Research from Johns Hopkins University and Great Place To Work®, the Well-being At Work report drawing on more than 40,000 employee responses in Singapore, shows that psychological safety shapes well-being, engagement and performance. When people can raise concerns and share ideas, organisations are better placed to manage change, curb burnout and retain talent.
In Singapore, new psychosocial hazard regulations make this more than a leadership issue. Employers must address risks such as bullying, excessive workloads and poor organizational justice.
Psychological Safety vs. Mental Health
Feeling psychologically safe is not the same thing as feeling psychologically healthy, although the two are closely related, says Marcus Erb, vice president of data science and innovation at Great Place To Work.
Psychological health, or more commonly just mental health, refers to an individual’s overall well-being and mental state, he explains. It encompasses a range of factors, such as emotional regulation, self-esteem, resilience, and the ability to cope with stress and adversity.
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“Psychological safety is one component of a psychologically healthy workplace, where employees feel supported and empowered to express their opinions and ideas without fear of retribution,” he says.
“A psychologically safe workplace can contribute to better psychological health, as employees who feel safe and supported are more likely to experience less stress and anxiety and have better overall employee well-being.”
Psychological safety and psychological health share a connection, but they occupy different territories. Safety describes the external climate where team members interact. Health defines the individual’s internal mental condition. A thriving workplace relies on both elements to fuel performance and well-being.
Signs Your Workplace May Be Psychologically Unsafe
Projects take too long to roll out
Where trust is low, employees second-guess new initiatives, avoid asking for clarification and may work around processes instead of offering feedback. Workplaces with weaker climates of well-being report slower implementation and more friction as people hesitate to raise issues that might expose gaps in planning or leadership decisions.
People don’t ask questions or share ideas
When meetings are dominated by a few voices and most people stay silent, it often signals that employees do not believe their ideas will be welcomed or acted on. In Great Place To Work® data, confidence in management shows a clear linear relationship with well-being scores. Where confidence is low, people are far less likely to speak up or challenge the status quo.
High absenteeism
Burnout and psychological distress in Singapore have risen, with up to 72 per cent of office workers reporting feeling burnt out due to workload and staffing pressures, and national surveys showing more workers experiencing psychological distress. In such climates, people are more likely to take unplanned leave to avoid stressful environments or unresolved conflicts, even when they are not physically unwell.
High presenteeism (including digital)
When people feel unsafe to switch off or take necessary sick leave, they remain online while exhausted or unwell, which erodes well-being and reduces the quality of their work.
High turnover
Our proprietary insights from 500 organizations show that employees with low confidence in management and poor perceptions of fairness report significantly lower well-being. Over time, these employees are more likely to seek roles elsewhere, particularly women and younger workers who have shown sharper drops in well-being where fairness and leadership credibility are in question.
The Four Stages of Psychological Safety
Inclusion Safety: the need to connect and belong
Learner Safety: the need to learn and grow
Contributor Safety: the need to make a difference
Challenger Safety: the need to make things better
Framework by Dr. Timothy R. Clark, author of The 4 Stages of Psychological Safety.
How To Build A Culture Of Psych Safety
Psychological safety develops over time as employees experience inclusion, freedom to learn, encouragement to contribute and safety to challenge. Organizations that excel in well-being treat it as part of the overall climate, spanning mental and emotional support, personal support, financial health, meaningful connections and sense of purpose, rather than a standalone program. Here are five ways managers can support psychological safety at every stage.
1. Be vulnerable
Leaders who acknowledge uncertainty, share their own learning moments and invite critique signal that it is safe for others to do the same. Statistically, organizations that normalize conversations about stress and limits, show employees that it is acceptable to say when something is not working. This kind of leadership vulnerability makes problem-solving more effective because issues surface early, before they escalate into safety incidents or resignations.
2. Be transparent
Drawing on data from more than 40,000 employees across Singapore, the Well-being at Work Report highlighted how trust in management is strongly linked to well-being, and as confidence in leaders increases, so do well-being scores.
Transparent communication means sharing what is known, what is uncertain, and how decisions are being made, rather than presenting change as a closed conversation.
In organizations studied by Great Place To Work, leaders who regularly update teams on regulatory changes, economic pressures and workplace policies help reduce anxiety and speculation. When employees see a clear link between their feedback, survey results and visible actions, they are more likely to believe that speaking up is worthwhile and safe.
