How can companies can embed psychological safety at work? It's all about creating an environment where everyone feels safe to speak up and be themselves, without any worries. In today's busy workplaces, taking care of mental well-being is so important. To explore this further, we've invited Hannah Keal, an experienced people leader known for creating high-performance, high support cultures, to share her insights on creating psychological safety in the workplace.

1. Hi Hannah, from your experience what defines psychological safety in the workplace, and why is it important?

Put simply, psychological safety at work means having a culture where your team members feel safe to share ideas, ask for help when they need it and admit if they make a mistake (as we all do from time to time) without fear. Beyond that, it’s having the ability to challenge decisions, ideas or practices and knowing that challenge will be welcomed, provided it’s constructive. Extensive research has demonstrated that psychological safety is a huge contributor to effective team performance. Teams with a higher degree of psychological safety are more creative, more innovative and more inclusive.

2. What specific programs or initiatives have you come across that prioritise mental well-being for employees?

I think employers are waking up to the fact that just adding a suite of additional benefits is not sufficient to create a culture that genuinely supports wellbeing. Access to therapy, coaching and other tools that support mental, physical and financial wellbeing is important - and these things can be genuinely life-changing for employees. 

Ultimately, however, employers also have to get the basic structural things right - giving team members the freedom to design a way of working that works for them, having managers who are inclusive, competent and empowering, keeping an eye on workload and building strong employee voice mechanisms are all important for bolstering wellbeing and psychological safety. 

3. Can you share examples of policies you’ve seen implemented to support mental health and create a culture of openness and trust?

I think in terms of policies that support mental health, the companies that are leading the way are those who are responding to the specific needs of their team and co-designing practices that meaningfully support people. These could be policies that offer support to those going through menopause; that give trans and non-binary employees clarity on what transition support at work might look like, or offer employees experiencing bereavement adequate time off and support to process what’s happened. If people have that clarity that their company will support them through these major life events, it builds trust and loyalty.

In terms of broader initiatives I’ve seen that help foster psychological safety, I think non-anonymous feedback practices are one of the most powerful rituals to build. There’s a lot of fear around feedback - and in my experience, that is heightened when we’re not able to understand the context properly. With the right support and training, we can empower individuals to have meaningful feedback conversations that are game-changing for professional development and build relational trust. 

4.  How can companies ensure that managers and leaders are equipped to support the mental health needs of their teams?

Companies need to support leaders with building the capacity to hold space for their team members. This means training on not just the basics like how to hold a great 1:1 - but also on skills like self–regulation, emotional intelligence and compassionate inquiry. Managers must also be given the tools to spot the signs of burnout and poor mental health and signpost team members to further support. A manager can be a lot of things - but ultimately they need to understand that their role is to open up options for team members struggling with their mental health to get the support they need, rather than take it all on their own shoulders. 

5. How should companies measure the effectiveness of your mental health initiatives and assess employee well-being?

Engagement surveys are a good overall measure of effectiveness of your wellbeing strategy - particularly questions around inclusion, happiness and psychological safety. When it comes to measuring the effectiveness of individual initiatives, you can assess take up (of benefits and opt-in activities) and ask specific questions to determine whether they have increased confidence and capability. Ultimately, it’s about defining the impact you’re looking for and measuring that. 

When you make investments in training for those with line management responsibility, you should also collect and listen to feedback from the individuals that report into those managers to see whether they are seeing lasting behaviour change. 

6. In what ways do you encourage open communication and destigmatize discussions around mental health in the workplace?

I think there’s a lot to be said for role modelling - when leaders are happy to have therapy sessions - or even the gym - in their diary, it sends a message about the importance of prioritising your wellbeing. These things are also important because they are constants - if your company only talks about mental health once a year for Mental Health Awareness Week, but doesn’t otherwise provide consistent support - that will be felt by your team. It’s also about clarity - I’d always encourage People teams and managers to let people know during onboarding what support is available for them when things get tough and regularly remind people that it’s there. 

7. What advice would you give to other companies looking to enhance psychological safety and prioritise mental well-being in their organisations?