Psychological safety in the workplace: Making space for every voice

Let’s be honest: most people don’t speak up because it’s easy. They speak up because they feel safe. Because they believe they’ll be heard. Because they are hoping for action. Because they trust that what they say will be met with curiosity, not consequences.

And if they don’t feel that way? Silence takes over. That’s how minor issues become major ones. It’s how ethical missteps turn into regulatory, reputational, legal, and financial problems. It’s how organizations end up blindsided—not because the signs weren’t there, but because nobody felt safe enough to say something.

That’s why psychological safety is more than a culture initiative. It’s a compliance imperative.

What psychological safety looks like in practice

At its core, psychological safety means people trust they won’t be punished, embarrassed, or ignored for speaking up. But in real life, it’s built (or eroded) in a thousand small moments:

• A team leader who asks “What are we missing?” and actually listens to the answers.
• A compliance officer who welcomes anonymous feedback and proactively follows up on it.
• A senior executive who admits when they don’t know something—modeling that learning is part of the job.

It’s not about being perfect. It’s about being approachable. And it starts with leaders—at every level—showing that speaking up is expected, respected, and rewarded.

What this means for compliance teams

So how can compliance professionals foster psychological safety in meaningful ways? A few places to start:

• Prioritize feedback over perfection. Mistakes will happen, but if your processes focus only on discipline, you’ll never surface the learning opportunities.
  
  
• Go beyond the hotline. Create multiple channels for feedback—formal and informal, anonymous and direct—and make it clear that speaking up doesn’t need to involve a crisis.
  
  
• Train managers on how to respond. One of the most common reasons employees stay silent is fear of how their immediate manager will react. Managers set the tone and shape the culture, so they must be equipped with the skills to listen well and respond constructively.
  
  
• Measure what matters. Effective compliance programs rely on more than just participation metrics. Completion rates might show who clicked through—but they won’t tell you if people feel safe raising concerns or applying what they’ve learned. To really understand impact, gather both quantitative and qualitative data. Pair pulse surveys or behavioral assessments with listening sessions or focus groups. Look for signals of trust, not just awareness.
  
  
• Lead with humility. Compliance doesn’t have to mean knowing all the answers. Sometimes, the most powerful thing we can say is, “I don’t know—but let’s figure it out together.”

Compliance starts with people

Compliance is about rules—but it’s also about people. And people take risks with you, or around you, based on how safe they feel in your culture.

Reflecting on this, it's clear that the strongest compliance programs aren’t just built on policies and procedures. They’re built on trust. They rely on cultures where every voice—especially the uncomfortable, inconvenient, or dissenting ones—gets space to be heard.

Let’s keep building those spaces. That’s where real prevention starts. That’s how we create the kind of programs that don’t just avoid wrongdoing—they encourage what’s right.