Work-related stress as a material ESG issue: a single-company case study on psychosocial risk, organizational health and business impact

Introduction – Work-related stress and psychosocial risks are increasingly relevant to occupational health, organizational sustainability and ESG governance, but their integration into sustainability reporting remains limited. Methods – We conducted a single-company case study of “Company X, ” a medium-sized Italian manufacturing and technical services organization (782 workers, four sites), using seven documentary and indicator sources. A structured codebook, dual coding, reconciliation and triangulation were applied to link psychosocial determinants, occupational health processes, workforce indicators and ESG disclosure. Results – Psychosocial risk was documented in occupational health and safety materials but only indirectly represented in ESG reporting. Company X showed process-level disclosure (risk assessment, participation and action planning) and partial outcome disclosure (absenteeism, turnover, training, near misses and engagement), but weak integration with presenteeism, cost estimation and board-level ESG governance. Conclusion – The Stress-ESG Business Impact Framework operationalizes psychosocial risk as a material workforce issue by connecting determinants, prevention actions, aggregate outcomes and governance mechanisms. It can support ESG dashboards, materiality assessment and progressive disclosure without individual-level surveillance.