Ep. 6 Psychosocial Hazards
Why the U.S. Workplace is Literally Killing Us (and the Laws That Allow It)
We’ve rebranded workplace depression as "burnout" and personal failure, but the data shows the harm is actually by design.
IN THIS EPISODE
Aparna and Lars are joined by organizational psychologist Dr. Nicole DeKay to go where most U.S. workplace conversations are afraid to go: Psychosocial Hazards. While countries like Australia and New Zealand legally regulate things like "intrusive surveillance," "overload," and "poor change management," the U.S. remains a global outlier in worker neglect. We break down the "Vitality Curve" - a Jack Welch-era relic that forces managers to fire 10% of their team regardless of performance - and why PIPs (Performance Improvement Plans) have become a gaslighting tool to document layoffs. This isn’t about needing more "grit" or a better gratitude journal; it’s about naming the systemic conditions that cause measurable physical and psychological harm.
THE QUESTION WE'RE SITTING WITH
If the U.S. is one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, why do we have fewer legal protections against workplace trauma than almost any of our global peers?
TAKE THIS WITH YOU
Identify the Hazard: Review the 17 global psychosocial hazards (like low job control or high emotional labor) and identify which one is currently triggering your body’s stress response.
Question the PIP: If you or a colleague are put on a PIP out of nowhere, recognize it for what it often is—a liability-driven documentation tool—and prioritize your exit strategy over your "performance."
Break the Isolation: Talk to one trusted coworker about a specific work condition that feels untenable; breaking the "hyper-isolation" of the U.S. workplace is the first step toward collective power.
RESOURCES MENTIONED
Labor Rights Index — WageIndicator Foundation
Humanalysts — Dr. Nicole DeKay’s platform for democratizing employee data
The Vitality Curve — The controversial "rank and yank" management practice popularized by GE
CONNECT WITH US
Visit us at https://www.circleback.club/
Nicole on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicolejdekay/
Aparna on LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/aparnarae; aparnarae.com
Lars on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/lars-gallien; http://larsgallien.com/
Want to bring this conversation into your organization? Aparna and Lars speak at HR conferences, Fortune 1000 ERGs, and philanthropic foundations. pod@circleback.club
Full Transcript
Aparna: All right. Hi everybody. Welcome to another episode of The Circle Back Club, a podcast for workers who are done pretending that everything is fine. I'm Aparna Rae, and I am joined as always by Lars Gallien. Today we're going somewhere most workplace conversations are scared to go, at least the ones being had in the U.S.
Lars: There's a term used by researchers and governments around the world called psychosocial hazards. It describes the conditions at work—overload, lack of control, job insecurity, constant surveillance—that cause measurable and documented psychological harm. Today we're asking why the U.S., one of the wealthiest nations on Earth, does almost nothing about it legally.
Aparna: To have that conversation, I've invited Dr. Nicole DeKay. She's an organizational psychologist and founder of Humanalysts, a platform she built to democratize the employee experience and reduce harm in the workplace using data. Nicole, welcome to the club.
Nicole: Hi. Thank you for having me.
Aparna: I want to start with a story. A mentee in her late twenties noticed her manager was regularly canceling their one-on-ones. Last week, she called me sobbing during a panic attack because her manager put her on a PIP (Performance Improvement Plan) and she didn't know what to do. Nicole, what happens in our body and mind when we’re caught off guard like this?
Nicole: Panic attacks and sobbing are severe responses to a work situation. People go to the hospital for panic attacks because they don't understand what's happening to them. Specifically, that person is facing uncertainty, which is stressful. In New Zealand, "poor change management" is a regulated psychosocial hazard. When you give people uncertainty all the time, you trigger a threat response in the amygdala, releasing cortisol and adrenaline.
I also want to address the PIP itself. This reaction is happening due to harmful corporate practices like the "Vitality Curve." There is no peer-reviewed evidence that it works; it only increases short-term profit by treating people as liabilities on a balance sheet. Managers are often forced to gaslight employees into Pips because they are required to fire the bottom 10% every year. It’s a document-driven way to avoid the WARN Act and traditional layoffs.
Lars: When you are treated as a liability, your body responds as such. Documentation is a primary way to maintain control in a corporation because everything is seen as a liability. If you are starting a PIP, you are entering "documentation land" where you are being set up for failure.
Aparna: Let’s frame psychosocial hazards. We aren't just talking about a bad day. We're talking about conditions by design—management and culture—that cause psychological and physical harm.
Nicole: These are health-harming behaviors tied to anxiety, depression, PTSD, heart attacks, and stomach problems. Internationally, they are recognized as specific workplace hazards. For example, "extended work hours"—salaried employees working 80-hour weeks—or "inadequate rewards." In the U.S., no one on minimum wage can afford to live anywhere. At Boeing, I saw "raise pools" that didn't match inflation, while the company made record profits. Managers were forced to give one person a low raise just so someone else could get 5%. We're told to "be grateful," but we’re facing a completely different economic reality than previous generations.
Aparna: What gets me is that it's always treated as a personal failing. You need therapy, boundaries, or a gratitude journal. But a breathing exercise isn't going to fix a harmful job structure.
Lars: I saw this firsthand in large corporations—the higher up you got, the sicker you became. Leaders were going on sabbatical due to burnout, coming back, and getting promoted into even more pressure. We never talked about the somatic impact or how work was treating us.
Nicole: Workplace abuse is complex trauma. Symptoms are the same as complex PTSD because it is a chronically stressful situation you can't escape. Workplace stress is the cause of 120,000 deaths in the U.S. each year. High-pressure jobs with low control are associated with a 23% increase in heart disease and a 30% increase in stroke risk.
Aparna: Why are we so far behind? The U.S. ranks near the bottom of developed nations on the Labor Rights Index—worse than Mexico, closer to Egypt or Niger.
Nicole: It’s institutional gaslighting. We think we're the "land of the free," but the U.S. is often the cheapest place to place labor because our protections are so low. Europe is passing laws to prevent American practices like the Vitality Curve. Even our government leaders are burnt out. Burnout is just workplace depression that we've rebranded as acceptable. While Canada and Australia pass legislation for "Right to Disconnect," some U.S. states are trying to roll back child labor laws.
Lars: Australia now requires employers to proactively manage psychosocial risk, and they face criminal liability—including "industrial manslaughter"—if they fail.
Nicole: To change things, we need to give people tools. Most employee surveys are legally reviewed to remove questions that open the company to liability. We need to give managers the ability to measure employee health and name harm directly. When you measure harm, you take different actions.
Aparna: Rapid fire: One law you'd pass tomorrow?
Nicole: Make the Vitality Curve illegal. Aparna: A psychosocial hazard in plain sight? Nicole: Constant change. Aparna: The wellness industry exists to... Nicole: Make you feel better about the extractive systems you live in. Aparna: Something you can’t unsee? Nicole: Anyone can be a person who does harm.
Nicole: My hope is that we can work together outside of corporate systems. We can't tackle these issues within the systems that cause the harm.
Aparna: My action item is for HR: why aren't you capping executive compensation to your lowest-paid employee? If it’s 300x, why isn't it 20x? A different world is possible.
Lars: Follow us, leave a review, and remember: the person next to you is not your competition. They are your comrade. I'm Lars.
Aparna: And I'm Aparna.
Lars: We'll circle back.
