By Employee well-being and mental health is the most discussed topic today. It has gained much attention recently, one reason being the pandemic. When the pandemic hit the world, every person who was working in corporate got worried about their job and security. This stressful time faded the concept of work-life balance and everyone was ready to work even after working hours just to save their jobs. However, suddenly, health issues and family issues became more common topics for HR and other departments. For this, many organizations launched remote working and built employee trust and communication concepts.
When it comes to earnings and economic security, employees were adjusting to their work-life balance and toxic work culture. They feared that they would lose their jobs if they tried to stand out from the crowd. It created a lack of psychological protection. Work-life balance and mental peace were somehow disturbed due to this.
Psychological safety or the freedom to express oneself without any pressure or fear allows employees to be confident, accept mistakes, ask for help, and be open and transparent. Just like the way companies have prioritized physical safety at workplaces, psychological safety has not got that much attention.
What is psychological safety?
Psychological safety is a term that came into existence in 1999. It is an assumption that when a person or an employee speaks up with any views, suggestions, ideas, questions, concerns, and even blunders, he will not be ridiculed or humiliated anyhow. The team should be safe for interpersonal communication and risk-taking. Psychological safety is a process of establishing a safe and open environment under which employees can openly express what they want to say and feel embraced for sharing their views and doubts. The culture should make every employee feel important and respected without fearing retaliation and humiliation.
Encouraging psychological safety at work
- Manager assistance
Managers play a supportive and significant role in any organization. Their role is to manage their team and bring the best results. But apart from the organizational outcome, the manager's responsibility is also to bring out the best ability of an employee. Furthermore, a good manager should also establish a harmonious relationship with team members so that if any team member feels to ask small questions as well, they can reach their manager easily.
- Feedback culture
Employees expect feedback from management and want to improve themselves. Healthy feedback culture should be there in any organization as it is the way to achieve something big. Both the persons offering and receiving feedback must be open to saying and hearing without any barriers. Healthy feedback sessions will enhance psychological safety and bring more confidence to employees.
- Employee contribution
Bringing changes in an organization is easy for HR and management. But it is not about just implementing changes, employers and HRs should listen to employees as well about new changes through engagement sessions and weekly updates, and other right tools. This helps them in detecting the hot spots where psychological safety is compromised and find a solution before it is too late.
