We are seeing a clear shift where long-term health and sustainable performance are prioritized over short-term productivity. At the same time, the world around us is characterized by a tougher climate with increased external threats. In parallel, psychological safety is becoming increasingly important in the workplace, where leadership plays a key role. Here, Falck's experts share their insights for building a working life that lasts.
A working life based on human encounters
LEADERSHIP: AI competence and technological development are all well and good, but we also see a growing need for 'analog meeting places' and human interaction. Forums where we can exchange experiences, learn from each other, and create new knowledge together are becoming increasingly important.
Psychological safety is more important than ever, and leadership plays a key role here. As a leader, you need to create meeting formats that promote dialogue, exchange, and learning. You must build a culture based on respect for differences, where everyone is able to listen to one another and dares to share perspectives, focusing on the common mission. This is important for promoting mental health and job satisfaction, but it is also crucial for achieving financial results and reaching the organization's goals.
The workplace should be a place that contributes to meaningfulness and well-being, not to mental ill-health. We still see major challenges with high rates of sick leave in essential public services like healthcare and social care, where many experience a high workload combined with inadequate resources. There is a risk that work environment efforts are limited to surveys and risk assessments. To turn this trend around, work environment management needs to be integrated with other operational processes. Effective work environment management is a central part of daily work, with a clear focus on creating sustainable work processes.
Lena-Karin Allinger, Organizational Consultant
Psychological safety is more important than ever, and leadership plays a key role here.
New focus on menopause
HORMONE HEALTH: Menopause has long affected working life, even though the topic has rarely been openly discussed. Now we are seeing the issue step into the spotlight and take its rightful place: in conversations about sustainable, inclusive workplaces. More and more employers are realizing that energy, focus, and well-being can be linked to hormonal changes throughout life.
This is not a passing trend, but a shift. When the issue is given space within workplace health and safety efforts, better conditions are created for both well-being and greater gender equality. This can include increased knowledge among managers, room for dialogue, and everyday flexibility. A modern workplace in 2026 takes hormonal health seriously and fosters a culture where all employees can contribute and thrive through every stage of life.
Sara Lagerholm, occupational health physician
Stricter requirements and lower exposure limits
SYSTEMATIC WORK ENVIRONMENT: Toward the end of 2025 and into 2026, we are seeing stricter requirements and lower exposure limits that clearly raise the bar for how chemical risks must be managed in everyday work. The new asbestos regulations came into force on 19 December 2025, introducing a lower occupational exposure limit and stricter requirements related to, among other things, permits, training, and medical examinations. In addition, new, lower exposure limits for lead, diisocyanates, and chromium (VI) are set to apply from 9 April 2026.
Stricter requirements only make a difference if they are translated into practical workplace health and safety efforts, where risks are identified, addressed, and followed up. The Swedish Work Environment Authority’s inspection initiative targeting smaller workshop companies shows that nearly 1,350 workplaces were inspected, and around 80 percent were issued requirements for workplace health and safety measures. The most common deficiencies concerned risk identification and assessment, as well as preventive work. Risk assessments, corrective actions, and follow-up need to be a natural part of everyday operations—not something addressed only after an incident occurs. Those who succeed in 2026 will be the ones who make chemical risks and risk assessments an integral part of daily work.
Viktor Rosenpärla, Work Environment Engineer
New trends in workplace crisis support
CRISIS SUPPORT: Falck's report Crises in working life 2025 from November 2025 shows that the use of crisis support has changed over the last 10 years. Employers have become better at quickly bringing in external specialists for serious incidents at work, and they are also using the crisis hotline more frequently for employees' mental health issues and private crises. This development is expected to continue during 2026.
At the same time, threats and violence are the most common cause for crisis support, where the tone has hardened. Employees report greater vulnerability and decreased respect, with a lower threshold for aggression and abuse, not least anonymously online. To meet this trend, Swedish organizations need to work more proactively to protect their employees, for instance by developing procedures for online hate and anonymous threats, offering training in handling threats and violence, and providing support to particularly vulnerable employees.
Mattias Klawitter, Psychologist and Crisis Coordinator
Organizations need to develop procedures for online hate and anonymous threats.
Sustainable performance over tight deadlines
HEALTH: Previously, companies often acted only after an employee was already on sick leave. The trend now is to work proactively to prevent problems from arising. Instead of viewing stress as an individual problem, the root causes within the organization are analyzed. This can involve introducing policies on the right to be "offline" after work hours, clear rules for meetings, and implementing meeting-free zones or days. We also see more companies training managers to identify early signs of stress and ill-health in their employees, as well as the importance of micro-breaks and recovery during the workday as a key to maintaining energy and focus.
There is a growing realization that "one size fits no one." To be effective, health initiatives must be adapted to individuals' unique needs and life situations. This means recognizing and offering targeted support for specific challenges, for example, flexibility for parents of young children, support for employees caring for sick or elderly relatives, and openness and adjustments for employees going through menopause. We are also seeing increased awareness and adaptation of the work environment to better suit employees with different cognitive conditions, such as ADHD or autism.
For many workplaces, it is about building a corporate culture where talking about one's mental health and energy level is as natural as talking about project deadlines, in order to contribute to a sustainable working life.
Åsa Miemois, Health Developer
Listen before it goes silent
REHAB: In many organizations, silence is seen as a sign that everything is running smoothly. But there is another kind of silence that is not a sign of harmony, but of someone struggling alone. It is the silence before an employee "hits the wall," which hides a growing stress and a fear of admitting the pressure has become too great.
This silence is one of the biggest risks in a modern workplace. When it finally breaks, it is often in the form of sick leave (several short ones or one long one)—a reactive and costly process for everyone involved.
But what if, as an employer, you could make a promise for the new year—to listen before it goes silent. It is a promise that actively shifts the focus from reactive measures to proactive health work, and which makes us see mental health as a resource that needs continuous maintenance.
It is a commitment to building a corporate culture where it is natural to talk about one's well-being and where the goal is to catch the small, early signals of stress and pressure long before they grow too large.
Anna Sporrong, Senior Rehab Specialist
The goal is to identify early signs of stress long before they grow too large.
