistics report from October 2025 found that the median time off work for mental health claims is almost five times longer than for other injuries, and they're among the costliest forms of workplace injury.
These aren't abstract numbers. They represent people whose workplaces made them unwell.
What your employer is now required to do
Under the OHS Act 2004 and the Psychological Health Regulations 2025, your employer must — so far as is reasonably practicable:
- Identify psychosocial hazards in the workplace
- Eliminate the risk, or if that's not reasonably practicable, reduce it
- Control risk by altering work design, management, systems, plant, or the work environment
- Consult with employees and Health and Safety Representatives when identifying hazards and deciding on control measures
- Review control measures when circumstances change, an incident occurs, or new information emerges
The hierarchy of controls matters. Employers should first look at changing the work itself, redesigning roles, adjusting workloads, fixing management practices. Training and information sit at the bottom of the hierarchy and cannot be the main response.
WorkSafe Victoria has published a Compliance Code alongside the regulations. Complying with the Code is taken as evidence of complying with the regulations and the Act. There's also a prevention plan template available on WorkSafe's website. While prevention plans aren't mandatory (they were in the 2022 exposure draft but were dropped from the final version), using one is still a practical way for employers to document their approach.
What you can do
Name the specific hazard. Not "work is stressful" but "I have no control over my schedule and my workload has doubled since two people left." The more specific you are, the harder it is to dismiss.
Document what's happening. Dates, incidents, patterns. You might need this later, and the act of recording things helps you see patterns clearly.
Talk to your Health and Safety Representative. Under the OHS Act, employers must consult with HSRs when identifying hazards and deciding on controls. If your workplace has an HSR, they're a legitimate channel for raising psychosocial hazard concerns. If it doesn't, you can request the election of one.
Contact WorkSafe Victoria. You can report concerns through WorkSafe's advisory line. The top hazards reported through this channel — bullying, poor support, aggression — suggest you won't be the first person calling about these issues.
Get outside support. A GP, a psychologist, or a union representative can help you assess what's happening and what your options are. People inside the system often can't see it clearly or have reasons not to.
Consider whether it's fixable. Some workplaces have psychosocial hazards that management would address if they understood them. Others have hazards that management created deliberately. The difference matters for deciding whether to push for change or plan your exit.
Stress at work is common. But common doesn't mean acceptable — and in Victoria, it doesn't mean legal. If your workplace is making you unwell, your employer has a duty to do something about it. The Occupational Health and Safety (Psychological Health) Regulations 2025 exist because too many workplaces weren't doing it voluntarily.