Psychological safety for LGBTQ+ employees increases retention rates
May 9, 2024Workplaces that prioritize psychological safety at work increase retention rates six-fold for LGBTQ+ employees, a new study has revealed.
The research carried out by Boston Consulting Group (BCG) found that employers prioritizing psychological safety at work, especially for professionals from marginalized communities, can greatly increase retention rates. Employees who feel safe to speak up in the workplace and take risks without fear of being blamed or criticized reported feeling 2.1 times more motivated, 2.7 times happier, and 3.3 times more enabled to reach their full potential at work, noted the study. When leaders successfully build this feeling – known as "psychological safety" – among their workforce, attrition risk is greatly reduced.
In fact, the positive effects of psychological safety are particularly pronounced among LGBTQ+ employees, women, people of color, people with disabilities, and people from economically disadvantaged backgrounds, highlighted the report. When leaders successfully create psychological safety at work, retention increased by six times for LGBTQ+ employees; four times for women and for employees who identify as Black, Indigenous, or people of color; and by five times for people with disabilities. This is compared with an increase of just two times in retention for men not in those groups (in other words, White, non-LGBTQ+ men with no disability).
However, in environments where psychological safety is low, members of marginalized groups have a higher risk of attrition relative to other employees, the study found. For example, 18% of LGBTQ+ employees in the bottom 30% of the psychological safety spectrum are at risk of quitting their job, compared with just 12% of straight and cisgender employees. The report also revealed that 12% of employees with the lowest levels of psychological safety said they were likely to quit within a year. However, when psychological safety is high, only 3% of employees are at risk of quitting.
The survey of 28,000 professionals across 16 countries, also showed that empathetic leadership – a style of leadership that demonstrates an understanding of and respect for the perspectives, emotions, and life situations of team members – is a key driver of psychological safety and its resulting benefits.
"Collective buy-in from the team is important, but leaders have an outsize impact when it comes to building psychological safety," stated Nadjia Yousif, chief diversity officer at BCG and a co-author of the report. "They set the tone by being role models and signalling what behaviors will be rewarded and what won't be tolerated. Psychological safety can flourish only if it's driven from the top."
Empathetic leaders are vital to creating psychological safety, noted the report. Building a culture of psychological safety starts at the top. Here are some tactics that leaders can pursue to cultivate psychological safety, including:
- Formalize time for sharing and learning. At the start of meetings, carve out a few minutes to let people engage with one another as humans first.
- Hold regular team reflections or "retrospectives." Provide opportunities to discuss what the team is doing well and how to improve.
- Challenge ideas, not people. When delivering feedback, ensure that any criticism focuses on the quality of the work, not the person who did the work.
- Be open and authentic. Leaders should candidly share their own mistakes and lessons learned with the team.
Read more about the report here.
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