Agenda

On May 19th 2011, the Versailles Court of Appeals (France) identified an inexcusable mistake made by an employer that was related to the suicide of one of its employees at the workplace. Six months later, another ruling condemned an employee for harassment towards a supervisor. Both these rulings reflect a recent effort to strengthen the law, which has until now been far too lenient when dealing with psychological distresses due to the subjective nature of such diseases. 

Today, the generalization of the second “Plan Santé au Travail” (PST2), applied to all businesses regardless of their size and industry, has led all parts to prioritize the well-being at work and to respect the necessity of providing results. The PST2 has remarkably accelerated the implementation of preventive measures that protect the physical and mental health of employees. The strict monitoring of the documentation made by labor inspectors as well as a stronger role played by physicians are concrete examples of this.

Despite these efforts, the fight against stress remains a challenge. How should the employer's responsibility and the influence of the employee's privacy be defined? How do we know if psychosocial risks are generated by an excessive workload, by inadequate organizing, or by employees constantly staying connected to work because of new technologies?

After the success of the first two editions of the conference "Health and Stress at Work", the news magazine Le Point is organizing half a day of extensive discussions on the topic of well-being at work. The conference will include high-level speakers that have been selected based on their expertise in order to discuss the following topics:

• An assessment of the preventive measures against psychosocial risks
• New legal responsibilities to protect workers
• Diagnostic methods and effective action plans to reduce stress
• Preventive solutions that should be implemented to reduce psychosocial risks
• The impact of IT on working conditions