Every employer in the Netherlands has a legal duty of care around psychosocial workload (PSA), and the Netherlands Labour Authority is tightening its oversight. The Arbowet (Dutch Working Conditions Act) requires you to prevent PSA, but what does that mean day-to-day? How do you turn a legal duty of care into something that genuinely supports your team, before complaints tip over into absenteeism?
At OpenUp, we support organisations with parts that together give shape to that duty of care. Not a set of standalone courses or a policy on paper, but one connected whole that supports employees, managers and HR at the right moment. In this article, we walk through each part, show what it does, when it works, and what you see as HR.
How we prevent psychosocial workload, in five concrete parts
As an HR manager, you often get one simple question from the management team (MT): how does OpenUp prevent psychosocial workload in practice? We do it with five concrete parts that connect to one another.
- One: direct access to a psychologist, with a first 1:1 session within 48 hours.
- Two: anonymous insights into workload, stress and well-being at the group level, so you know where the friction is.
- Three: training for managers, who are often the first to notice the signs.
- Four: self-directed learning, for employees who want to work at their own pace.
- Five: a helpline for difficult moments.
Together, they cover the work the Arbowet requires of an employer regarding PSA. Below we explain, part by part, what each one does, when it works and what you see as HR.
1. Direct access to a psychologist
With us, an employee books a conversation with a psychologist directly, with no referral and no HR or manager in between. A first 1:1 session is in the diary within 48 hours. Sessions last 25 minutes and are available in more than 40 languages.
Our psychologists hold a master’s degree in psychology, have at least four years of experience and are trained in cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) and acceptance and commitment therapy (ACT). That combination fits the themes we see often in our sessions: irritability, poor sleep, the feeling that work is consuming you, and recurring worry about a difficult colleague or manager.
Why this prevents PSA: PSA is caught while it is still at the level of complaints, not only when someone calls in sick. An employee who reaches out to us on Wednesday is in their first session by Friday, sometimes within a few hours. That difference in timing, compared with a waiting list, is often the difference between early support and long-term absence.
Read more about how our mental health coaching works.
2. Anonymous insights for HR
As HR, you want to quickly see where workload, stress, or unwanted behaviour are building before they lead to absenteeism. We give you that insight at the organisation and group level, anonymised, with two practical tools that reinforce each other.
The HR dashboard gives you a live overview of what is happening on the OpenUp platform in your organisation: how many employees are using it, which themes come up most, and in which teams or at which locations usage peaks. That is your early signal for risks that would otherwise only become visible when someone calls in sick.
The Vitality Check is our digital well-being scan, a standard part of the platform. Employees complete it online in under ten minutes and get their own insights straight away across ten themes, from sleep and stress to work and nutrition. At the organisation level, HR receives the results anonymised and at the group level as well.
HR gets insight into trends by team and period, as well as the main themes and clear next steps. Individual results, names, or information about who has booked a session stay out of view. That separation is essential. Our data remains within the EU and complies with ISO 27001 and NEN 7510.
Why this prevents PSA: early signals at the organisation level give HR the chance to step in where it matters, before a trend turns into sick days.
3. Training for managers
A psychologist only hears the story once the employee reaches out. A manager usually sees it sooner: someone whose emails get shorter, a colleague who skips the daily stand-up, a department that is consistently working overtime. Whether the manager does anything with that depends on whether they have been trained to do so.
We support managers through three programmes:
- Mental Health Training: teaches managers to recognise early signs, have an open conversation about workload and boundaries, and know when to refer someone to a psychologist or confidential advisor.
- Leadership Coaching: 1:1 coaching for managers themselves, on themes such as team dynamics, conflict and their own workload.
- Group sessions: bring managers together in small groups to discuss real situations, guided by an OpenUp psychologist.
Why this prevents PSA: a well-trained manager can ease workload and address inappropriate behaviour before it shows up as a sick day. That is what the Arbowet means by a preventive approach at organisation level.
4. Working on it yourself
Not every employee wants to book a session straight away. Some prefer to work through material themselves first, at their own pace, at a moment that suits them, without it being logged anywhere as a request for help.
That is what self-directed learning is for. It contains practical courses on topics such as stress, sleep, focus, and resilience, as well as a library of articles and exercises created by psychologists.
Why this prevents PSA: complaints often start small. By giving employees the space to work on them early, there is a greater chance they will not grow into time off. An employee who follows a course on sleeping better, for example, is better equipped to tackle those sleep problems straight away, which lowers the risk of absenteeism. It complements 1:1 coaching and conversations, and gives employees room to work on their well-being at their own pace.
5. A helpline for difficult moments
Difficult moments often do not stick within regular office hours. A panic attack after a night shift, a conversation that escalates in the evening, a message that jolts someone awake at night: for those moments, there is our helpline.
What the line does: a trained professional takes the initial conversation, helps restore calm, and, if needed, sets up a follow-up appointment with a psychologist. Available in Dutch, German and English. Between 08:00 and 18:00, our core team is available; outside those hours, our on-call experts from the Benelux and DACH take over.
What the line does not do: replace scheduled sessions, long-term treatment or the emergency services. For those, there are 1:1 sessions with a psychologist (see part one) and, in an immediate emergency, 112.
Why this prevents PSA: an acute situation that is handled well on a Saturday night often prevents the long absence that would otherwise follow.
How do these five parts prevent PSA together?
| Situation | OpenUp part |
|---|---|
| Employee reaches out with stress complaints | 1:1 session within 48 hours |
| HR wants a view of workload by team | HR dashboard + Vitality Check |
| Manager notices something in a team member | Mental health coaching + leadership training |
| Employee wants to work on it themselves | Self-directed learning + Vitality Check |
| Difficult moments outside office hours | Our helpline in Dutch, German and English |
Our infrastructure supports this: ISO 27001 and NEN 7510 certifications, data stored within the EU, and a dedicated Customer Success team for each client.
Ready to tackle PSA in your organisation?
Frequently asked questions about how OpenUp helps tackle PSA
How often should I review my PSA policy?
There is no fixed cycle prescribed, such as ‘every four years’; the standard is keeping it current. In practice, most organisations conduct an annual review and a full revision when something significant changes, such as a reorganisation, a merger or a significant incident.
What is the difference between a 1:1 session and the Vitality Check?
A 1:1 session is an individual, confidential conversation with a psychologist about an employee’s own situation. The Vitality Check is our digital well-being scan: a short online questionnaire under 10 minutes that covers 10 themes, from sleep and stress to work and nutrition. Employees receive their own insights and personal next steps straight away; HR receives only anonymised group insights, not individual results.
