info@monitoo.com
info@monitoo.com
Productivity
28 de October de 2026 - 15h10m
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Mental health in the workplace is no longer a topic limited to employee well-being discussions. It has become an important part of occupational risk management strategies for Brazilian companies.
With updates to Brazil's Regulatory Standard No. 1 (NR-1), organizations must explicitly consider work-related psychosocial risk factors within their Occupational Risk Management (GRO) processes.
This means paying closer attention to aspects of work organization that may contribute to health problems, such as excessive demands, extended working hours, insufficient support, constant pressure, and uneven workload distribution.
However, an important challenge remains: how can companies identify these risks before their consequences become more serious?
Many organizations monitor goals, deliverables, and business results but still struggle to understand how workloads are distributed across their teams.
This is where the intelligent use of data can contribute to a more preventive approach to management.
With indicators related to working hours, productivity, and digital tool usage, solutions such as Monitoo can provide complementary information to help identify patterns that deserve further investigation.
In this article, you will learn what has changed under NR-1, how work overload relates to psychosocial risks, which indicators can support management, and how to transform operational data into more responsible decisions.
Regulatory Standard No. 1 establishes general provisions related to occupational health and safety in Brazil and provides guidelines for Occupational Risk Management.
It is part of Brazil's regulatory framework designed to prevent workplace accidents and occupational illnesses.
Its importance lies in establishing a structure that helps companies identify hazards, assess risks, and implement preventive measures.
The goal is not simply to react when a problem occurs. Instead, organizations should develop processes that reduce workers' exposure to occupational risks.
The revised wording of Chapter 1.5 of NR-1, which took effect on May 26, 2026, explicitly included work-related psychosocial risk factors within Occupational Risk Management.
This update reinforces the need to assess not only risks traditionally associated with physical working environments but also those arising from work organization and working conditions.
Examples of factors that may require attention include:
Excessive demands and work overload.
Lack of support from managers and colleagues.
Workplace harassment and violence.
Inadequate organization of activities.
Unclear responsibilities.
Excessive work-related pressure.
Conflicts and difficulties in professional relationships.
The presence of one of these factors does not automatically mean that an occupational illness exists.
Companies must assess actual working conditions, exposure, and potential effects on employees.
No.
NR-1 establishes obligations related to occupational risk management, including work-related psychosocial factors.
This does not mean companies are required to conduct individual psychological surveillance, diagnose mental health conditions using software, or indiscriminately monitor employee behavior.
The focus should be on identifying and controlling risk factors within the organization of work.
Technology can provide complementary information, provided it is used proportionately, transparently, and in accordance with applicable data protection legislation.
Although related, these concepts serve different purposes.
NR-1 establishes the regulatory guidelines.
Occupational Risk Management, known in Brazil as GRO, refers to the continuous process of identifying, assessing, and controlling occupational risks.
The Risk Management Program, or PGR, formalizes this process through documentation and preventive actions.
As a general rule, the PGR must include at least two essential documents: the Occupational Risk Inventory and the Action Plan.
The inventory records identified hazards and risk assessments.
The action plan defines preventive measures that must be implemented, improved, or maintained.
Specific exemptions exist under Brazilian regulations and must be verified according to each organization's circumstances.
Work overload occurs when professional demands significantly or persistently exceed the resources, time, and conditions available to complete them.
It can appear in different ways.
One employee may have too many tasks. Another may face deadlines that are incompatible with the complexity of their responsibilities. An entire team may experience constant interruptions and insufficient staffing.
In each case, the problem may be connected to how work is organized.
Work overload should not be confused with simply having a busy week.
Periods of increased demand are common across many industries.
The concern arises when the intensity, frequency, and duration of these demands compromise appropriate working conditions.
Certain patterns may indicate the need to investigate workload distribution and work organization.
These include frequently extended working hours, tasks performed outside regular schedules, difficulty taking breaks, concentration of responsibilities among a small number of employees, and recurring task accumulation.