3. Be fair
Reviewing pay, promotion pathways, workload and access to flexibility through a fairness lens is essential to creating a psychologically safe climate where all groups feel valued. Hybrid and flexible work have also created new equity challenges.
In some sectors, stricter return-to-office mandates tied to performance or reward have coincided with declining well-being scores, particularly where employees perceive these policies as inconsistent or punitive. Organizations that intentionally design fair, transparent criteria for flexibility and progression, and monitor impacts by gender, age and tenure, are better placed to maintain trust.
4. Be curious
Psychologically safe leaders actively seek out views from different cohorts and levels, rather than assuming their own experience matches everyone else’s. Research shows that senior leaders report higher well-being than frontline employees, which can create a blind spot unless leaders deliberately “level skip” to hear from those closest to the work.
Practical curiosity can look like joining toolbox talks on construction sites, ward huddles in healthcare, or stand-ups in regional branches, then following up with “you said, we did” updates so people see their input driving change. Organizations that embed curiosity structurally, using pulse surveys, mental health first aider networks and targeted support for high-pressure teams to continually learn where psychological safety needs shoring up.
5. Be reasonable
Workload, scheduling and boundary-setting also have a huge effect on psychological safety, and statistics show this is particularly true for younger workers, women and those in customer-facing roles. Employers that treat well-being as part of job design, for example, by providing stable rosters, flexible arrangements for different life stages, and explicit limits on after-hours contact, create conditions where people can meet expectations without sacrificing health.
Leading employers have introduced measures such as protected workflow (meeting free) Wednesdays, shorter work weeks, dedicated mental health leave, and explicit guidelines to manage contact across time zones so remote and hybrid teams can switch off. These reasonable expectations send a clear signal that people are not just valued for output, but for their long-term ability to thrive and contribute.
How To Measure Psychological Safety In The Workplace
Regular employee surveys are one of the most reliable ways to understand whether people feel safe to speak up and supported at work. Great Place To Work’s Trust Index™ Survey, used with more than 80,000 respondents across over 500 organizations, tracks trends in climate and psychological safety over time.
By monitoring results across dimensions such as mental and emotional support, personal support, financial health, meaningful connections and sense of purpose, and segmenting by gender, age, tenure and level, organizations can pinpoint where psychological safety is strong and where targeted action is needed.
Leaders who treat this data as an ongoing conversation with employees, rather than a one-off compliance exercise, are best placed to build high-trust, psychologically safe workplaces.
What is psychological safety in the workplace?
Psychological safety in the workplace means employees feel safe to speak up, ask questions, share ideas, admit mistakes, and challenge decisions without fear of embarrassment, punishment, or retaliation. The term was coined by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson, who defined it as a shared belief that a team is safe for interpersonal risk-taking. In practice, psychological safety helps teams communicate more openly, solve problems faster, and reduce the hidden costs of silence at work.
Why is psychological safety important for employee well-being?
Psychological safety is important because it directly affects how supported, valued, and heard employees feel at work. When people feel unsafe to raise concerns or ask for help, stress, burnout, disengagement, and turnover are more likely to rise. Data from the Well-being at Work report, based on more than 40,000 employees in Singapore, shows that trust in leadership is one of the strongest predictors of workplace well-being, making psychological safety a critical factor in healthier and higher-performing organizations.
What are the signs of low psychological safety at work?
Common signs of low psychological safety include employees staying silent in meetings, avoiding questions, hesitating to give feedback, and hiding mistakes instead of discussing them early. Organizations may also see slower project rollouts, higher absenteeism, presenteeism, burnout, and increased staff turnover. These patterns often point to a workplace culture where trust is weak and employees do not feel confident that speaking up will lead to fair or constructive outcomes.
How can leaders build psychological safety in the workplace?
Leaders can build psychological safety by being vulnerable, transparent, fair, curious, and reasonable in how they manage people and workloads. That includes admitting when they do not have all the answers, clearly communicating decisions, addressing fairness in pay and flexibility, actively seeking employee feedback, and setting realistic expectations around work hours and pressure. Employees are more likely to trust leaders and speak openly when they see that feedback is welcomed and acted on.
How do you measure psychological safety in an organization?
Psychological safety is typically measured through regular employee surveys, pulse checks, and broader workplace climate assessments. These tools help organizations understand whether employees feel safe to speak up, supported by managers, and confident in leadership. When survey data is tracked over time and segmented by factors like age, gender, tenure, and job level, leaders can identify where trust is strong, where risks are emerging, and what actions are needed to improve well-being.
