Cultivating psychological safety isn't magic, it's strategy and the strategy that works is different for each organization. An effective plan to build psychological safety is contextual and rooted in the organization's specific reality. Check out this 20-minute mini training video on how to start to build a plan to bring psychological safety to your organization. 

This is Video #3 in a three part training series. If you have not watched Videos #1 and #2, click below to watch them before this video. Also, below is a link to join our email list to be informed about a special offer:

MINI TRAINING #1: Psychological Safety: Imagine the Possibilities 

MINI TRAINING #2: Psychological Safety: Dealing with Skeptics

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**NOTE: Please ignore reference to You Tube Channel in the video, we changed the publication plan for the mini training series. 

While psychological safety is a necessary component of a thriving workplace culture, sometimes those in charge of making workplace culture decisions or those who may be harming psychological safety the most with their actions are the very ones who are skeptic that psychological safety is important. Check out this mini training to learn how to convince skeptics in your organization to get on board with improving psychological safety.

This is Video #2 in a three part training series. If you missed mini training Video #1, please click the link below to watch it. Also find the link to download our White Paper detailing some of our research in the area of psychological safety. 

MINI TRAINING #1: Psychological Safety: Imagine the Possibilities

WHITE PAPER: Emerging Trends in Employee Wellbeing

Psychological safety is a key component of a thriving workplace culture. Check out this mini training to learn a basic overview of what psychological safety is, why it matters and examples of psychological safety at work in real organizations from our work with clients. 

While the goal of employers should be to support employees throughout the employee lifecycle from hire to exit, the reality is that this isn't always the case. Think about the internal employee processes in your organization. Where does your organization extend the most support for employees during their lifecycle?

If you’re like most employers you probably have a fairly robust new hire orientation that aims to integrate and support employees during their first few months of employment. A lot of attention is typically given to new hires to make sure that they have the training and resources to be successful and that the hire is a good investment for the company. But as it relates to support, attentiveness to needs and management focus, what’s happening after the new hire period is over?  

Results from our employee wellbeing research conducted between 2022 to 2023 with 900 individuals from a convenience sample of five small to midsized organizations suggests...

By Shanna B. Tiayon

How many downward facing dogs does it take to fix a toxic work culture?

How many liters of water does an employee have to drink to increase psychological safety in their department?

How many steps must an employee walk to be recognized for their contributions?

When you read these questions they sound silly, right? But no more silly than what’s common practice in many organizations – wellness washing.

I recently learned the term “wellness washing” – the promotion of corporate wellness activities like yoga, water challenges and mental health classes without organizational investment in addressing workplace factors that lead to poor employee mental (and sometimes physical) health. The term articulates perfectly the contradiction of corporate wellness programs that place the onus for change and improvement exclusively on employees, without corporate level introspection and commitment to address key structural issues....

Press play on the video blog to explore if your organization may need a new game plan for its hybrid work arrangement. 

**Interested in more content, tips and strategies to support employee wellbeing in your organization? Join our email list. We provide real, relevant and actionable content to create better workplaces! 

By Shanna B. Tiayon

Although popular, as of late, the term psychological safety is a nebulous one. Few organizations understand what it is or how to achieve it. At Wellbeing Works, borrowing from academic research and our own research findings over the past several years, we define psychological safety as:  An employee’s capacity to show up authentically, make mistakes, push back and ask for support without fear of negative consequences.

One thing we know for sure is that psychological safety is not a grassroots movement, whereby those in the lower levels of the organizational structure rise up, and create a psychologically safe work environment. Sounds great for a movie, but not a reflection of reality.  Sure, all employees have a part to play in contributing to psychologically safety, but leadership is what creates and maintains it.

Psychological safety is a top down process, meaning it begins with and is reinforced by leadership. And when I say top down, I...

By Shanna B. Tiayon

At Wellbeing Works, we work exclusively in the business of employee wellbeing, partnering with clients across industries to create better workplaces through: employee wellbeing data and metrics, strategy development and training. Employee wellbeing impacts key employee behaviors like retention (likelihood to stay at the organization in the next 2-years), talent attraction (likelihood to recommend the organization) and self-advocacy (asking for what you need to be successful in your job).   But employers interested in improving employee wellbeing may be focused on the wrong things. Below are a few trends and recommendations we’ve noticed from our research and work with clients.

Hire for Management Skills and Train Your Management Pipeline:  The employee-manager relationship is central to employee wellbeing. You’re probably thinking, “no surprises here”, but do you know the full extent to which this is true? Our...

By Shanna B. Tiayon

Before the pandemic, a client hired my employee consultancy firm, Wellbeing Works, to support a team shaken by the abrupt firing of a key member.

In the run up to the firing, we discovered, the team member’s performance had dropped rapidly and he developed tense relationships with colleagues. Though the organization tried a performance improvement plan before termination, we found out that it never addressed the root trouble with the employee‘s performance: depression and anxiety arising from a problem in his personal life.

Nobody in the organization thought to offer this employee support, Employee Assistance Program information, or grace. Instead, his behavior was viewed based only on impact to work output.

More frequently, our work connects us with clients who want to proactively support their employees. For example, a client in the non-profit sector was about to undergo a large reduction in staff due to funding issues (just before the pandemic hit)...

By: Shanna B. Tiayon

DISCLAIMER: Before I start this post it’s important that I add the disclaimer that I am not a legal professional. Therefore, managers and organizations should seek the consultation of their in-house or external legal counsel for employment law advice.

What I can, however, offer as a Sociologist and Senior Human Resources professional is twofold: 1) my perspective on the confusion of some managers about what at-will status really means and 2) a suggestion of a more proactive management approach than focusing on at-will status.

At-will law does not condone all forms of treatment or dismissal of an employee.

Understanding At-Will Employment (The Cliffs Notes Version)

Let’s start with clarifying some of the confusion around at-will status. The barebones of at-will employment is that an employee can leave his or her job for any reason and without notice and an employer can likewise terminate an employee without cause or warning. However,...