These indicators alone do not prove that a psychosocial risk exists.
However, they can help managers and occupational health and safety professionals ask important questions.
Why does a particular department consistently work longer hours?
Are performance targets compatible with available resources?
Are responsibilities distributed unevenly?
Can employees take adequate breaks and recovery periods?
Answers should consider both operational data and employees' experiences.
No.
An employee may deliver a high volume of work while experiencing inadequate working conditions.
Similarly, declining productivity does not necessarily indicate a lack of commitment or work overload.
Technical problems, inefficient processes, interruptions, insufficient training, and shifting priorities can also affect results.
For this reason, analyzing only the number of completed tasks can lead to incomplete conclusions.
Responsible management considers the context in which work takes place.
Psychosocial risk factors are associated with characteristics of working conditions, work organization, and workplace relationships that may affect employees' health.
They can exist across different industries and organizations of all sizes.
In administrative environments, for example, overload may appear through excessive meetings, competing deadlines, and accumulated tasks.
In customer service teams, it may be associated with intense demands, frequent conflicts, and limited autonomy.
In remote working environments, unclear boundaries between work and personal time may also require attention.
Identifying these factors is important because it allows companies to develop preventive measures that address the underlying causes.
When an organization does not adequately assess its working conditions, problems may remain unnoticed for extended periods.
A team may continue delivering results by consistently working excessive hours.
A department may appear successful while depending on unsustainable levels of effort.
A manager may only recognize difficulties when delays, absences, or conflicts begin to occur.
Prevention aims to ensure companies do not depend exclusively on these events to investigate working conditions.
Managers' observations are valuable, but they do not provide a complete picture of every team's daily activities.
In organizations with many employees, multiple departments, or hybrid and remote working models, understanding workload distribution can be particularly challenging.
Without organized information, decisions may rely on isolated situations.
This increases the importance of combining different information sources, including operational data, risk assessments, employee participation, and technical analysis.
One of the greatest challenges companies face is recognizing patterns that develop gradually.
Work overload is not always immediately visible.
It often appears through small changes in daily routines, such as progressively longer working hours, concentrated demands, and fewer opportunities for rest.
Analyzing indicators can help make these patterns more visible.
Working-hour duration is one indicator that may help identify situations requiring attention.
When a team consistently works beyond its expected schedule, investigating the reasons is important.
Potential causes include unrealistic targets, insufficient staffing, inefficient processes, or uneven task distribution.
Work schedules, applicable agreements, and the specific characteristics of each role must also be considered.
The goal should not be to automatically conclude that longer hours indicate health problems, but to determine whether employees may be exposed to potentially harmful working conditions.
In some organizations, certain employees or departments carry a disproportionate share of responsibilities.
This may result from differences in experience, specialized responsibilities, or problems with workload allocation.
By examining patterns in digital tool usage, working hours, and activities, management can identify areas that deserve additional analysis.
The company can then investigate whether available resources match departmental needs.
Changes in daily routines may provide relevant information when analyzed over time.
For example, a team that increasingly works outside its usual schedule may be experiencing higher demand.
However, context matters.
Seasonal campaigns, financial closing periods, or temporary projects may explain certain variations.
Indicators should support investigation rather than replace human interpretation.
Digital transformation has expanded companies' ability to organize information about their operations.
Today, management tools can collect data about working hours, applications, activities, and operational indicators.
When interpreted appropriately, this information can contribute to better-informed decisions.
This is particularly relevant for organizations where work primarily takes place in digital environments.
Consider a company where managers believe workloads are distributed evenly.
After reviewing operational data, the organization discovers that one department consistently records extended working hours.
This finding does not prove that a psychosocial risk exists.
However, it provides a starting point for investigating working conditions in that department.
The company can then evaluate task distribution, consult employees, and review its processes.
A single data point may not accurately represent a team's reality.
Observing trends over weeks or months can therefore be more useful than analyzing one particular day.
