Workplace safety, that old chestnut.
Doing The Work.
Hello Beloved Community,
Being safe at work should not be a luxury. And yet, how many of us can call to mind, quickly, situations we’ve been put into at work that felt emotionally, physically, and/or psychologically unsafe? Too many of us are now calling to mind too many “ick” stories that we didn’t know how to or couldn’t walk away from. We can do better, and we need to do better at work to keep each other safe. The end.
The first time I remember something gross happening to me at work was when I was 19. One job I was working at that time was at a temp agency where I cold-called people’s landlines (it was 1993) to ask them if they wanted to subscribe to a magazine. I drove 45 minutes each way for this job in a car I borrowed from my parents. I was living at home, trying to figure out what was next, as I didn’t head straight to college after high school. I worked in a cubicle and wore a headset; the place had a very “Office Space” vibe. The male floor manager at that job routinely took me out on my own into the hallway to tell me that I needed to wear a better bra. The other job was a food service job where my male manager regularly grabbed + patted my ass. Both jobs that I had that year were unsafe for me. It did not occur to me to tell anyone about these violations and acts of harm. The tone about this kind of harmful behavior at work in the 90s was completely normal. In fact, women like me were regularly told that we were lucky to have jobs, and this was just what happened at work. Deal with it.
Fast forward two decades to a job when I am working with all women + for a woman at a prominent Feminist organization. The culture of this organization was toxic and harmful in the extreme. In fact, when I was a few months postpartum (in recovery from cesarean action #2), I was required during evening hours to attend a team-building activity. As we climbed a ladder to a trapeze platform in a public mall, I kept thinking to myself, I should not be doing this. I am going to really hurt myself. When we arrived on the platform, I told my new boss I didn’t think this was a good idea. I was still recovering from a major abdominal surgery. She laughed at me in front of my new team members and said, “You’ll be fine”. I will spare you the gory details, but I was not fine. Recent news about a Black woman stepping down from a leadership role at a well-respected, national feminist organization supports too much of what I have felt working for white feminist women: we are mean, and especially mean to women of color. We’d often expect women in leadership to be more generous for growth, more sensitive to physical safety at work, more supportive, but sadly, that is not the case and does not line up with my own lived experience.
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So, um, no. Not here. We don’t play like this here.
Waking Giants is committed to achieving and maintaining psychological safety at work through both our business model and our collaborations with like-minded companies and organizations. This is non-negotiable for us. Here are our non-negotiables as a company when it comes to maintaining safety at work for our team. It starts with a clear definition of what we mean and what we expect.
Our internal Waking Giants definition of psychological safety in the workplace refers to a shared belief that our team members and collaborators can take risks, express opinions, and be themselves without fear of negative consequences. This is not about being nice or performing politeness. It is about creating and protecting an environment where everyone IS safe to speak up, ask questions, be who they are, and make mistakes without fear of judgment or retribution.
We believe that psychological safety is crucial for effective teams. The scientific data shows that safety at work fosters learning, innovation, and creativity. At Waking Giants, we work hard to cultivate a true sense of trust and safety in our workplace culture. We encourage our team members and collaborators to share their thoughts, ideas, and concerns openly without fear of judgment. This includes giving and receiving critical feedback. Constructive feedback is the expression of a well-held boundary between collaborators, and we are here for it.
Part of workplace safety is about acknowledging mistakes. Viewing mistakes as learning opportunities rather than punishments is essential to fostering growth and enabling our teammates and collaborators to grow, learn, and enjoy the dopamine of mastery of a new skill. I believe a good manager is working to prepare their staff for their next job, not just the one they are in now. Where do your colleagues want to be in 10 years, and how is what you are doing today going to help get them there? I ask myself and my team this question often, and I take the answers seriously.
Expectations can sink any ship at any time. We try to get ahead of them and revisit them often to ensure we are all still playing by the same set of expectations. We do this by referring to our agreements often and reporting against them each month to remind all parties involved what each person is committed to, AND allowing for a naturally occurring opportunity to update these if things have shifted (and they do!).
Empathy and understanding are critical elements to fostering effective social impact-driven work. We believe cultivating a workplace culture enables us to apply our empathy and understanding THROUGH the work. This means we use our emotional intelligence at work towards social safety. Some applications of this are well-maintained work and play boundaries through tech like #Slack and unlimited PTO. We also commit to regularly scheduled conversations about expectations, productivity, and relationship dynamics so that grievances and feedback don’t pile up and feel more weighted than they need to.
Providing leadership and support for our clients and collaborators towards establishing and maintaining psychological safety at work is work that lights us up. We’d welcome the chance to assist your team in naming, establishing, maintaining, and, dare I write, deepening workplace safety for your people if that interests you.
Thanks for all you are already doing to care for your people at work. We see you. You are doing great.
Sera (she/her)
Pls become a paid subscriber and show this woman-led company some care today.