Unclear and conflicting demands at work

1.1. What do the guidelines contain?

These WEA Guidelines describe the most important work duties you have as an employer to prevent unclear or conflicting demands at work, and what you can do to fulfil these duties.

You can take different approaches to prevention from those described in these guidelines, as long as you ensure that the work is planned, organised and carried out in a way that is fully compliant with health and safety in regard to unclear and conflicting requirements of work.

1.2. Who are the guidelines relevant for?

The target group for these guidelines is primarily employers, supervisors, the occupational health and safety organisation (HSO), and other employees who work with occupational health and safety in the company. Within the company, the employer is the primary target group because it is the employer who is legally obliged to ensure that the work is fully compliant with health and safety.

Unclear and conflicting demands at work can occur in all companies and in all industries. Therefore, these guidelines are relevant for companies in all industries.

All employees in the company are covered by the rules on unclear and conflicting demands at work, regardless of the nature and duration of the employment relationship. The rules also apply to project employees, temporary workers, trainees, and others more loosely connected with the company.

Note that supervisors are also included in the term "employees". Supervisors have a dual role. They manage and supervise work on behalf of the employer, and are also employees themselves.

1.3. The guidelines' approach to prevention

The guidelines are based on the principles that underlie all work to prevent health and safety issues.

The main assessment is whether the prevention ensures that employees are not at risk of falling into one of these two situations or both.

Help with your assessment

When you, as an employer, must assess whether the risk to the health and safety of your employees has been effectively prevented, you must assess the extent of the unclear or conflicting demands, the nature of the demands, and whether the preventive measures ensure that the employees are able to handle them. 

The extent depends on:

• How much of the daily work is taken up by the unclear or conflicting demands.
• How long the unclear and conflicting requirements have been there.

The nature depends on:

• How important the unclear demands or conflicting demands are for the daily work, including how they affect the employees' opportunities to carry out the work.
• How serious the consequences can be if employees make wrong decisions, or make mistakes in their work as a result of unclear or conflicting demands.

Whether the preventive measures are sufficient to ensure that employees are able to handle the unclear or conflicting demands depends, among other things, on:

• Whether the employees have sufficient competences to handle the unclear or conflicting demands, e.g. professional and cooperative competences.
• Whether there is managerial and collegial support that makes it possible to deal with the unclear or conflicting demands collectively, for example, when employees are in doubt about how they should carry out the work, or how they should prioritise it.
• Whether the employees have sufficient influence in the work, including decision-making competences to handle the unclear or conflicting demands.

Less time passes before the unclear or conflicting demands pose a risk to the health or safety of the employees:

• The more the daily work is taken up by the unclear or conflicting demands.
• The greater the importance of the unclear or conflicting demands is for the daily work.
• The more serious the consequences of the unclear or conflicting demands can be.
• The less the preventive measures ensure that employees can handle the unclear or conflicting demands.

As an employer, you have a duty to take preventive measures when necessary to ensure that the work is health and safety compliant in regard to unclear and conflicting demands at work. These measures must be effective, so that employees don’t fall ill or get injured as a result of unclear or conflicting demands.

You must plan and implement preventive measures in collaboration with your employees and HSO. The latter only applies to companies with 10 or more employees.

If the necessary expertise is not available within the company to prevent the risks from unclear and conflicting demands, you, as an employer, must seek external expertise to ensure that the work is completely safe.

4.1. The most important preventive measures

It is particularly important that you, as an employer, focus on the following measures to prevent the risks from unclear and conflicting demands at work:

• Planning and organisation of work, to ensure that the work is safe.
• Sufficient and appropriate training and instruction on how to carry out the work.
• Support from management and colleagues.
• Influence in relation to the work that needs to be carried out.
• Consideration of employees’ preconditions.

You should to the extent possible avoid unclear and conflicting demands at work, which could put the health or safety of your employees at risk. Not all unclear or conflicting requirements can be avoided, nor is it always appropriate or desirable to do so. When there are unclear and conflicting demands at work, you must prevent the risks by ensuring that employees are able to handle the unclear and conflicting demands.

4.2. Planning and organisation of work, to ensure that the work is safe

As an employer, you have a duty to plan and organise the work to ensure it is health and safety compliant in regard to unclear and conflicting demands at work.

Planning and organisation of work is crucial to the successful prevention of the risks from unclear and conflicting demands. Below are some examples of how you can work with your employees to plan and organise the work.

Unclear demands

• You can clarify distribution of responsibilities and decision-making competences, for example, amongst specialist groups, job functions, teams and departments.
• You can determine how much time employees have for the individual tasks, and continuously assess whether the time for the tasks is appropriate.
• You can agree to expectations of the service or quality level within the company, so everyone knows what service or product they must deliver.
• Management can agree expectations with citizens, relatives, customers and business partners, so they know what service or product they can expect.
• When implementing changes in the company, you can as early as possible clarify e.g. which tasks employees must perform, how and with whom, when the changes have been implemented.
• You can clarify expectations as to employees' working hours, e.g. how the working hours are scheduled, overtime, and when and how employees may be contacted outside normal working hours.

Remember to follow up on whether the measures are implemented as planned.

Conflicting demands

• You can continuously agree demands and expectations for the level of service or quality internally in the company, to enable staff to meet demands and expectations within the existing framework for the work.
• Management can agree to expectations with citizens, relatives, customers and business partners, so they know what service or product they can expect.
• You can prioritise tasks by, for example, deciding if there are tasks or deadlines that can be postponed or need not be prioritised.
• You can ensure that employees do not have to carry out different work functions that are in conflict with each other.