Recurring changes help identify situations that deserve attention.
Historical monitoring also allows companies to assess whether management actions have produced improvements.
Data usage must follow clear interpretation criteria.
Productivity and working-hour indicators should not be used to assume health conditions, make diagnoses, or impose penalties without contextual analysis.
The purpose of a preventive approach is to understand working conditions and identify opportunities for improvement.
Technology should support responsible management while respecting privacy, transparency, and employee rights.
Monitoo is a productivity monitoring solution that provides information about digital tool usage, working hours, and professional activities.
The platform helps managers understand how working time is used and monitor indicators related to team routines.
This information can help identify operational patterns that deserve further investigation.
Importantly, Monitoo does not replace technical psychosocial risk assessments, occupational health and safety professionals, or the formal processes required under NR-1.
Its role is to provide complementary data that can support management decisions.
Working-hour monitoring allows organizations to observe how working time is distributed and identify potentially recurring schedule extensions.
With this information, managers can investigate excessive demands, planning problems, or difficulties organizing activities.
Productivity indicators help organizations understand patterns of digital application and tool usage.
When interpreted alongside other information, they can contribute to operational analysis.
For example, a team with extended working hours and consistently high activity indicators may deserve a more detailed evaluation of its workload.
However, none of these metrics should be treated as a diagnosis of overload.
One of the challenges organizations face is gathering information that is usually scattered across different systems.
With indicators presented in an organized format, managers can spend less time searching for information and more time analyzing relevant situations.
This supports evidence-informed operational management.
Monitoring indicators over time can help identify changes in daily routines.
By observing these trends, companies can direct investigations and evaluate potential adjustments to their work processes.
The key benefit is transforming operational information into a starting point for more informed decisions.
Data should be used as part of a broader strategy.
Identifying extended working hours or unusual productivity patterns is not enough.
Organizations must investigate the causes and define appropriate measures.
Start by examining working-hour indicators, activity distribution, and digital tool usage.
The goal is to identify situations requiring additional analysis.
After identifying a pattern, verify actual working conditions.
This may involve discussions with managers, employee participation, process analysis, and workload assessments.
Psychosocial risk assessments should follow appropriate methodologies and involve competent professionals.
Operational information can complement this work but cannot replace technical evaluations.
Depending on the identified causes, actions may include redistributing tasks, reviewing targets, adjusting resources, improving processes, and strengthening employee support.
After implementing changes, organizations should assess whether working conditions have improved.
Operational indicators can contribute to this process alongside other assessment methods.
The PGR should reflect the occupational risks applicable to an organization's activities.
This requires a structured process of identification, assessment, and control.
Including psychosocial factors requires particular attention to work organization.
The first step involves recognizing work-related factors that may represent risks.
Examples include excessive demands, insufficient support, harassment, and inadequate organization of activities.
After identifying hazards, organizations must assess risks using appropriate criteria and methods.
This assessment should consider actual exposure conditions and the characteristics of each activity.
Organizations should establish measures proportionate to the identified risks.
In situations involving overload, this may include reviewing processes, adjusting staffing levels, and aligning professional demands with available resources.
Where required, the PGR must include a risk inventory and an action plan.
Documentation should be maintained according to regulatory requirements and updated when specified by the standard.
Employee participation is essential for understanding actual working conditions.
Digital indicators may reveal operational patterns, but they cannot replace the experiences of those performing the work.
Effective preventive management combines technical information, data, and human participation.
No single indicator can identify every psychosocial risk.
Organizations should combine different sources of information.
Monitoring recurring extended shifts may help identify situations requiring investigation.
It is important to distinguish occasional demands from persistent patterns.
Comparing working conditions between departments may reveal relevant differences in work organization.
These comparisons must account for the specific characteristics of each role.
Activities frequently performed outside expected schedules may indicate organizational problems.
However, legitimate explanations may exist, including shift arrangements and specific operational needs.
