How the work check works.
A short, research-backed check that shows how your work is really affecting you. It pulls together six well-known questionnaires and four trusted ways of reading the results.
What's already proven, and what's ours
We want to be straight with you about what parts of this check come from decades of research, and what parts are Preventa's own work that we're still testing.
The questions in each area
The questions we use in each of the six areas come from well-known, peer-reviewed work-health surveys — NEA, COPSOQ, UWES, NFR, SWING and ERI-S — tested over decades with tens of thousands of workers.
The four ways of reading your results
The patterns we look for (Karasek's demands-vs-control, Siegrist's effort-vs-reward, Hobfoll's resource loss, and Bakker & Demerouti's job demands-resources) are well-known models in work and organisational health.
The overall score and how we weigh things
The single combined score, the way we weigh the different areas, and the stress types are Preventa's own work. We're still formally testing them as a research project, and your anonymous answers help with that.
This check is meant to help you and your team understand things better. It is not a medical diagnosis and does not replace advice from a doctor or psychologist.
The Preventa work check is a 59-question survey that looks at what's making work hard, what's helping you, and how engaged you feel. It turns your answers into a clear picture of how work is affecting you. It's inspired by well-known work-health research — it doesn't copy or replace any single questionnaire.
What this check looks at — and what it doesn't
How work is affecting you
Your workload and pace, how much say you have and how clear your role is, the people around you and feeling safe at work, how engaged and motivated you feel, and how well you switch off and recover, including the spillover between work and home.
Not a general mental-health test
This check doesn't look at mental health conditions, family or personal stress, money worries, physical health, or how happy you are outside of work. A low score here doesn't mean everything in your life is fine — only that work, on its own, isn't piling on extra pressure.
Built on trusted research about work and health
TNO NEA (Netherlands)
A huge yearly Dutch survey on working conditions, run by TNO and CBS. More than 40,000 workers take part each round, making it one of Europe's biggest long-running studies on work and health.
UWES (Work Engagement)
The Utrecht Work Engagement Scale by Schaufeli and Bakker. It looks at energy, dedication and how absorbed you get in your work. Used in 60+ countries and 30+ languages.
COPSOQ (Copenhagen)
The Copenhagen Psychosocial Questionnaire, used in 25+ countries to measure things like how much say you have in your work and how clear your role is.
NFR (Need for Recovery)
A Dutch scale by Van Veldhoven and Broersen that checks how much you need to recover once the workday is done. Part of the TNO NEA study.
SWING (Work–Home)
The Survey Work-home Interaction Nijmegen (Geurts et al., 2005). A Dutch-built, internationally tested questionnaire that looks at how work and home life affect each other, in both directions.
ERI-S (Effort–Reward)
The short Effort-Reward Imbalance scale by Siegrist, used worldwide. It checks whether the effort you put in is matched by recognition, meaning and growth.
Looking at your results through different views
Once we have your scores, we look at them through several well-known expert views. These don't add questions — they help us spot patterns in what you've already told us.
Karasek — Demands vs. Control
When the workload is high but you have little say over how you do the job, the pressure builds up. This pattern is linked to a higher risk of heart and mental health problems.
Siegrist — Effort vs. Reward
When the effort you put in is much bigger than what you get back (recognition, meaning, room to grow), the imbalance can lead to burnout over time.
Hobfoll — Running Out of Resources
Stress as the slow loss of things you value at work: energy, support, time, without anything refilling the tank. Spots patterns of exhaustion.
JD-R — Demands vs. Resources
A way to tell apart 'tough but manageable' from 'heading for burnout' by weighing the demands against the resources you have.
How the six area scores add up to one number
Each area is put on the same 0–100 scale so they can be compared, and every score is shown in the same direction: a higher number always means healthier working conditions. Your overall score is a weighted mix of all six areas, so it reflects the whole picture rather than one loud answer.
The areas with the strongest research links to burnout and long-term sick leave carry more weight than the rest. The weighting itself is Preventa's own work and isn't published.
The balance between the areas is guided by four well-known work-health models: Karasek (demands vs. control), Siegrist (effort vs. reward), Hobfoll (running out of resources), and Bakker & Demerouti (job demands vs. resources).
Work is sitting in a good place right now.
Mostly fine, with a few things worth keeping an eye on.
Clear strain showing up in more than one part of your work.
A pattern worth acting on soon, and worth talking about.
Your scores, set against the average worker
Your report doesn't just show your own numbers. Each area is set against reference values drawn from published Dutch and international workplace studies, so you can see where you sit compared to the average employee from day one.
As Preventa builds up its own anonymous dataset, those results will be shown alongside the published reference data.
A useful free result, with more depth only if you want it
Your score, result band and summary are free. Complete Insights adds the six-area breakdown, personal stress pattern, recommendations, PDF, one 15-minute call with a therapist and one retake.
See an example report →Where this check fits in
Work stress is one of six risks Preventa Health looks at. The others are measured through physical health screening.
Excess body fat
Root driver
Often sits underneath the other risks on this list.
High blood pressure
Cardiovascular
Can strain the heart and blood vessels for years without symptoms.
High cholesterol
Cardiovascular
Builds up in the arteries gradually and quietly.
High blood sugar
Metabolic
An early stage on the path towards type 2 diabetes.
Kidney damage
Organ damage
Develops slowly and is largely irreversible once present.
Chronic stress & burnout
Work Experience
Long-term pressure without recovery, which also affects the risks above.
These risks build up quietly and influence each other. Ongoing stress makes the physical ones harder to keep in check.
See how Preventa Health screens for these →This check is for awareness — not a diagnosis
This check is meant to help you and your team understand what's going on at work. It's not a medical test, and it doesn't replace advice from a doctor or psychologist.