Remember to follow up on whether the measures are implemented as planned.

4.3. Sufficient and appropriate training and instruction on how to carry out the work

As an employer, you have a duty to ensure that each employee receives sufficient and appropriate training and instruction on how to carry out their work in a health and safety compliant manner in regard to unclear and conflicting demands at work. Training and instruction are therefore key preventive measures.

You must pay special attention to training and instruction when you bring new employees into the company, including project employees, temporary workers, trainees and others more loosely connected with the company. You also must pay special attention to providing training and instruction when changes are made to employees' work. This could be when employees are given new tasks, when new teams are formed, or when there are changes in the way work is carried out. This could be due to new procedures, new legislation, new work equipment, or the introduction of new technology.

Training and instruction must be repeated regularly if necessary.

In your training and instruction, you as an employer can benefit from focusing on:

Unclear demands

• What tasks employees must complete.
• How the tasks can be completed and coordinated, and with whom.
• What demands and expectations there are for the scope and quality of the task completion.
• What tasks employees should prioritise when the time available is insufficient.
• What opportunities there are for support and sparring from management and colleagues for specific tasks.
• What opportunities there are for influence at work, and what responsibilities and decision-making competences employees have.
• Giving employees the competences to be able to handle unclear requirements. These can be, for example, specialist, methodological, communicative and collaborative competences.

Conflicting demands

• How employees should handle and prioritise conflicting demands and expectations for their work effort internally in the company.
• How employees should handle and prioritise the conflicting expectations of citizens, relatives, customers and business partners.
• What opportunities there are for support and sparring from management and colleagues to handle and prioritise the conflicting demands.
• What opportunities there are for influence in handling and prioritising the conflicting demands.
• Giving employees the competences to be able to handle and prioritise conflicting demands. These can be, for example, specialist, methodological, communicative and collaborative competences.

Read more about training and instruction in the WEA Guidelines "Training, Instruction and Supervision of Work".   

4.4. Support at work from management and colleagues

Support from management and colleagues is an important measure to successfully prevent risks to employees’ health and safety from unclear or conflicting requirements at work. Support at work from management and colleagues helps employees to cope with the demands of the job.

You and your employees can focus on the following, for example, to ensure the necessary support in dealing with unclear demands at work:

• Employees receive help and support from management and colleagues to specify, for example, the specific content of work tasks as well as distribution and prioritisation.
• Management and employees agree expectations in terms of work performance and service or quality level.
• Employees receive constructive feedback on and recognition of how the tasks are completed. This can be from both management and colleagues. Management supports employees' ability to collaborate, spar and complete tasks collectively, where relevant.
• That the management and employees create a working climate where employees do not fear negative consequences, e.g. being excluded from the social and professional community if they make mistakes.
• Management assumes responsibility for handling complaints, and provides support to employees if citizens, relatives, customers and business partners complain about the employees' work.
• Management and employees establish a good dialogue, so that employees can safely draw attention to unclear and conflicting demands, and provide proposals for solutions.

You and your employees can focus on the following, for example, to ensure the necessary support in dealing with conflicting demands at work:

• Employees receiving help and support from management and colleagues to handle and prioritise demands and expectations for their work effort internally in the company.
• Employees receive help and support from management and colleagues to handle and prioritise expectations of citizens, relatives, customers and business partners.
• Employees receive constructive feedback on and recognition for how they have handled and prioritised demands and expectations. This can be from both management and colleagues.
• Management supports employees' opportunity to collectively handle and prioritise demands and expectations.
• Management and employees create an environment where employees do not fear negative consequences, for example, being excluded from the social and professional community, if they cannot meet the most important demands and expectations.
• Management assumes responsibility for handling complaints, and provides support to employees if citizens, relatives, customers and business partners complain about the employees' work.
• Management and employees establish a good dialogue, so that employees can safely call attention to unclear or conflicting demands, and provide proposals for solutions.

4.5. Influence at work in relation to the work that needs to be carried out                      

Influence in the work is also an important measure to successfully prevent risks to employees’ health and safety from unclear and conflicting demands at work. Influence is about having the ability to make an impact on work, and helps employees manage the demands of their work. As an employer, you can ensure that your employees influence their work, for example by:

Unclear demands

• Involving the employees in the planning and organising of the work as well as the distribution and prioritisation of work tasks.
• Holding regular meetings to discuss, for example, demands for tasks and solutions, and the time available to complete the tasks.
• Organising work so that employees have a say in how and when they carry out their tasks, e.g. through team or project organisation.
• Involving employees in planning, implementing and embedding change.

Conflicting demands

• Involving employees in the planning and organising of the work as well as the distribution of work tasks.
• Involving employees in the prioritisation of demands and expectations for the work.
• Holding regular meetings, where you discuss any dilemmas in the work, and how you can handle them.
• Ensuring employees have decision-making competences to handle and prioritise conflicting demands and expectations.
• Ensuring employees have decision-making competences to say no to citizens, relatives, customers and business partners who have unrealistic expectations of the employees' work effort and the services or products that they are able to deliver.

4.6. Consideration of employees’ preconditions

In your work to prevent risks to employees' health and safety due to unclear and conflicting demands at work, you have a duty, as an employer, to take account of the individual employee's ability to carry out their work in a safe manner.

For example, if the employee does not have so much experience with the work, then additional training and instruction or further support from management and colleagues may be needed for some time.