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Introduction

What Prior Work measures, why psychosocial risk is worth managing, and the briefs to share with leadership and workers before you start.

Why Prior Work

Prior Work analyses psychosocial risk using decades of occupational health research on work stress. It shows how workplace factors interact to drive engagement on one side and burnout on the other, so you can act where it matters - the interaction-aware analysis the Codes of Practice ask for, in a format any HR or WHS practitioner can run.

Model-based analysis

Goes past frequencies and hotspot counts to show how psychosocial factors interact to influence health and wellbeing outcomes, with interactive tools for exploring the result.

Practitioner-led and self-service

Specialist-grade analytics you run yourself, with templates ready to adapt and deploy.

Pulse survey check-ins

Track progress without re-surveying everyone. Prior Work names the factors worth re-measuring and how to sample them.

Optional AI-written report

Bring your own Anthropic or OpenAI API key to turn your analysis into an action-oriented report. No subscription; you pay your provider for the generation, roughly the cost of a coffee.

Free for internal workplace use

No account and no subscription. There is no database: your work lives in your browser and you can clear it whenever you like.

Legal and regulatory context

Every Australian state and territory now has a Code of Practice for managing psychosocial hazards, sitting under WHS or OHS legislation that requires employers to identify and control psychosocial risks with the same rigour as physical ones.

ISO 45003:2021, the international standard for psychological health and safety at work, is not a legal requirement in Australia. Where it earns its keep is evidence: tenders and prequalification questionnaires often ask how psychosocial risk is managed, and a documented process maps cleanly onto its hazard categories as well as onto the Codes.

The risk management cycle Prior Work supports

The Model Code of Practice describes psychosocial risk management as a four-step cycle. Prior Work covers every step, with guidance for the consultation and communication that wrap around them.

1
Identify hazards
Run the survey

One survey template covers the full psychosocial hazard set. Download it and import it into whichever survey platform you already use.

2
Assess the risk
See what is driving harm

The model shows the nature, seriousness and likelihood of harm for each hazard, and what would change if you acted.

3
Control the risk
Act on the leverage points

Action Planning ranks your leverage points and orders the controls by the hierarchy, so effort goes where it prevents harm.

4
Review control measures
Evaluate changes quickly

Short, targeted pulse surveys test whether a control worked, without disrupting the workforce again.

Consultation wraps around every step. Regulators expect it at each stage. Prior Work ships with the leadership brief, the worker brochure, focus-group prompts and suggested comms timelines, so consultation is built in rather than bolted on at the end.

The cost of not acting

Psychological injury claims cost more and run longer than other claims. Safe Work Australia data shows about four times the compensation cost and nearly five times the time off work.

~$67,400
Median psych injury claim
vs ~$16,300 for other claims
~36 weeks
Median time off work
vs ~7 weeks for other claims
2-3x
Presenteeism multiplier
productivity loss exceeds absenteeism

Source: Safe Work Australia, Key Work Health and Safety Statistics Australia (2023-24 data, published 2025). Direct costs only, excluding voluntary turnover, reduced team performance and recruitment reputation.

The research base

Prior Work's measures come from decades of work-stress research - the Job Demand-Control model, Effort-Reward Imbalance, and the Job Demands-Resources framework - which converge on one picture. The conditions of work run along two routes: demands wear people down, and resources help them cope and grow.

  • The framework's two routes: demands to strain, resources to motivation
  • Challenge demands can also feed motivation
  • Hindrance demands pull against motivation
  • Resources take strain out of the demands route
Our illustration of the framework, with example factors from the Prior Work model. The two solid routes are the framework itself; the dashed lines are the challenge and hindrance split laid over it. The same task can be both at once, so read engagement and strain separately: engaged workers can still be heading for burnout. After Demerouti, E., Bakker, A. B., Nachreiner, F., & Schaufeli, W. B. (2001), The job demands-resources model of burnout, Journal of Applied Psychology, 86(3), 499-512. doi.org/10.1037/0021-9010.86.3.499

The WHS Codes label every psychosocial factor a "hazard", which forces awkward double-negatives like "low levels of a lack of job control". Prior Work uses the plain-language framing managers and support teams already use.

For the full theory from the ground up, the Beginner and Advanced courses walk through it step by step.

Definitions of all 20 constructs, why each one matters and the source of every item are in the Glossary.

Before you start

  1. Brief leadership

    Agree the purpose, an accountable lead, and the time and resources to act on what you find. Adapt the brief before sharing it.

    Leadership brief (.docx)

  2. Consult workers and their representatives

    Explain what you want to understand, who will see the findings, and how workers will help choose the changes. Agree confidentiality arrangements before anyone answers.

    Worker brochure (.docx)

  3. Choose how to start

    Prepare questions, a platform and dates. You can also explore a sector model first to frame the conversation.

    Prepare the survey