There are rules and regulations that protect employees' physical safety while at work, but psychological safety often
Eighty-four percent of employees agreed that
"Perhaps the best way to describe the present state of psychological safety in the workplace is hopeful," says Bryan Stallings, chief evangelist at collaboration platform, Lucid. "Of course, people's perceptions about the consequences of taking interpersonal risks in the workplace do not shift overnight. This shift is an ongoing process that requires commitment at all levels of a company."
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Ninety-three percent of executives report feeling mostly or completely psychologically safe at work, according to a 2023 study from publishing company Wiley, yet only 86% of individual contributors and managers feel the same, saying
"Organizations that lack psychological safety incur tangible and intangible costs which can have significant implications for their overall performance, culture and bottom line," he says. "Some of the costs associated with a lack of psychological safety include decreased employee engagement, reduced creativity, failure to innovate, high turnover rates, decreased productivity, and legal and compliance risks."
In a survey by Boston Consulting Group, only 3% of employee respondents who reported high levels of psychological safety said they were
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A good example of
"If team members fear reprisals, they hesitate to speak up and voice concerns when there is an issue," Stallings says. "As a result the issue goes unaddressed or the inefficient practices persist, and time and resources continue to go wasted. This can yield significant implications for overall performance."
For Boeing, the organization narrowed its fourth-quarter loss to around $30 million and refused to disclose their fiscal forecast for 2024 in their financial disclosures to media, a potential indication that they estimate losses to to grow, and a cautionary tale to
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"There is no quick fix here, and making real progress means going beyond curating generic content or a one-time event," he says. "A holistic psychological safety development program, tailored to the unique context and culture of the workplace, can significantly improve employee understanding and retention."
The first thing employers should be doing is explicitly outlining
"Employees who operate in a psychologically safe environment feel comfortable taking risks, [and] if we didn't take risks, some of the biggest and largest companies we all know and love would not be here today," Stallings says. "It is critical that executives don't stop until psychological safety becomes a lived reality for every team member."