(Pt.4) The Impact of Psychological Safety on Engagement and Retention

This episode is part four in our five part series on "What's Causing Demand for Psychological Safety." Tim and Junior dive into the data behind the great resignation and the link between workplace culture and employee retention. 

(04:30) Before employee engagement there was employee satisfaction. We learned that employee satisfaction was not the right measurement. You can have satisfied employees that are not productive so we graduated from employee satisfaction to employee engagement.

(07:41) Recent data suggests that only 32% of the workforce is considered engaged while 52% are "just showing up" and 16% are "actively disengaged". These numbers feed into the employee turnover.

(15:24) Not all turnover is bad. There are cases where a certain amount of turnover is healthy. You don't want disengaged and unproductive employees to stay if they are not a good fit and they are not contributing. What we are hoping to avoid are the regrettable losses.

(26:37) The Work Institute Report shared that 40% of employee turnover occurs within the employee's first year with the organization. Retaining and engaging our top talent is becoming a bigger and bigger challenge.

(35:48) "52% of voluntarily exiting employees, say their manager or organization could have done something to prevent them from leaving their job." Gathering this feedback in an exit interview is too late. We need to be proactive in retaining our top talent.

(45:44) Just as we have seen a graduation from employee satisfaction to employee engagement we are beginning to see a graduation on to psychological safety. Psychological safety is the lead measure for employee engagement and can help leaders be proactive in resolving cultural issues.

Important Links

• Psychological Safety Stay Interview Guide
• This Fixable Problem Costs U.S. Businesses $1 Trillion
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics - Table 4. Quits levels and rates by industry and region, seasonally adjusted.
• Deconstructing the Great Resignation
• EY Global Survey Data
• The great executive - employee disconnect
• Work Institute 2020 Retention Report
• State of the Global Workplace: 2022 Report
• Glassdoor’s Diversity and Inclusion Workplace Survey
• SHRM Global Culture Research Report 2022

The 4 Stages Team Survey
Your engagement survey isn’t telling you the whole story about your company culture.  Find out how your culture is really doing and how to improve it by measuring psychological safety.

https://www.leaderfactor.com/psychological-safety-survey