The Fearless Organisation, the pioneer of the use of Psychological Safety measurement, has released its latest insights into the experiences of organisations and their teams.

The Fearless Report for 2024 is based on more than 11,000 responses from representatives from employers (asked to rate their perception of Psychological Safety in their immediate team), and points to a number of issues for HR:

How Psychological Safety increases with tenure

It’s the employees who have been in their organisations longer report feeling safer to speak up, take risks, and share ideas without fear of negative consequences. As might be expected, employees in their first year appear to face the biggest challenges when it comes to speaking up, their uncertainty about the ‘norms’ of behaviour in an organisation, and a fear of making mistakes.

There’s no difference between introverts and extroverts

Contrary to what might be assumed to be the case, introverts don’t report lower levels of Psychological Safety. Despite being more likely to feel confident in speaking up, extroverts appear to experience their own challenges, perhaps due to concerns about being judged, dominating discussions, or facing resistance from colleagues.

Instead, it’s likely that other workplace conditions, such as leadership behaviours, team norms, and organisational culture, play a much larger role in shaping Psychological Safety. Psychological Safety should not be mistaken for loudness or frequent participation — some of the most psychologically safe teams may still have members who speak up sparingly but meaningfully.

Also, age isn’t a factor

All working-age generations experience Psychological Safety at nearly identical levels. In other words, Psychological Safety is not about age — with younger people feeling less safe because of their relative lack of experience — but about workplace culture. This means organisations should be focusing less on generational stereotypes (so younger employees don’t necessarily ned more help in speaking up; older employees don’t necessarily resist change) and more on team culture, leadership behaviours, and inclusion practices.

Women report lower levels of Psychological Safety than men

This might be, the Fearless Report suggests, because women may experience greater scrutiny, bias or be more sensitive to workplace dynamics that discourage open expression and risk-taking. This aligns with broader research showing that women often feel a stronger pressure to prove themselves, leading to hesitation in speaking up and challenging ideas. The finding confirms the importance of fostering environments where women and gender-diverse employees feel heard, valued, and safe to contribute.

Leaders feel safer than anyone else

In spite of the higher stakes involved with their decisions and greater scrutiny of what they say, employees in leadership roles feel more comfortable speaking up, taking risks, and expressing ideas without fear of negative consequences. So authority and power reduces feelings of risk and uncertainty: it’s not always so lonely at the top.

Since leaders experience higher Psychological Safety, they may also underestimate how risky it feels for non-leaders to speak up, increasing the need for empowering non-leaders, clarifying their roles, and ensuring that every employee, regardless of position, feels heard, valued, and encouraged to contribute.

CMP is an active partner to The Fearless Organisation. We make use of the tools developed by Harvard Business School professor Amy Edmondson to support improvements in team dynamics and workplace cultures, supporting that all-important foundation of belief in employees that they “will not be punished or humiliated for speaking up with ideas, questions, concerns, or mistakes”.

The Fearless Organisation is looking for organisations to take part in its 2025 report. Participants receive a free report on their organisation providing insights into both key risk areas and strengths; an opportunity to benchmark themselves against companies internationally; and evidence-based recommendations for how to improve scores. You can find out more and sign up here: https://fearlessorganizationscan.com/report

Photo by Artem Podrez