GENEVA - For workers, psychosocial problems may result in illness, injury, stigmatization, isolation, and even death. And they can have a considerable impact on the employer - such as lost work days, increased accidents, reduced productivity, higher insurance costs, and lowered morale.
Launched in 2001, the SOLVE methodology includes a policy and action-oriented educational package that addresses the issues of stress, drugs and alcohol, violence, HIV/AIDS, and tobacco in an integrated way. The programme stresses that these problems are major threats not only to workers, but to enterprise performance, and it recognizes that the workplace can be the ideal venue to address these problems through the joint action of workers and management.
"These problems have a compounding effect and cannot be addressed on a one-off basis. They are interrelated, and therefore the policies that address them need to be interrelated, as well," says Dr. David Gold of the ILO's SafeWork Programme.
Originally designed to apply to any industry, special adaptations of the SOLVE programme have been developed for the healthcare, air transport, and public administration sectors, and adaptations are under way for emergency workers, the maritime sector, and public education.
The programme includes a comprehensive manual for participants, elements of which are delivered through a four-day interactive course that is intended to promote understanding of the interrelationships between the five health problems and to address them in an integrated way. Since its launch, more than 75 courses have been held, delivering services to over 1,000 participants from 45 countries. Capacity to deliver SOLVE courses has been established in 40 countries.
One well-received attribute of the SOLVE programme has been its focus on labour-management cooperation in addressing psychosocial issues.
A recent SOLVE session, held in Montreal, Canada for the Joint Air Canada/International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers Employee Assistance Programme provided an example of this approach. The course included "role reversal" sessions during which union representatives assumed management roles and the Vice President for Human Resources played a union representative. In post-session evaluations, both sides said the role playing enabled them to better understand the other.
With a number of evaluation mechanisms in place it is noted that participants have also picked up on the SOLVE programme's ability to build an ongoing capacity to deal with the evolving challenges presented by psychosocial problems.
"One difficulty is that psychosocial issues at work are complex and ever-changing. But if you have a comprehensive approach to begin with, you can more easily adapt to new challenges as they emerge," says R. Thomas Buffenbarger, International President of the IAMAW. "That's why we like the SOLVE programme's emphasis on bringing both management and the union to the table to ensure the solutions are comprehensive, and to do it in a framework of dialogue and cooperation."
Dr. Anomi Jayasinghe, Medical Director of Sri Lankan Airways, agrees, "Since a healthy workforce is an asset to any organization, the SOLVE concept can be used effectively to help build the vision and the mission of the organization, as the notions expressed in the SOLVE programme lead to improved worker health, productivity, morale, and motivation."