Psychological safety is about creating an environment where staff can speak up, share ideas, ask questions and make mistakes without fear of humiliation or retribution.
Creating this environment supports genuine participation and contribution by all staff as they feel valued and respected.
Psychological safety is important for all staff but is heightened for those from under-represented groups who are more likely to have experience of negative consequences and inequities.
This guide is one of the actions stemming from the Workforce Diversification and Inclusion Strategy and supporting action plans for diverse groups. It has practical tools and activities for agencies to use in building inclusive and psychologically safe workplaces.
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Please note this guide helps WA public sector agencies understand diversity through a lens of psychological safety, and provides practical actions for building safe and inclusive workplaces for employees from diverse groups. For information about work related psychological health and safety, WorkSafe WA provides a range of guidance including mentally healthy workplaces and recent changes to work health and safety laws. |
Benefits of psychologically safe and inclusive workplaces
Show moreResearch shows us that workplaces are more productive, innovative and engaging when they are diverse and supported by inclusive practices.
Agencies that proactively establish diverse and supported workforces are better able to deliver high quality services that meet the needs and challenges of the communities they serve.
Psychologically safe and inclusive workplaces are also more likely to recruit and retain employees from diverse backgrounds. This is important as the public sector workforce must reflect the diversity of WA to truly represent the community, understand and support its needs.
Diversity Council Australia’s Inclusion at Work Index: Mapping the State of Inclusion in the Australian Workforce (2019) found that, people who work in an inclusive organisational culture are:
- 5 times more likely to innovate to solve problems
- 3 times more likely to work extra hard towards the success of the team
- 3 times more likely to be highly effective in meeting work expectations
- 3 times more likely to provide excellent customer/client service
- 5 times more likely to be very satisfied with their job than workers in non-inclusive teams
- twice as likely to receive career development opportunities
- twice as likely to have been given constructive performance feedback
- 3 times less likely to leave their current employer.
Trust
Building staff trust is critical for psychological safety and provides significant benefits for employees and agencies.
When agencies focus on building trust, staff may feel more comfortable and confident in sharing aspects of their own identities. Increased sharing helps agencies better understand the needs of their diverse workforces and make informed decisions, which can help maximise agency capability and performance. These benefits extend across every level in the workplace, from the strategic to operational and individual levels.
Psychological safety and sharing identity
Show moreIdentity is the concept a person develops about themselves that evolves over the course of their life, and is affected by circumstances, events and experiences both in and out of their control.
An individual’s identity is personal, complex and multi-dimensional, and includes both visible and invisible aspects.
Some aspects are easy to recognise, like skin colour, while others, such as caring responsibilities, can remain unknown until they are voluntarily shared.
There are many reasons why staff may choose to hide one or more aspects of their identity, and it often relates to their level of trust and psychological safety. An employee is more likely to share information about themselves when they feel accepted and valued for who they are and what they can bring to the workplace.
The confidence of staff to give voice to their identities, experiences and concerns is a key indication of the level of workplace trust, psychological safety and inclusion.
Currently, only around 70% of staff in the public sector share their diverse identities in the workplace – that is, their identity as culturally and linguistically diverse, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, or a person with disability. In some agencies, sharing is as low as 41% of staff.
This data indicates there is much agencies can do to improve psychological safety.
It’s everyone’s business
Show moreEvery employee, regardless of their position in their agency, can and should show leadership in this area by supporting and encouraging respectful behaviours that build stronger, more flexible and more welcoming workplaces.
A key for everyone in the workplace is to understand the experiences of people who identify with one or more diversity groups, particularly those representing areas of diversity they are less familiar with. This helps everyone recognise and discard assumptions and stereotypes which discourage inclusion.
Agencies need to provide systems and mechanisms that allow all staff to raise their concerns and be confident that these issues are treated fairly and respectfully.
Agencies must address issues seriously, thoroughly and in a timely manner. Taking appropriate action when behaviours and conduct are out of step with the agency’s expectations encourages other staff to speak up and show leadership, and also helps build workplace trust.
Building psychologically safe and inclusive workplaces
Show moreBuilding a psychologically safe and inclusive workplace requires sustained effort. Some agencies are further along than others and may have already taken steps toward achieving inclusion.
Practical and tangible actions and behaviours are required at all levels.
Agencies should focus on building trust and can do this by:
- having a workforce and diversity plan
- incorporating diversity and inclusion in strategic planning
- educating staff to create awareness and understanding about psychological safety and every individual’s responsibility to show leadership in establishing an inclusive workplace, irrespective of their level or role
- building inclusive leadership capability
- recognising significant dates, holding events and using communications channels to celebrate diversity
- having clear and responsive systems to address staff concerns, and suitable consequences for inappropriate behaviour
- ensuring representation of diverse groups at all levels of decision making
- using consistent and inclusive messaging in communications
- building and maintaining support networks and services for diversity groups.
Tools and activities to build inclusive and psychologically safe workplaces
Show moreThe actions on each card support agencies to implement their workforce and diversity plans and create psychologically safe and inclusive workplaces.
They also contribute to the twin goals of the Workforce Diversification and Inclusion Strategy – to increase the representation of people from different backgrounds at all levels across our sector (workforce diversification), and ensure all staff experience a sense of belonging and inclusion in the work environment (workforce inclusion).
With different priorities and needs, each agency can tailor their actions to best fit their context.
Use the cards when:
- inducting new staff
- on-boarding new managers and leaders
- monitoring and assessing progress against the Workforce Diversification and Inclusion Strategy
- integrating workplace diversity and workforce planning.