Context is therefore essential.
Productivity metrics can help organizations understand operational patterns.
However, they do not directly measure mental health, stress, or psychosocial risks.
Interviews, participatory assessments, and appropriate technical instruments may reveal issues that digital indicators cannot capture.
Combining these sources provides a more comprehensive understanding.
Using technology in people management requires responsibility.
Incorrect interpretation of indicators can lead to misleading conclusions.
Extended working hours do not guarantee better results.
Working time should be evaluated alongside process quality, deliverables, and working conditions.
Changes in productivity may result from organizational, technical, or operational factors.
Before assigning individual responsibility, understanding the context is essential.
No application-usage indicator or working-hour metric can diagnose burnout, anxiety, or depression.
Health diagnoses require appropriate professional evaluation.
Data collection and processing must comply with Brazil's General Data Protection Law (LGPD), including principles such as purpose limitation, necessity, transparency, and security.
Organizations should establish clear rules regarding which information is collected, why it is collected, and who can access it.
Dashboards do not replace GRO, PGR, or psychosocial risk assessments.
Technology should function as a complementary management resource.
Preventing overload requires concrete changes to work organization.
One of the main opportunities lies in planning.
When goals, deadlines, and responsibilities are established without considering operational capacity, imbalances become more likely.
Organizations should therefore develop clear processes.
Not every activity has the same urgency.
Defining priorities helps prevent teams from constantly working under pressure from multiple simultaneous demands.
Before establishing new objectives, companies need to understand their available resources.
This includes people, tools, time, and the conditions required to complete activities.
Manual processes, repeated work, and meetings without clear objectives can consume significant time.
Reviewing these processes can contribute to more organized routines.
Unclear expectations can generate conflicts, duplicated tasks, and planning difficulties.
Communication between managers and teams should promote a shared understanding of responsibilities.
After reorganizing activities, organizations should verify whether adjustments have produced the expected improvements.
Operational indicators, combined with employee participation, can support this evaluation.
Remote and hybrid work have created new opportunities for organizations, but they also require attention to work organization.
In distributed teams, managers may struggle to understand operational routines without relying on excessive meetings or inappropriate monitoring practices.
Digital tools can help organize information.
However, management should respect employee autonomy and the boundaries between work and rest.
Indicator monitoring must have legitimate and transparent objectives.
Excessive monitoring may generate distrust and damage professional relationships.
Responsible data usage should prioritize improving processes and working conditions.
In remote teams, organizations should establish clear expectations regarding schedules, availability, and communication.
Frequent activity outside working hours may indicate a need to review processes.
Remote employees should not be evaluated exclusively by connection time.
Indicators must be interpreted according to responsibilities, objectives, and the characteristics of their activities.
Occupational risk prevention depends on continuous processes.
Companies need to monitor working conditions and review preventive measures whenever necessary.
Technology can make relevant information easier to organize.
With structured data, organizations can more easily observe trends, monitor changes, and direct investigations.
However, the value of these resources depends on how they are used.
An organization that only collects information without turning findings into action does not necessarily develop effective preventive management.
Indicators should encourage investigation.
For example:
Why does a particular department consistently work extended hours?
Have demands increased?
Are sufficient resources available?
Do processes need to be reorganized?
Are employees reporting similar difficulties?
These questions help turn numbers into decisions.
Identifying a problem is only the beginning.
Companies need to assign responsibilities, establish measures, and monitor results.
Continuous improvement depends on addressing identified causes.
No tool can replace dialogue, employee participation, or technical evaluation.
Combining these elements provides a stronger foundation for decisions.
Managing psychosocial factors should not be limited to a single department.
Human resources professionals, occupational health and safety specialists, managers, and employees have complementary responsibilities.
HR can help organize policies, processes, and people management initiatives.
Managers should observe actual working conditions and promote adjustments when necessary.
Occupational health and safety professionals should participate in applicable technical assessments and preventive measures.
