Stress & mental health
Mental strain leads to particularly long absences.
The legal references on this page relate to German law.
What is the Stress & mental health field of action about?
Mindfulness, resilience and burnout prevention help employees deal with pressure before it makes them ill. This is about classic psychological stress — new, digital strains are covered by field 10.
Why does the Stress & mental health field of action pay off?
Mental illness causes particularly long absences per case and now ranks second for sick days in Germany (DAK sickness absence analysis 2025). Early, low-threshold offers reduce absences and turnover — and are eligible for funding under § 20b SGB V. But the field only takes effect together with healthy leadership (field 6).
Which measures fit the Stress & mental health field of action?
Measures for mental health — from the micro-break to the resilience course:
Based on COPSOQ: the in-depth survey on psychosocial strain
When the psychosocial risk assessment has to hold up — in front of the works council, the labour inspectorate or your own management — the questionnaire based …
Mental Health Week: How to break the taboo
Approaching mental health systematically: A Mental Health Week is a structured WHP component that breaks the taboo—and builds a bridge to the risk assessment o…
€0 · freeThe Mindfulness Minute: 60 Seconds Against Chronic Stress
Mental health in WHP starts with low-threshold measures: The daily mindfulness minute is a first building block in the area of stress—even before the risk asse…
Social Volunteering Day
A paid day off for social engagement is an offering many employees would like – and few receive. Yet the benefit is easy to see: employees who take a volunteer…
Stress Management
Stress is subjective – and that's the problem. Anyone under constant pressure gets used to it, until their resources are suddenly depleted. A short, anonymous …
€0 · freeCompliment Challenge
Appreciation in everyday work life is not a soft-skill luxury but a measurable health factor. Occupational research considers a lack of recognition a stress fa…
Introducing an EAP (Employee Assistance Program)
Mental illness leads to particularly long absences: in Germany in 2025, a sick note for this reason lasted 34 days on average, and by days of absence mental il…
Healthy Leadership
Managers aren't therapists – but they're the first point of contact where employees either let stress and strain become visible, or don't. How a manager respon…
€0 · free"How are you really doing?" Check-in
Anyone who wants to know how their employees are doing has to ask – regularly, with a low threshold, and in a way that makes honest answers possible. The weekl…
Resilience Training
Resilience is not a personality trait you either have or don't – it's a skill you can develop. That's the most important message for every employee who believe…
€0 · freeStress Reset Course
Four weeks aren't enough to dissolve years of stress patterns. But they're enough to understand how those patterns form – and to develop the first, decisive to…
€0 · freeSleeping In After Daylight Saving Time
After the clock change, the team starts Monday morning 30 minutes later. Zero cost, five minutes of effort – and a concrete signal: recovery is a priority here…
€0 · freeHealthy Habits
Healthy habits don't come from good intentions – they come from repetition. A habit is anchored once the behavior runs automatically – without a conscious deci…
€0 · freeLunch & Learn
Knowledge transfer at work has a time problem: seminars take too long, emails go unread, and intranet posts stay unopened. Lunch & Learn sessions solve this by…
€0 · freeSleep Hygiene Tips
Sleep is the most powerful recovery tool people have – and the most underrated one in a workplace context. Anyone who sleeps only six hours a night for two wee…
Work-Life Balance Workshop
Work-life balance sounds like a concept that costs nothing but good intentions. In practice, it founders on a lack of tools, unclear boundaries, and a work cul…
Introducing AI without overlooking the strain: the risk assessment that goes with it
This questionnaire is a BETA version: soundly built on the professional literature, but not yet conclusively validated in occupational psychology terms. It can…
Psychosocial risk assessment: start with the standard survey
The psychosocial risk assessment is not optional, it is a legal duty — and the way in is an anonymous survey of 24 questions that takes ten minutes to answer.
Where do you stand on Stress & mental health?
The self-check places you across all 10 action areas.