Psychological safety at work isn’t a ‘nice to have’ anymore. It’s as important as a healthy Profit and Loss (P&L). It underpins every aspect of the business, from operational, right the way through to strategic. It’s about risk management and brand protection on one level and supporting team cohesion, innovation, diversity of thought and employee experience on another.
A psychologically safe workplace is a culture of acceptance and inclusion. It welcomes challenges rather than avoids them. It’s where having open, transparent conversations is the norm, and where issues are addressed long before they become crises.
We know that a psychologically safe workplace reaps rewards for both the organisation and employee. It can positively impact performance, staff engagement and retention. It fosters creativity and innovation while accepting individuals’ strengths and weaknesses.
Google’s Project Aristotle, a study carried out by Google to better understand team effectiveness for example, found psychological safety was the single most important factor in team success in terms of cohesion, collaboration, trust and increased productivity. But don’t be fooled: if a company has a healthy P&L, it doesn’t necessarily imply it has a psychologically safe culture. Toxicity can be rife.
There have been occasions where retail giants, for instance, have announced record profits, but have been called out by employees or the media, revealing highly problematic cultures, poor pay and working conditions.
These companies – and companies like these – will undoubtedly experience high staff turnover because people don’t feel psychologically safe to have the sort of conversations that can bring about change. And if managers themselves aren’t equipped to have these difficult conversations, you’re onto a losing battle.
These are extreme examples, of course. The majority of organisations genuinely care about the wellbeing of their people. But even so, too many organisations seem to put psychological safety in the perks and benefits bucket, as if it’s a reward. The truth is, people can be reluctant to look at issues like a toxic workplace culture if there is a healthy P&L. It only becomes an issue once people start to leave.
Instead, psychological safety needs to be a priority. It needs to be understood, tracked and reviewed just as much as a company P&L. At a time when one in three adults are experiencing ‘high’ or ‘extreme’ levels of stress according to Mental Health UK’s Burnout Report 2025 and poor mental health is costing employers £51bn a year, fostering psychological safety in the workplace has never been more vital. So how do organisations embed a culture of psychological safety? Which tangible initiatives do they need to implement or action in the short, medium and long term? Like many initiatives, it has to start at the top.
Build mental health awareness among the C-suite
Mental health awareness needs to become a leadership skill. It needs to be a key part of managerial KPIs. Many organisations train ‘mental health ambassadors’ or ‘mental health first aiders’ who are often employees who have volunteered for the role. These roles provide additional support and signposting guidance, but they can only go so far. So train managers and leaders in mental health awareness. Train them in emotional literacy, empathy and understanding. Train them so they know the signs and signals to watch out for. Equip them with the right skills to have difficult but open and honest conversations.
Managers and leaders have influence – so if something in the organisation needs to change – they are the people who can ensure it does. What could be more powerful than having leaders trained in mental health awareness?
Normalise psychological safety right from the start
For a culture of psychological safety to be embedded throughout an entire organisation, it needs to start at the onboarding process and extend consistently beyond it.
Some organisations talk about psychological safety when an employee first joins but then it’s never mentioned again. Introduce the idea of psychological safety: what it means in practice, what it means in the context of the organisation and its unique values, what’s expected of the employee versus what the employee can expect from their employer.
After that, ensure the concept of psychological safety is referred to again and again: in internal communications, messaging around the workplace, meetings, on the company intranet. Normalise having open and difficult conversations. Normalise mental health challenges. Make them part of the organisation’s everyday language.
Model vulnerability
One of the most powerful actions leaders can take is to talk openly about issues that are impacting them – it might be talking candidly about a mental health issue, the difficulties in caring for an elderly parent or a concern they’ve had over the past week. This can be done via monthly emails – discussing a particular topic or reflecting on an issue – organised lunchtime talks or even as part of a company meeting.
Modelling vulnerability sends a strong message to employees. If a manager is talking openly about a big issue, it sets the tone across the entire organisation, not only normalising discussions about difficult issues, but showing that the organisation is a safe place to have these types of conversations.
Review EAP usage
There’s a common misconception that high EAP usage shows a good return on investment. It’s not. Employers often ask, ‘how can we encourage more people to use EAPs?’. But this isn’t what employers should want for their people. Why would employers want their workforce to be so stressed and unwell that they’re having to use EAP or counselling services?
So rather than high usage levels (where employees access EAP services once there’s a crisis), high engagement levels (where employees are aware of what’s on offer and engage with proactive, preventative support) is the important factor here. These indicate a psychologically healthy workplace, where managers are proactively supporting their teams before they reach a point of crisis.
Reviewing EAP data while also talking regularly with managers can help identify issues. But a word of caution: if EAP data reveals a percentage of the workforce are experiencing work-related stress or anxiety, for example, but managers are unaware, this can show people don’t feel safe enough to talk to their managers. HR has work to do. There should be no mismatch in data. Managers should be aware of issues because they’ve created a safe space for open and honest conversations and are proactively addressing them.
Don’t wait for crisis point
Finally, leaders need to be prepared to talk about the bad stuff as well as the good. A lot of managers like talking about the positive things that are going on, at the expense of everything else. This is understandable – you want to motivate your people. But not looking at what’s going wrong or talking openly about difficult situations isn’t always a healthy approach. People need to feel comfortable raising issues and challenging things they aren’t comfortable with.
It’s important to encourage a proactive, preventative approach where teams address issues before they escalate. Shining a light on problems so individuals can work collaboratively to address them helps, as does normalising saying “I don’t know the answer, but let’s find out.”
The sooner people have insight on potential issues, the quicker things can get resolved. So don’t kick that can down the road – pick it up, examine it and address it together.
