Psychological safety first: Understanding psychological safety at work

Abstract

Research has clearly shown the benefits of psychological safety such as increased employee well-being and organizational flourishing, as well as the dangers of psychological unsafety, including increased burnout and accidents at work. Yet, most knowledge is based on research in Western cultures, in which employees may be more likely to express themselves regardless of how safe they feel. Additionally, little is known about what interventions are helpful in enhancing psychological safety. Our research fills these gaps by examining how psychological safety is experienced and defined by Slovak employees (N = 47; Sample 1) and by examining interventions to increase safety when leaders create an unsafe work environment in an international sample of 19 scientist-practitioners (Sample 2). Our findings identified two robust categories of psychological safety: healthy interpersonal relations and healthy work environment. It was also revealed that most participants (70.2%) in Sample 1 felt psychologically safe at their workplace. Our findings from Sample 1 also suggest that participants’ understanding of psychological safety and the factors contributing to feeling unsafe, closely aligned with the existing literature. Additionally, from both samples, we learned that education and awareness, building a support network, and creating a culture of learning from mistakes are important interventions needed to help speak out when leaders create an unsafe work environment.

Keywords

psychological safety at work, contributing factors, feelings, awareness, implications

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