Rachel Mackay

Poor workplace relationships occurs when the social environment of a workplace — the way people interact, treat each other and relate day-to-day — is consistently hostile, conflicted, exclusionary or dysfunctional in ways that cause psychological harm.

Poor organisational justice is a recognised psychosocial hazard under the Managing Psychosocial Hazards at Work Code of Practice 2024. It occurs when workers perceive that decisions affecting them are made unfairly, inconsistently or without transparent reasoning — including how policies are applied, how disputes are handled, and how people are treated relative to each other.

The psychological harm here is rooted in fairness. Humans have a deeply embedded sense of reciprocity — we expect that what we give will be roughly proportionate to what we receive. When that balance is persistently skewed, the result is not just frustration. It is a slow erosion of motivation, commitment and psychological wellbeing that eventually manifests as disengagement, resentment, cynicism or burnout.