How to Heal a Workplace

CHAPTER 6Mitigating Risk in Psychological Safety: Know the situations that put your staff at risk

When we consider the interpersonal issues that can create psychological challenges in the workplace, we should start by looking at time. Many claims for workplace psychological injury come within three months of a change. There are valid reasons why this is common in this timeframe, which I will expand on in chapter 8, but it helps to understand how this is a significant key in potentially achieving a ‘quick win’ in your workplace.

Understanding how psychosocial hazards link together is essential to understanding why this time period is such a significant risk point.

There are a number of situations that can put your staff at risk of psychological harm. While not all change comes from recruitment of new staff to an organisation, this is a great starting point to explore reducing the risk.

Onboarding

When you have a new staff member join your organisation, what processes are they taken through to introduce them to your organisation, their roles and responsibilities, and their key deliverables? What about who they report to and what they should do if they are feeling unsure, confused, overwhelmed or lost?

Depending on the size of your organisation, you may have a dedicated team of HR people who are responsible for familiarising new employees with the work environment, or it may be left to a peer performing a similar role. If the latter, this can be problematic because you have ...