12 great ideas to create a psychologically safe workplace

Action these ideas now to help create a psychologically safe and inclusive workplace.
  1. Check your language. If it’s not appropriate, you can easily change it.
  2. Start events with an Acknowledgement of Country or Welcome to Country.
  3. Say hello. Saying hello and goodbye to colleagues is an easy way to build rapport.
  4. Get to know your staff/colleagues. Take time to understand their lives and responsibilities outside work (e.g. caring roles, cultural and community responsibilities, matters of access) from those willing to share. Share your experiences and story too.
  5. Brand intranet pages and email signatures to recognise particular events. For example, turn orange for R U OK? Day and add rainbows during PrideFEST.
  6. Rename/co-name meeting and break rooms to reflect local communities or under-represented groups.
  7. Set up an opt-in to email signatures to include people’s pronouns (e.g. he/she/them; his/her/their).
  8. Adopt flexible work practices (including working remotely), with senior leaders role modelling these practices.
  9. With input from staff, publish and action a calendar that celebrates and  acknowledges diversity and multicultural events (e.g. National Reconciliation Week, NAIDOC Week, PrideFEST, Harmony Day, national days of other countries).
  10. Hold fundraising activities such as casual or themed dress days to support diversity-focused charities and organisations. Ask staff for suggestions of organisations that are meaningful to them.
  11. Promote events/fundraisers and publish stories on your communications channels. Link these to the event nominator and the reason for the nomination.
  12. Change the membership of your committees, boards and working groups so they represent the diversity of your agency or community.
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