Creating psychologically safe workplaces: A 5-step starter

A great number of lessons can be taken from the COVID-19 pandemic, both at home and around the world. But when a pandemic of truly global proportions shakes the foundations of society, looking to the workplace for learnings is a good place to start.

In the data and in our conversations, we can sense a change, a shift in tone and in expectation. And that change is seen in what workers want, a change in what they expect from their workplaces and from their employers. Long gone are the days where free fruit on Fridays is seen as sufficient sticking plaster for the real issues; among them chronic stress, absenteeism and presenteeism, reduced productivity, and falling levels of employee engagement.

In our post-pandemic world, the challenges workers face are both complex and diverse. Perhaps no more than at any other time in human history, that is fair, but to quote Lyndon Johnson [in the wake of the assassination of President Kennedy] “Yesterday is not ours to recover, but tomorrow is ours to win or lose.” If we, individually and collectively, wish to win tomorrow, then swift action is needed and employers must play their part.

In our nearly 70-year history, British Safety Council has worked with countless employers to support the wellbeing of their teams. And in seeking to help employers to navigate the unknown we’ve distilled this learning into 5 simple steps:

As a rule of thumb, involving workers wherever possible in the design and development of interventions will increase buy-in and boost effectiveness.

Employers should seek to engage their employees at every stage, ensuring that ample opportunities for feedback, discussion, and collaboration are built into the design and deployment of new interventions or strategies.

By doing this, employers can increase the accuracy of their risk assessments, ensuring that interventions remain relevant and needed.

This action strengthens trust and engagement with groups that often share nothing other than where they work. It seeks to build a community that tackles stigma and supports sharing.

When employers seek to solve problems rather than the causes of problems, they invest in ineffective solutions that fail to provide the support workers need. A good starting point is to question:

“What changes are needed in the work environment to enable each employee to thrive?”

Practical steps to include:

• Inclusive adjustments for workers with disabilities
• Targeted support for key life stages (e.g. pregnancy, menopause, andropause)
•  Addressing financial wellbeing with consideration for varying levels of literacy and economic education
•  Ensuring support services are accessible across languages and formats (e.g. braille).

We’ve all seen the data that shows that generalised wellbeing programmes generally deliver both low levels of engagement and limited impact.

Our own research Being Well in a Changing World, recommended a new approach that breaks strategic support into three tiers:

• Universal interventions for the whole workforce
• Targeted interventions for specific groups or risk profiles
• Individualised support for complex or high-risk cases

By doing this, psychosocial risks are addressed at an appropriate level and employees are given flexibility to access the support that meets their needs.

Psychosocial risks do not exist in isolation. Work-related stressors interact with personal circumstances, and vice versa. Financial strain, mental health challenges, and social pressures often overlap, compound, and spiral into each other.

Psychologically safe strategies should therefore adopt a whole-person perspective, recognising the interconnected nature of wellbeing domains. This means:

• Providing integrated support across mental, financial, and social wellbeing
• Understanding how risks in one area can amplify risks in another
• Prioritising preventative, rather than reactive, interventions.

Success cannot be measured solely through traditional metrics. While indicators such as absence rates and productivity are important, they should be complemented by measures of psychological safety, inclusion, and accessibility.

Key questions to ask employees include:

• Can all employees access support without barriers?
• Are there mechanisms to identify and remove those barriers quickly?
• Is employee feedback actively shaping strategy over time?
• Can individuals adapt their support pathways as their needs change?

The true measure of success is whether every employee can access appropriate support when they need it, in ways that works for them.

We know that managing psychological safety is a core organisational responsibility. Not just to protect profits, not just to boost productivity, but to protect people; our most important assets.

The reality is that psychosocial risks are now embedded in the fabric of modern work. They are shaped by factors both inside and outside the workplace, and they cannot be addressed through surface-level interventions or isolated initiatives. What is required is a sustained, strategic approach, one that is proactive, inclusive, and grounded in the lived experiences of workers.

Click here to learn more about our Impact and Influencing campaigning.