Creating a culture of respect and psychological safety

Workplaces are making it top of the agenda to create a culture of respect, productivity, engagement and safety at work that goes beyond physical safety.

Conscious cultural change in the workplace and new legislative frameworks are turning the dial in workplace culture, calling on organisations and leaders to take mental health just as seriously as physical health.

The spotlight on toxic workplace cultures and the raft of sexual harassment cases coming to light has prompted organisations across a wide range of industries to think differently and focus on psychosocial risk.

The shift is edging workplaces towards more diversity and inclusion, including more female participation up to the executive level, cross-cultural open-mindedness, and less siloed thinking where collaboration is key.

The conversation towards workplace mental health was brimming long before the pandemic came along. But the issue came to light and swayed the curve in workplace culture when it was no longer a topic up for discussion. Businesses across a raft of industries across the globe were in many ways forced to shift to a new way of thinking, challenging us to work differently.

Melanie Thorpe, executive coach at LHH

Melanie Thorpe, executive coach at LHH, said the cultural shift we’re witnessing across workplaces is a wider social movement. “It’s not just happening within business; it’s also happening socially. We’ve seen it over the last five to ten years and the pandemic really polarised a lot of ideologies and social views – the way that we live, the way that we are,” she explained.

Mental health, wellbeing, and toxic workplace cultures have come to the spotlight over the past two or three years, catalysing cultural change and disruption not only in the mining industry but in all sectors – even as close as our own homes and personal lives.

We’ve internalised our identity and the thing that often gave us stability – the workplace – now we’re going to disrupt that. You can’t get away from that level of disruption, you have to embrace it,” she said.

Dale Henderson, managing director of Pilbara Minerals

Dale Henderson, managing director of lithium miner Pilbara Minerals, said the workplace shift over the past two to three years towards “conscious culture design” – a culture built on purpose fostering an environment of inclusion and respect – has been “long overdue”.

“Thank goodness the awareness is here and it’s getting the limelight and attention it deserves. It’s time,” Mr Henderson said.

Cultures of diversity 

There is a real need for companies to be proactive in educating their employees on what behaviours are and aren’t acceptable in the workplace, Clarity Communications managing director Anthony Hasluck explained.

Anthony Hasluck, managing director of Clarity Communications

“We hear of many cases where individuals or groups of people within organisations just don’t seem to realise that some of their behaviours aren’t acceptable in the modern workplace,” he said.

As well as the importance of ensuring the psychosocial welfare of employees, forwardthinking organisations understand their success in recruitment and retention stands on their reputation in this area.

“With the many pressures on employees in Western Australia during this busy economic period, companies know that their approach to psychosocial safety is a business-critical activity that has a tangible value when done properly and a cost when it’s not,” Mr Hasluck said.

“Particularly since COVID, individuals are now far more aware of the importance of their own psychosocial state and of those around them and are far less willing to accept compromises in this area of work–life.”

In a Clarity / CoreData survey of 548 people working in or looking for work in mining, the results indicated the WA mining sector has a considerable way to go to make workers feel comfortable and cared for, with less than half of mining employees saying their employer provided a workplace they felt safe in, highlighting bullying and harassment.

Mr Hasluck said behavioural change that ensures people understand what is and isn’t acceptable must be accompanied with robust leadership that sets examples and calls out problems. “People need to appreciate how behaviours affect others and be shown the importance of standing up and calling out those who are out of line,” he said.

Noelene Murray, chief executive officer of Perdaman Global Services

“In more diverse workforces the language of Australian mateship can turn quickly from being inclusive to exclusive. A new common language and tone must emerge to bring people together.” Noelene Murray, chief executive officer of Perdaman Global Services, said diversity is a strong point for the international recruitment and migration services agency. “Our diversity in our staff is huge,” she said.

“There are less Australians, and we have more women than men in our total workforce at the moment, so it’s great. Having diversity with so many different cultures also has its challenges, but has its benefits as well,” she said.

“As long as your values and foundations are right and true to the business, that they’re not just words and that the behaviours support the values, is so important.

“It has to be translated continually because of new staff coming in. Sometimes they come from a very different backgrounds and it takes time for them to transition into the workforce.”

There is a focus on more female participation in the workforce at most organisations, particularly in the mining industry. At Perenti Group, gender diversity is a shift that Perenti Contract Mining vice president of human resources Julia Davidson believes is a priority. 

She believes employing more women on leadership teams is “good for people and good for business”,  however it needs to flow beyond leadership and into frontline which can be difficult when it comes to attracting women to work in underground mining.

“Changing the culture and creating a diverse workforce where psychological safety is a priority is important to attract a younger demographic who want to be part of a progressive culture,” she said.

“The only way we see that happening is cultural transformation and focusing on the role of the leader, and part of their role is creating an environment of psychological safety. The only way that we can support a psychologically safe environment is to have more diversity.”

Top-down change

Reg Stene, BHP’s head of human resources for WA iron ore, reiterated that having an openminded understanding of cross-cultural diversity is imperative in a global organisation that employs people from all parts of the world, but added that creating cultural change is a step-by-step
process that unfolds gradually from the top down.

Reg Stene, BHP’s head of human resources for WA iron ore

“We can see across our workforce, areas where there is high engagement and inclusion, there is lower turnover. We can absolutely see the benefits of inclusive leadership and how this translates into safer and more productive workplaces,” she said.

“Embracing difference, so seeking to understand to put yourself in someone else’s shoes starts to change the way leaders lead. By adapting policies and systems to remove barriers and enable diversity, coupled with building programs to raise awareness, assists in changing mindsets. “

Andrea Chapman, executive general manager of people for Mineral Resources said, “I think it demonstrates great humility when you can go directly to your workforce and say, I don’t have all the answers and I want you to provide the answers – whether it’s doing focus groups, actively engaging with people or allowing them to set up their groups so there is a feedback mechanism. But subsequent to that you have to demonstrate that you’ve listened with the actions that you do.”

Matt Reed, president at Alcoa, said that as the needle shifts there is still a lot that is undefined as companies and leaders continue to learn and grow through the change. “The exciting part is the learning journey and the culture of learning which is what organisations are aspiring to,” Mr Reed said.

“This becomes about much more than respectful behaviours but an opportunity to demonstrate an organisation’s desire to learn and practice those skills across a range of other business outcomes.”