What Makes You Feel Unsafe at Work?
I recently shared about a boss of mine who made fun of my disability, failed to supply low-cost reasonable accommodation and let me know (indirectly) that she would not promote me. I did the only thing I could. After five months, I left that unsafe nonprofit workplace for a job with a boss who respected and supported me.
This experience was 30 years ago. How have social sector workplaces changed since then?
NEW DEFINITION OF WORKPLACE SAFETY
The COVID-19 lockdown and the racial justice reckoning of 2020 dramatically shifted how we think and talk about mental health at work.
Back in the day, “occupational safety and health” made me think of wear and tear on the body, dangerous equipment or bad air in a workplace. Now when I hear "workplace safety,” it’s often about mental health. Instead of poisonous chemicals, “toxic” is used to refer to leaders that discriminate, overwork or otherwise fail to address employee well-being.
In response to growing awareness of workplace mental health, employers have increased access to mental health care and are offering more flexibility in where and when workers do their jobs. There’s evidence, though, that most organizations are not doing enough.
Earlier this year, I listened to a NPQ webinar on Worker Power (fee) that described the growing union movement in nonprofit organizations. While low wages were important, the panelists said the main fuel for unionizing was workers’ desire to “detoxify” workplaces, counter all the discriminatory “isms” and ensure they have more say in important decisions that affect them.
The webinar echoed a 2021 McKinsey report that found that women overall--particularly women who were Black or LGBTQ and those with disabilities—experienced more microaggressions at work, creating stress and a lack of safety. The women cited such microaggressions as having their judgment questioned or being interrupted or spoken over in professional settings. Repeated microaggressions cause a deep sense of un-ease and cause workers to leave their jobs—as I did many years ago.
ELEMENTS SUPPORTIVE OF MENTAL HEALTH AT WORK
A recent Harvard Business Review article reviewed the findings of the 2023 Mind Share Partners Mental Health at Work Report. Every two years, this study collects a nationally representative sample of 1,500 full-time US workers (not just social sector workers). It includes statistically significant sampling from historically marginalized populations: women, people of color, LGBTQ+ workers and more.
Participants rated how helpful the following were to their mental health at work:
Mental health treatment
Self-care resources for mental health
A safe and supportive culture for mental health
A healthy and sustainable culture of work
The findings may surprise you. The clear winner was a healthy and sustainable culture. Over three-fourths--78%--of respondents rated it as moderately, very or extremely helpful. The finding was consistent across all groups--regardless of gender, generation, LGBTQ+ identity and ethnic origin, as well as caregiver status and seniority level.
The second most common response was a safe and supportive culture for mental health at 67%. In third place was mental health treatment at 64% and self-care resources coming in last--at 60%.
The conclusion? Today’s workers view mental health as at least partially the responsibility of their employers. As the DEIB movement has shown, employees expect leaders to set the tone, walk the talk and implement policies and practices to make organizational culture more equitable and safe. It's not enough to offer private solutions for individuals. Next time, I’ll talk about how leaders can actually do this.
Meantime, this moving piece by NYT writer/PBS commentator David Brooks offers ways to really see each other.