Psychological safety, referring to the feeling and belief that you can share your thoughts, opinions and ideas within a company, is critical to the success of an organisation and it becomes even more crucial for minority groups, including LGBTQ+ employees, who often face hurdles in professional settings – evidenced by a study from Stonewall which unveiled that 1 in 5 LGBTQ+ staff members reported being the target of negative comments from colleagues.
In light of Pride Month, Rethinkly – a visualisation platform which helps employees navigate difficult conversations in the workplace – commissioned a landmark study which found that 35% of LGBTQ+ employees felt they had no voice in the workplace. Having a knock on effect on levels of productivity within a workplace, with psychological safety being deemed the single most important factor for effective teams, it becomes imperative for corporations to audit their company culture to assess if they are conducive to open and constructive communication where creativity and collaboration are fostered.
Key Findings:
- 35% of LGBTQ+ workers feel they have no voice in their workplace
- 17% have a toxic relationship with peers and managers at work
- 36% harbour all workplace tension and find confrontation too difficult
- 24% have taken time off work due to feeling so challenged in communication
- 29% say that the inability to communicate within the workplace has had the largest impact on productivity
Psychological safety, when practiced effectively, means that all employees are empowered to bring their full self to work. This becomes more crucial for LGBTQ+ workers, who feel as if they need to hide their identities at work out of fear of discrimination. In order to be implemented effectively, psychological safety needs to be fostered by employees at all levels within an organisation. Team cultures reflect the actions and reactions of their leaders, and to establish and maintain a psychologically safe workplace leaders must consistently model inclusive behaviors in order to build new team norms over time. As proprietary research from Rethinkly unveiled that 17% of the British LGBTQ+ workforce have a toxic relationship with their peers and managers and 24% have taken time off work due to feeling so challenged in communication – it comes as no surprise that investing in a psychologically safe spaces creates a substantial return for corporations of all sizes.At a time when absenteeism due to poor mental health is rife, the founders of Rethinkly, the metaverse software that allows users to recreate uncomfortable scenarios in a virtual safe space – allow employees at all levels to create and foster psychological safety in their workplace. Used widely within the NHS and by corporate firms such as IBM, Rethinkly’s software removes all real-world references to create a safe space that is designed to inspire autonomy of expression.
Andrew Jackson, co-founder of Rethinkly, comments on the instrumental value of creating a psychological safe space to improve communication at work:
“An unhealthy culture tends to be one where even the fact that something is undiscussable cannot be discussed – the huge elephant in the room. This normally results in avoidance of risk, poor decision making and low levels of creativity all resulting in poor performance. We don’t like working in unhealthy cultures as we know it has a negative impact on our wellbeing and yet we can feel trapped. The only way out is to create ‘psychological safety’, especially at the top. Psychological safety is achieved by increasing levels of self-awareness through some kind of reflective practice – looking in the mirror and listening to feedback. A 2023 survey found that 81% of organisations want to build a more people-centric culture. Easy to say, but where do you start? How about asking people how they feel, how they think about their role, what brings them alive and what they would like to change? And what if we could do all that in a private and cost-effective way with all employees – today? With Rethinkly, you can.”
