Creating a psychological safe environment as employees are going back to the office

Carli Uys

November 8, 2024

Share:

By Carli Uys

Industrial Psychologist (PS 0151149) Head of Design, Research and Development (MCom Industrial Psychology and MCom Communication studies)

After a few years of being allowed to work remotely or hybrid, employees are required to return to the office environment. This is stirring a lot of emotions in employees, some find it difficult to return, others view it as a waste of time, and some feel that it is a step backward. Other employees feel more positive about returning to the office. They feel that they can finally connect with their team members again on a personal level, separate their work and personal life, and be able to discuss with their team members how they are experiencing returning to the office and how it is impacting them. This can lead to more personal connections with team members and to understand what they went through and how you can possibly help them. As a leader, it is your responsibility to create a psychological safe environment where employees can verbalise their feelings and emotions to avoid any workplace anxiety they might experience. A psychological safe environment generally contributes to higher individual performance and lead to greater organisational performance.

A psychological safe workplace environment can decrease mental ill-health in employees and increase their willingness to return to the office. It is important that leaders take an individual approach when communicating with their team members. Each member will require something different and should be allowed to ask questions, make mistakes, make requests, and share their feelings. Everyone has created a new routine for themselves and their families and should be allowed to still honour their commitments. It all boils down to the organisational culture, and how you as a leader constantly invest on improving the culture.

Each team member is different, which poses a bigger risk when asking employees to return to the office. Each employee has different needs, as some might be excited to return to the office and others are dreading that day. This can pose a big risk for those that are dreading the day, as it can cause a lot of anxiety. This can be due to their family needs, their routine they have created on when and how they complete their tasks, or just the fact that they are dreading the traffic. Whatever their reason, you as the leader must take their needs into consideration and create a psychological safe environment where they feel safe to share their needs and desires. Employees must know that their voice will be heard and that their wellbeing will always be considered. Listening to the needs of employees can lead to effective workplace outcomes.

According to a McKinsey survey, 49% of employees in their study anticipates that going back to the office will have a slight to possibly a severe negative impact on them. 36% indicated a mixed response after returning to the office. These employees indicated that the flexible work arrangements they had possibly helped in alleviating stress. Thus, it is extremely important to create a psychological safe environment for employees to be able to share their thoughts and feelings about returning to the office, and also to allow them the flexibility they once had, provided they were productive. As a leader you should regularly have conversations with members of your team to understand how they are feeling and what they need. This will create an environment where employees feel that they are heard and their needs are considered which will lead to increased workplace trust and engagement.

Here are some tips on what leaders can do to navigate the return to office and to show empathy.

1. Create an environment that allows employees to shape the new way of working. Leaders need to consider the needs of employees and make them part of the decision-making process. This will benefit the organisation as it will design future ways of working that enables all employees to thrive.
2. Be transparent and open when communicating with employees about the need the organisation has for employees to return to the office. This will greatly benefit the well-being of employees. Make sure that you have a return-to-work plan with clear guidelines to help employees transition better from remote to office work.
3. Make sure that employees are aware of the mental health services the organisation has to offer, and that the organisation provides these services anonymously to all employees and that there are remote services available.
4. Have human conversations with employees, find out what they went through during the pandemic and how it impacted their lives and how you can support them. Find out what their main concerns are, how they feel about returning to the office, and what support you can offer to help them make the transition.
5. Be vulnerable. Be willing to show your vulnerabilities by sharing your own challenges when it comes to the new way of working. Make sure that people experience you as human being and not just someone who wants results.
6. Be courageous, listen with humility and show respect to your employees.

It is now the time to lead from within and consider everyone when you make decisions. This is a big transition, especially for organisations in South Africa, so be humble, thoughtful, respectful, proactive and re-write this new work era for safety and well-being in the workplace.