Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to investigate the relationships between transformational leadership (TL), autonomy support management behaviors and employees’ psychological health. Design/methodology/approach: A total of 512 Canadian workers assessed their immediate supervisor’s level of TL and autonomy support management behaviors. Participants also assessed their own psychological health through measures of psychological well-being and burnout at work. Findings: Results from structural equation modeling indicate that TL is related to employee psychological well-being and burnout. This effect is fully mediated by more specific autonomy support and psychological control management behaviors. These results suggest that autonomy support and psychological control management behaviors may have a more proximal effect on employees’ psychological health than TL does. Also, managers’ leadership and behaviors appear to better predict employees’ psychological well-being at work than employee burnout. Practical implications: Managers with a TL style employ more autonomy support and fewer psychological control behaviors, which makes employees happier and less burned out. Based on these results, leadership training programs would gain to focus on the development of more specific management behaviors among leaders, such as autonomy support, to enhance employees’ psychological health, especially their well-being. Originality/value: This research expands understanding of the relationship between TL and the psychological health of employees by shedding light on the mediating role of autonomy support management behaviors in this relationship.

Adverse psychosocial work factors are recognized as a significant source of psychological distress, resulting in a considerable socioeconomic burden. The impact of occupational health standards that aim to reduce these adverse work factors, such as the Quebec Healthy Enterprise Standard (QHES), is of great interest for public health. The aim of this study was to evaluate, for the first time, the effect of QHES interventions targeting adverse psychosocial work factors on the prevalence of these factors and of psychological distress among ten Quebec organizations. These outcomes were assessed by questionnaire using validated instruments before (T1, n = 2849) and 2–3 years following (T2, n = 2560) QHES implementation. Beneficial effects of interventions were observed for two adverse psychosocial work factors: low rewards (ratio of prevalence ratios (PRs) = 0.77, 95% CI = 0.66–0.91) and low social support at work (ratio of PRs = 0.89, 95% CI = 0.77–1.03). Moreover, beneficial effects of interventions were also observed on the prevalence of high psychological distress (ratio of PRs = 0.86, 95% CI = 0.75–0.998). Psychosocial interventions implemented in the context of this standard improved the psychosocial work environment and had beneficial effects on workers’ mental health.

Managers’ mental health is increasingly a subject of concern. However, organizational interventions to reduce stress and promote mental health do not target managers, but rather employees. Numerous studies report a link between supervisory behaviors and subordinates’ mental health at work, and suggest that developing managers’ behavior is a promising avenue in enhancing subordinates’ mental health at work. Nonetheless, the literature has neglected the role and behaviors of subordinates in the prevention of their managers’ mental health problems. This article presents the results of a qualitative research study that inventories 38 specific work practices (observable behaviors) of subordinates, grouped into 12 competencies. Managers and subordinates identified these work practices as affecting work environmental stressors and promoting managers’ mental health at work. The results also point to a major gap between the specific working practices cited by managers and those cited by subordinates, who generally report practices in a passive way. The theoretical and practical repercussions and implications for organizational intervention and human resource management are discussed.

Dans un contexte où la qualité de vie au travail, le bien-être et la santé psychologique des employés sont actuellement au coeur des préoccupations des gestionnaires et des milieux de travail, les enjeux de santé organisationnelle deviennent incontournables. Or, malgré l’intérêt grandissant des chercheurs et des praticiens, la notion de santé organisationnelle a été l’objet de diverses conceptualisations et représente encore aujourd’hui un objet d’étude en pleine évolution. Dans cet ordre d’idées, cet article propose de faire une synthèse des approches contemporaines de la santé organisationnelle et d’investiguer comment cette thématique est abordée par les chercheurs québécois. Pour ce faire, une recension des écrits a d’abord été effectuée afin d’établir un portrait des connaissances acquises à ce jour. Ensuite, une enquête consultative a été réalisée auprès d’experts scientifiques québécois. À la fois les écrits et les experts consultés rapportent que la santé organisationnelle est un concept qui prend plusieurs sens, qui nécessite l’adoption d’une perspective plus globale et qui s’élargit à d’autres sphères que le travail. Or, contrairement à la documentation, les experts abordent surtout les aspects de la santé psychologique et moins la santé physique, et ils considèrent essentiellement les facteurs organisationnels comme des préoccupations de recherche future dans le domaine. Les résultats obtenus permettent de dresser un état des connaissances sur le concept de santé organisationnelle et son évolution, tout en identifiant les tendances émergentes susceptibles d’influencer les orientations scientifiques futures pour le regroupement stratégique en santé psychologique au travail du Réseau de recherche en santé et sécurité du travail du Québec.