Assessment of psychosocial risks among employees of IT management companies in Morocco

Abstract

In recent years, the concept of psychosocial risks has taken on particular importance in working life. Indeed, PSRs at work have become almost synonymous with working life, and more specifically with work-related stress, and it is widely accepted that work experiences can have a negative impact on the mental health of employees.

Psychological risks are the human pressures that arise as a result of implementing an organization's strategy, and take different forms such as anxiety, pressure, violence, mental load, miscommunication and other pressures that are transmitted differently among employees depending on their position in the company.

Thus, mental health is an integral part of health and a state of happiness. It enables a person to achieve self-realization, overcome the normal pressures of life, engage in productive work and contribute to community life. Its degree is determined by social, psychological decisions and biological factors. In the workplace, it is associated with psychosocial risk (PSR), which can cause a variety of discomforts and negative emotions about work. The assessment of PSR in the workplace is crucial, their identification allows to take preventive measures to have a palpable impact on absenteeism, performance, productivity and health of workers and organizations.

In this sense, the objective of this manuscript is to evaluate the psychosocial risks of employees of companies in management information systems in Morocco based on the Karasek model.

 This is a cross-sectional survey with data from 222 employees in the IT management professions. The respondents were informed in advance of the purpose of the survey and of the anonymity of the data collected. The respondents were women and men computer scientists of all ages, different levels of learning, different levels of experience and different socio-professional categories.

This study gave us the opportunity to evaluate the psychosocial risks of the employees of five Moroccan companies acting in the field of IT development and marketing, as well as to detect the consequences of the non-adoption of these evaluation instruments within the said companies in their processes relating to the management of human resources, this paper was a step for us to apprehend the evolution of psychosocial risks in Morocco.

JEL Classification : O15

Paper type : Empirical research