How to create safety in the workplace

Feeling safe is essential to our ability to both survive and thrive and in these post-pandemic times, and it is especially important that the issue of feeling emotionally safe should take priority on the corporate agenda.

I first became interested in the health of corporate employees decades ago when I noticed that the pace of life was accelerating and it was having a measurable impact on workplace health. At the time I was working in health screening and companies were sending their staff to my clinic for their annual check-ups.

Wearing a white lab coat, I was able to directly measure the impact of the speed of life on the physiological health of employees. Not surprisingly, stress in the workplace hit the limelight.

Around the same time, issues with insomnia became more prevalent as people struggled to manage their time and energy levels as boundaries blurred and work and home become intertwined.

We are living in a world that keeps accelerating and pushing us to the limits of our physiology. Not surprisingly, people end up running in survival or ‘unsafe’ mode to keep up. To understand this, we need to understand how the Autonomic Nervous System (ANS) works.

The ANS is the vital system that regulates all involuntary physiological processes such as heart rate, blood pressure, digestion, respiration, sexual function, rest and sleep. It also enables us to fight threat if we perceive ourselves to be unsafe.

Effectively, the ANS is divided into two branches – the sympathetic nervous system (SNS) or ‘fight or flight’ system and the so-called ‘rest and digest’ system or parasympathetic nervous system (PNS).

When we perceive our world to be unsafe, the SNS predominates and when we feel safe, the PNS is predominant.

So when we are feeling safe, we are energized, healthy, robust and fully engaged and a workplace culture that fosters feelings of safety will demonstrate all of these attributes.   

Layers of responsibility

Who is responsible for creating emotional safety in the workplace? There are layers of responsibility that lie with the organization and its leaders, managers and the individuals who make up the workforce.

HR officers also play a vital role. I see their role as occupying the ‘hub’ or heart of the organization. They need to have a finger on the corporate pulse, to feel the culture of the organization and know when people are feeling less than safe.

But what are the signs of lack of psychological safety in the workplace and what should HR professionals look out for? In a culturally unsafe organization people find it hard to ask for help, to say ‘no’, the work/life boundaries are blurred (especially at the moment given hybrid working).

Lifestyle practices also suffer; I recently spoke to a representative from a company who supplies coffee machines to companies and she said that the return to the physical work environment has been ‘very good for business’ as people return to their pre-pandemic habits of fueling their energy with caffeine to meet the demand.

I know a management consultancy whose workforce is comprised of driven, perfectionistic Type A personalities who find it hard to ask for and accept help. There is a ‘lock and key’ fit between the individual and the organization where there are high expectations and demands coming from all directions.

This organization has a high rate of burnout and is currently losing a lot of their good people in the continuing wave of the ‘Great Resignation’. The lack of cultural safety means that it is easier for people to leave rather than admit that they can’t cope with the work demands or ask for help.

How HR can lead the way

The ability to feel safe is an ‘inside’ job but our physiology is constantly reacting and responding to our perception of what is happening on the outside – i.e. in the external world. So what can organizations and, in particular, HR professionals do?

Firstly, they need to hone and develop their awareness so that they can feel the pulse of the organization. Does it feel safe or unsafe? Does it look safe or unsafe? Do people seem happy, energized, engaged and on purpose? Or do they seem anxious, withdrawn, harried and tired?

I believe that every HR professional and, in fact, every leader and manager, should have a solid practice that enables them to stay aware and present to what the culture feels like, be it through meditation, mindfulness or breathwork.

Related to this, self-care is key. HR departments can be the ‘hot spot’ of the organization due to the emotional labor of the role, meaning they have a tendency to soak up the emotions of the organization which can make them more prone to burnout themselves.

It is important that they ‘put on their own oxygen masks’, tending to their wellbeing and resilience so that they are able to withstand the stresses and strains of the organization and are able to hold space for those who are struggling in a healthy way.

Finally, Chief Human Resources Officers (CHROs) must work on their own voices and ability to be heard by key stakeholders – the leaders and decision makers.

If CHROs are detecting signs of lack of safety they need to be able to communicate this and in ways that get buy-in. Who can they talk to about their concerns? Who is listening and has the capacity to make changes? If this is lacking, then developing psychological safety within the organization needs to be start from the leaders.

After all, as Mahatma Gandhi said, ‘We must become the change that we want to see in the world’. I have seen this time and again – leaders who themselves embody emotional safety tend to create safe cultures.

We all know what it feels like to be in the company of someone who is safe and grounded in themselves – and this is contagious.

The International Festival of HR is back! Discover amazing speakers from the world of HR and business at UNLEASH America on 26-27 April 2023.