The Frontline Manager: RPS Prevention's Most Underrated Lever

Tuesday morning, 8:47 a.m. A team lead at a professional services firm in Longueuil notices that Marc-Antoine, usually the first one in and the last to leave, has been dragging for two weeks. He skips team meetings, answers in one-word replies, and his Sunday night email ("just wanted to finish this before Monday") didn't go unnoticed.

The manager has two options: ask a quick "how are you really doing, Marc-Antoine?" between two files, or wait for things to sort themselves out.

That small, unremarkable moment is exactly what Act 27 is trying to equip managers for. When it comes to psychosocial risks (RPS), the frontline manager isn't just someone who executes HR policy from the sidelines: they're often the single biggest factor in whether that policy actually works.t.

An influence we underestimate

A 2023 study by the Workforce Institute, surveying 3,400 workers across 10 countries, found something striking: a manager's influence on an employee's mental health rivals that of their doctor or therapist, and matches that of a spouse or partner.

Seven in ten employees say their psychological well-being depends directly on their relationship with their immediate supervisor.

In Quebec, where nearly one worker in four reports a high level of work-related stress according to CNESST and INSPQ data, that finding should reshape how we think about prevention. Companies invest heavily in surveys, diagnostics, and collective action plans, but it's easy to forget that RPS first show up, and prevention first becomes possible, in the everyday exchanges between a manager and their team.

The actions that actually move the needle

Managers don't need a psychology degree to influence the major risk factors identified by INSPQ (workload, recognition, social support, role clarity).

What they need are concrete, repeatable habits:

• Naming workload before it becomes a silent burden, by reviewing team priorities weekly rather than reacting only after someone flags a problem.

• Recognizing effort, not just exceptional results. A simple "I noticed how well you handled that difficult file" has a measurable effect on engagement.

• Clarifying roles and expectations, especially in hybrid settings, where ambiguity over who owns what is an underrated source of tension.

• Opening the door without forcing disclosure. Asking "how are you, really?" on a regular basis, before a crisis hits, sends a clear signal that it's safe to talk.

Law 27's blind spot

This is where many Quebec SMEs stumble. They adopt a prevention policy, train their HR team, and stop there, never actually equipping the managers who are best positioned to catch early warning signs.

But Law 27 requires a structured process for identifying and managing RPS, not just a policy on paper. A manager who doesn't know how to recognize a risk factor, let alone document it, unintentionally becomes the weak link in that process.

The data backs this up: 47% of employees name lack of manager support as a major source of stress, and nearly four in ten would hesitate to raise a mental health concern with their current supervisor. That's rarely a lack of goodwill. It's usually a lack of tools and training.

If you're tracking all this in a shared spreadsheet between HR and managers

Many of the companies we talk to have already started, often with a tracking spreadsheet, a homemade grid, or handwritten notes from one-on-ones. That's a good instinct: it shows a genuine commitment to doing this well.

But as the team grows, that system becomes hard to maintain, hard to centralize, and hard to present in the event of a CNESST inspection. Managers often end up holding the responsibility to act, without the structured means to do so consistently across the organization.

Investing in your managers is investing in compliance

Structuring the manager's role in your RPS process isn't an added expense: it's where your Act 27 compliance stops being theoretical and starts being real. A platform like

Mentalia equips your managers with clear reference points, centralizes observations, and documents every step in a structured way, exactly what the law requires.

Want to give your managers the tools to act before a crisis hits?

Book a free 30-minute consultation with our team: calendly.com/manonvaisse-mentalia/30min