Psychological safety at work

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as employers put their diversity, equity and inclusion strategies into action, there’s a big focus on psychological safety—the belief that employees won’t be punished or humiliated for speaking up, sharing ideas, asking questions or making mistakes at work.

To find out how employees themselves are feeling, ADP Canada polled more than 1,000 workers across the country this past March. The survey found that close to nine in 10 working Canadians are comfortable being themselves at work, and eight in 10 feel they can bring concerns to their manager or senior leadership team.

In addition, most employees say they feel valued at work, with 82% of respondents noting their unique skills and talents are used and appreciated.

“Having these indicators that most Canadians are feeling valued and comfortable at work, which reinforces the fact they feel psychologically safe, is really good news,” says Heather Haslam, vice-president of marketing at ADP. “We know psychological safety … is critical. It’s important because it has the ability to impact so many aspects of the workplace, including relationships, career advancement, and the bottom line.”

While there were some positive results, the findings show Canadian employers still have work to do. The data reveals racialized and Indigenous respondents are nearly twice as likely (36%) as white respondents (21%) to say they feel their colleagues may deliberately act in a way that undermines their efforts at work. This was particularly true for respondents in these groups who identified as men (40%).

In addition, nearly half (49%) of racialized and Indigenous workers agreed with the statement that making a mistake at work will be held against them. Respondents in these groups were also more likely (35%) to say it is difficult to ask colleagues or a direct manager for help.

How can employers create psychologically safe environments? Haslam says it’s important to recognize microaggressions—subtle or unintentional acts of discrimination—can occur in the workplace and psychologically impact employees, often leading to feelings of not being connected. “If [employers] understand microaggressions and those potentially unconscious biases, then they’re more likely to change them,” she says.—Rebecca Harris