Employees need meaningful opportunities to participate.
Information about working hours and activities can help identify areas requiring investigation.
HR may use this information alongside organizational assessments while respecting legal and ethical limits on data processing.
Managers can review goals, improve task distribution, identify bottlenecks, and encourage conversations about working conditions.
Monitoring indicators should improve decisions, not replace dialogue.
Employees understand aspects of daily work that may not appear in digital systems.
Their experiences help identify difficulties, demands, and conditions that need improvement.
Monitoo provides productivity and working-hour monitoring features that can help managers better understand their teams' digital routines.
Instead of relying exclusively on scattered information, organizations can consult organized indicators and monitor operational patterns.
This contributes to identifying situations that deserve attention and supporting planning decisions.
Potential uses include:
Monitoring working-hour information.
Analyzing productivity patterns.
Understanding digital tool usage.
Observing changes in team routines.
Supporting analysis of work organization and task distribution.
This information can serve as complementary support for preventive management initiatives.
Monitoo does not independently perform the formal psychosocial risk assessments required by NR-1 and should not be presented as certification of legal compliance.
Its value lies in providing greater visibility into operational aspects of work.
NR-1 is a Brazilian Regulatory Standard that establishes general occupational health and safety provisions and guidelines for Occupational Risk Management.
Yes. The current wording of Chapter 1.5 explicitly includes work-related psychosocial risk factors within GRO.
The revised wording of Chapter 1.5 took effect on May 26, 2026.
They are risks associated with factors in working conditions, work organization, and workplace relationships that may affect employee health.
Yes. Excessive demands may represent a work-related psychosocial risk factor, depending on the working conditions and assessment performed.
Identification may involve analyzing demands, working hours, working conditions, employee participation, and technical assessments.
Not necessarily. Extended working hours may be a warning sign, but they must be interpreted in context.
The Risk Management Program is an instrument that formalizes occupational risk management and, when required, must include a risk inventory and action plan.
Requirements depend on the organization's regulatory classification and applicable provisions. Specific exemptions may apply.
No. Monitoo is a productivity monitoring solution and does not replace regulatory documentation, processes, or technical assessments.
Monitoo should not be used to diagnose burnout or any mental health condition. Its operational indicators may support investigations into work organization.
The platform provides information about working hours, productivity, and digital tool usage, helping managers understand operational patterns.
Work-related data processing must comply with applicable legislation, including Brazil's LGPD, employee rights, and principles of purpose limitation, necessity, transparency, and proportionality.
Productivity relates to results achieved compared with resources used. Overload involves demands that may exceed appropriate working conditions.
Measures may include reviewing targets, redistributing tasks, improving processes, adjusting resources, and strengthening employee participation.
No. Such data may reveal patterns requiring investigation, but risk assessment requires appropriate methodologies and analysis of actual working conditions.
The NR-1 update reinforces the importance of recognizing work-related psychosocial risk factors and developing effective preventive measures.
In this context, understanding team routines becomes an important part of management.
Extended working hours, concentrated responsibilities, and persistent changes in operational patterns may provide signals that deserve investigation.
However, this information must be interpreted responsibly.
Identifying psychosocial risks requires technical assessment, employee participation, and analysis of actual working conditions.
Monitoo can contribute to this process by providing greater visibility into productivity, working hours, and digital tool usage indicators.
This allows managers to access complementary information to investigate situations, improve planning, and make better-informed decisions.
Work overload can appear in everyday routines. Data helps reveal patterns. Responsible management turns those insights into action.
Does your company understand how working time is being used?
With Monitoo, you can monitor operational indicators, analyze working hours, and access information that helps you better understand your teams' routines.
Less time searching for information. More clarity to make decisions.
Discover Monitoo and learn how to transform productivity data into smarter decisions.
Visit: https://monitoo.com.br/
Disclaimer: This content is for informational purposes only and does not replace legal advice, occupational health and safety assessments, or technical occupational risk evaluations.
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