PRisMA, Employee Surveys or Mental Health Screening: Which Does HR Need?

“We already run an employee survey. Do we still need a psychosocial risk assessment?” It is a reasonable question for a Malaysian HR team with limited time and several wellbeing initiatives. The answer starts with what the organisation needs to understand, rather than how many questionnaires it has already sent.

PRisMA, employee engagement or satisfaction surveys, and individual mental health screening can all provide useful information. However, their questions, interpretation and follow-up are different. A familiar survey platform does not make the tools interchangeable.

Start with the decision you need to make

Before choosing a questionnaire, complete this sentence: “We need this information so that we can decide whether to…” The ending might be to investigate working conditions, understand staff experience, or help someone access professional support. These are related but separate decisions.

• Workplace risk: Which aspects of work need assessment and preventive action?
• Employee experience: How do people experience the organisation, and which aspects should management explore further?
• Individual support: Would a person benefit from a further mental health assessment or a conversation with a qualified professional?

It may be appropriate to use more than one approach. The important step is to explain the purpose of each, rather than combine every result into one “wellbeing score”.

PRisMA examines psychosocial risks at work

DOSH’s PRisMA 2024 guidance addresses workplace psychosocial risk assessment and management. Its LEO26 components cover job control, work demand and job support. The process includes work-unit assessment and subsequent risk management; it is not a diagnostic test for a mental disorder.

For example, repeated complaints about conflicting deadlines may require a closer look at how work is allocated and prioritised. Calling the issue “low morale” does not establish the nature or level of the risk. Equally, one worrying comment does not give HR a formal PRisMA risk classification.

Use the official guidance and an appropriately trained assessment lead for administration, scoring and interpretation. Do not rename a homemade pulse survey “PRisMA”, remove items for convenience, or infer formal results from the examples in an article.

Engagement and satisfaction surveys explore employee experience

Engagement concerns people’s relationship with their work; satisfaction concerns how they feel about aspects of their job. Surveys vary considerably in what they measure. Check the actual questions and method before treating a headline score as evidence of a particular issue. CIPD’s evidence review discusses why a clear definition of engagement matters.

Imagine a team that likes its colleagues and believes in the company’s mission, but regularly has to complete three urgent tasks at once. A positive overall survey result should not close the conversation about workload. Conversely, dissatisfaction with a particular benefit does not by itself establish a psychosocial risk rating.

Use employee feedback to ask better follow-up questions. If a survey raises concerns about working conditions, agree how those concerns will be assessed and addressed through the appropriate process.

Mental health screening concerns the individual

Mental health screening can help identify signs that warrant further professional assessment. A screening result is not a diagnosis, proof that work caused someone’s difficulties, or a verdict on their ability to do a job. Its meaning depends on the tool and the person’s circumstances.

Suppose an employee privately reports poor sleep and distress. The next step should be an appropriate support conversation or professional assessment, not a request to circulate their score to the department. The workplace may also need to examine excessive overtime, but that is a separate task with its own evidence.

Before offering screening through a workplace programme, clarify consent, who receives results, confidentiality and its limits, and the available follow-up. Do not ask managers to interpret clinical scores or use them as informal performance labels.

Keep the three routes connected without mixing the records

Consider an illustrative customer-service team with rising complaints, overtime and staff turnover. HR could examine employee feedback to understand the experience of the team, arrange an appropriate psychosocial risk assessment, and make confidential individual support available. None of these steps requires managers to collect employees’ personal clinical results.

• Give each activity a clear purpose and responsible person.
• Explain what employees will receive and what management will receive.
• Plan how concerns will lead to action before collecting more information.
• Keep assessment findings, general employee feedback and individual care records within their appropriate access arrangements.

If there is an immediate safety concern or a serious complaint, use the relevant response procedure promptly. A survey timetable should not become a reason to postpone action.

Choose the next step, then communicate it clearly

A useful staff briefing might say: “We are reviewing working conditions and will explain the assessment arrangements before it starts. Individual support is available through a separate confidential route.” Adapt this wording to the actual arrangements; do not promise anonymity or services that have not been agreed.

For the practical preparation stage, read how HR can build employee trust before PRisMA. To discuss employee support alongside workplace assessment, explore MY Psychology’s EAP services or browse the EAP Resource Library.

References and further reading

• DOSH: PRisMA 2024 guidelines.
• CIPD: Employee engagement—an evidence review.
• MedlinePlus: Mental Health Screening.

General workplace information, not a diagnostic tool or a substitute for formal assessment. Scenarios are illustrative; they are not official PRisMA items, scoring examples or evidence of compliance.