How Employers Can Combat 'Quiet Quitting' By Creating A Psychologically Safe Workplace

October 1, 2022

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There is little doubt the past two-and-a-half years of pandemic life have contributed to employee stress and burnout. ‘Quiet quitting’ – a term popularized on social media – is the latest pandemic-driven debate in the workplace, pointing to burnout as a cause of low productivity and engagement. ‘Quiet quitting’ is a response to hustle culture; employees set boundaries and avoid going above and beyond, especially when they feel there are psychological threats in the workplace.

The average person spends 90,000 hours at work over a lifetime. It’s where we build relationships, develop skills, and pursue goals. Whether we’re working from home or the office, it’s important to feel engaged. One way for companies to combat ‘quiet quitting’ and improve employee engagement is to foster psychological safety.

What is Psychological Safety?

Psychological safety is a shared belief that team members will not be rejected, embarrassed, or punished for speaking up with questions, concerns, or ideas. In a psychologically safe workplace, managers are open to feedback, and build trust by being transparent. In these environments, employees feel heard, listened to, and supported.

Workplace culture that promotes psychological safety makes it acceptable to fail; making mistakes is okay and often essential to improvement and growth. Employees feel empowered to take risks and aren’t afraid to share their ideas, even if they don’t turn out as hoped.

Why Psychological Safety is Important

An effective team prioritizes mental health and psychological safety as much as they do physical health and performance standards. Psychological safety contributes to healthier, more productive, and inclusive workplaces.

When employees feel psychologically safe at work, it’s easier for them to engage. Safe workplaces inspire team members to be fully present at work as opposed to counting the minutes until they’re done for the day. Team members who feel psychologically safe are less likely to leave.

Psychological safety contributes to an inclusive workplace culture, where diversity is valued, and team members feel included regardless of gender, race, colour, background, or political preferences.

Creating a safe place to work also improves wellbeing, inspires creativity, and encourages team members to promote their organization as a great place to work.

6 Steps to Growing Psychological Safety at Work

Here are a few ways leaders can promote psychological safety in their workplace culture:

Be Human: Check in with team members and ask how they’re doing. Show interest in employees as people so they know you appreciate them and not just the work they’re doing. Get to know your team members’ outside-of-work lives. Normalize vulnerability by openly sharing your views, asking for feedback, and admitting when you’ve made a mistake.
Be Flexible: Forget the pre-pandemic 9 to 5 structure. Focus on the completion of projects and tasks, rather than hours. Allow employees to organize their hours and workplaces according to what works for them and what allows them to deliver their best work.
Reframe Failure: If mistakes happen, don’t play the blame game – get curious instead. Find out what team members think went wrong and what can be done differently in the future. Allow team members to address the situation, rather than rushing in to fix it.
Welcome Feedback: Ask for feedback from your team on a regular basis; reframe it as guidance. Encourage team members to offer each other feedback as a way to grow and learn.
Foster Learning: Offer career services, such as coaching or mentoring. Give employees opportunities to learn new skills to help them get to the next level so they don’t feel stuck.
Take Action: Step in when you see or hear signs of an unsafe work environment. Encourage active listening and stop people from interrupting others. Offer praise to others for giving feedback or sharing ideas. Make yourself available for check-ins and chats.

Psychological safety is an important but complex topic that needs time and consideration. We can help you connect what’s important to you to benefits that can make change in your approach to work and life. We’re here to help and invite you to contact us for additional information.