Leveraging psychological safety to improve worker retention

Regular maintenance is something we do to ensure equipment is operating efficiently and won’t break down or cause an injury. So why aren’t we doing something similar for people in the workplace to prevent mental harm at work? asks Kristy Cork, WSPS Specialized Consultant, Healthy Workplaces.

Turnover rates continue to be high in many industries, with retail and service sectors topping the list. “More often than not, people leave because the organization does not support their psychological needs,” says Kristy. “I hear employers say, ‘We pay well. We have good benefits.’ But workers also want to be treated with respect, receive recognition and reward, work with a degree of autonomy, have a good work/life balance, and be able to express concerns and get help.” 

High costs to employers when workers leave 

“Often, the first time we hear that people are having difficulties at work is on the exit interview,” says Kristy. “That’s too late. You’ve just lost a valuable worker, at a time when new workers are hard to come by in many industries and sectors.” Replacing a worker is costly, notes Kristy. “Along with direct costs for recruitment, training, and orientation, you have indirect costs in the form of loss of knowledge and expertise, lower morale, and injury to your reputation.” 

Want to improve retention? “This is where your preventative maintenance comes in,” says Kristy. “Don’t wait for the exit interview. Figure out right now how people are being harmed by the organization and fix it before they feel like leaving is their only option.” Here are Kristy’s tips.

5 tips for improving psychological support and worker retention

1. Take the pulse of your workers often. “Find out what psychological hazards your workers are concerned about.” Do they feel undervalued and unmotivated because their boss micro-manages them? Or invisible because their work is not noticed or acknowledged? Or fearful about speaking up about work or other problems because past attempts were rebuffed?  

How do you obtain this information? “Informal and anonymous surveys or conversations are a good way to elicit workers’ thoughts about the work environment, their manager, policies, behaviours and incidents, and find out what their vision of a healthy workplace is,” says Kristy. “It’s also a good idea to look at trends in the workplace. If certain teams have higher absenteeism, injury or turnover rates, it could indicate an issue with a manager, processes or workload.” 

2. Look at your culture. Does it prioritize the physical and psychological safety of employees? Are you fostering a positive environment that encourages flexibility, inclusivity, open communication and worker involvement and contribution? “Workplaces with a positive culture will see enhanced retention, as well as increased productivity and morale,” notes Kristy.

3. Ensure supervisors and managers support a positive culture. “The most frequent reason given for exiting an organization is the person’s manager or supervisor,” notes Kristy. They may lack people skills, can’t connect with workers on a professional and personal level, don’t make workers feel heard and valued, provide unclear expectations, act unprofessionally (screaming, belittling), or micromanage. “Micromanaging sends the message that workers cannot be trusted to do good work.” 

“It’s clear that the direct manager has the biggest impact on your workers’ psychological safety at work,” says Kristy. “That means they are in the best position to create the positive culture you envision. It’s in your best interest to invest in their training and education to ensure they are capable of doing that.” 

Interactions between supervisors and employees should reflect trust and open communication, emotional safety, autonomy and empowerment, respect, and support for employee well-being and mental health. “Workers’ questions and concerns should be welcomed and answered.” This approach creates a work environment that they will want to stay in.

4. Focus on work/life balance. “Not paying attention to work/life balance shows a lack of respect or concern for workers who are juggling many different things, and is one of the prime reasons workers struggle to cope with the demands of work and their personal lives,” says Kristy.

What can an employer do to better support the work/life balance of workers? Kristy has these suggestions: 

• look at workloads to ensure they are not contributing to stress and burnout
• offer flexible working hours or telecommuting options, if possible
• implement supportive policies, such as parental leave, caregiver support, and employee assistance programs
• encourage workers to take their breaks and entitled vacation time
• encourage open communication and feedback from workers, and act on the feedback provided with meaningful controls
• respect a worker’s right to disconnect from the workplace.   

“Some employers assume that work/life balance doesn’t allow for certain times of the year to be busy or more stressful, but it absolutely does,” says Kristy. “It’s not saying there’s never going to be overtime or we’re never going to call people at home. It just means that we don’t take these asks for granted and do it with carefulness, kindness and respect.”

Offering flexibility allows workers to accommodate personal needs, and improves job satisfaction, productivity and retention. However, “I understand that offering flex-time in ‘always-on’ industries, such as manufacturing and healthcare, is problematic. But there are some options that might help.” For example:

• determine a time period (e.g., 10 am - 2 pm) when all workers must be present to ensure critical tasks are covered and then allow flexibility in start and end times for the rest of the day
• develop a system for employees to swap shifts or cover for colleagues who need to take time of
• offer compressed workweeks, where employees work longer hours for fewer days, allowing for more days off or flexible scheduling.

5. Recognize and reward employees. “This is an essential step in boosting performance, engagement, morale and, ultimately, retention,” says Kristy. “Just ensure that whatever methods you use – monetary rewards, gifts, peer recognition or other – actually make people feel valued and appreciated. Ask the question during your surveys or while chatting with workers. ‘This is what we are doing right now for recognition and reward. Can you rate these on a scale of 1 to ten? Or do you have other ideas?’”

How WSPS can help

Our workplace mental health consultants can help you develop a variety of programs to help reduce psychological harm to workers. 

Training

• Psychological Health & Safety Awareness (eCourse, 20 minutes)
• Certificate in Psychologically Safe Leadership (eCourse, 15 hours)
• Psychological Health & Safety for Workers (eCourse, 1 hour)
• Leading for Psychological Safety in Challenging Times (online instructor-led training, 1 day)

Guides, toolkits & resources

• Psychological Safety - A Roadmap. An evidence-based tool to help employers in supporting employees achieve their psychological health and safety goals.
• What do we really mean when we talk about workplace wellness? (article)
• Survey shows safety is critical in attracting and retaining top talent (article)
• How to prevent psychological harm caused by negative work demand (Trusted Leader Blog)
• Mental Health in the Workplace: Leaders are Making a Difference (Trusted Leader Blog)
• Safety Tips: Safety in 60 Seconds: Workplace Psychological Safety (video series)
• Psychologically Healthy and Safe Workplaces (video)

Mental Health Commission of Canada

• 13 Factors: Addressing Mental Health in the Workplace. Learn more about the 13 factors, including civility & respect, workload management, organizational culture and more, that impact the mental health of employees in the workplace. 

 The information in this article is accurate as of its publication date.