Silence Isn’t Always the Answer: Why Employees Hesitate to Speak Up at Work
By Anuva Arrya Sharma
Have you presented a new idea or strategy at work, expecting a lot of questions or follow-up discussion, but instead were meant with complete silence. It’s not that your employees don’t have anything to say, they just likely just don’t feel safe to do.
You might be thinking, “I care about your employee’s wellbeing, our organization provides them with opportunities for growth and improvement, and the company culture is overall positive. So, why aren’t our employees speaking up?”
Research shows that an individual's beliefs, whether conscious or implicit, play a role in your employees’ likelihood of speaking out at work. For instance, a study conducted by Western University’s Ivey School of Business found that many women of colour face unique forms of marginalization that broad, one‑size‑fits‑all EDI efforts often overlook (Bhattacharyya & Berdahl, 2023).
Psychology safety research by Simpson et al (2019) note that ambiguity, asymmetrical power dynamics, and social threat are the three main drivers to employee silence at work. Let’s dive in to what this actually means.
Four employees displaying signs of stress; hands on their faces.
Psychological Safety:
Ambiguity: the idea that an individual isn’t sure whether or a perceived problem is actually a problem and doesn’t bring it up as a result of this belief.
Asymmetrical Power Dynamics: an individual won’t speak out of fear that they will be labelled as a troublemaker and they don’t know how their feedback will be received.
Social Threat: an individual feels that speaking out will put their personal safety and engagement with other people at risk.Trust is more than just a “nice-to-have” at work; it’s a must. Not only for employee well-being, but for organizational growth and productivity.
As a leader, it’s important for you to take responsibility for cultivating a space that feels safe and encouraging, and that your employees know their opinions at work will be valued and heard.
Advice on how to “act” in the workplace is greatly varied. Some of your employees may be coming from working in environments that weren’t as welcoming and they continue to maintain these beliefs. Others may be disproportionately affected by workplace discrimination because of different aspects of their identity, which can further erode one’s sense of safety at work.
Trust: The Key to Breaking Employee Silence
Many leaders assume performance issues are about talent, effort, or skills, but research shows that when trust is low, team performance can drop by as much as 76%. Low trust creates an environment where employees hold back ideas, stay silent about potential problems, and do only enough to meet expectations. In other words, silence becomes the default.
When trust is strong, employees feel safe speaking up. They share ideas openly, raise issues early, deliver work on time, and fully commit because they care about the outcome and not just completing a task of their to-do list.
If your team isn’t currently demonstrating these behaviors, it doesn’t mean trust is gone forever. Rebuilding trust starts with leaders reflecting on their own actions and asking yourself;
What can I do differently?
Leaders can make real progress by creating the conditions for open, honest conversations in psychologically safe environments that actively recognize structural barriers to inclusion and visibility. Strong performance doesn’t happen without trust. If employees don’t feel safe speaking up, sharing ideas, or challenging the status quo, engagement and innovation suffer. Creating space for open dialogue isn’t optional, it is essential for teams to thrive and grow. The good news is that you can rebuild trust!
This is exactly what we seek to do at Empowered EDI. We work with organizations to carve unique solutions to the challenges that your team is facing and provide a safe space for employees to share their concerns.
If you’re ready to start this conversation within your organization, our keynote sessions are designed to help leaders build trust, strengthen communication, and create psychologically safe environments where employees feel heard. Book our Keynote Today: Trust Debt: The Everyday Moments That Build or Break Culture,
Not sure where your organization currently stands? Start with our free Trust Audit to assess your workplace culture and identify clear next steps toward building a more open and inclusive environment.
Follow Empowered EDI for more insights on fostering trust, strengthening team performance, and creating workplaces where people feel confident to speak up! So the next time you have a team meeting, you won’t be met with silence, but instead a flow of insights, questions, and suggestions that help your team and your organization thrive!
Anuva Arrya Sharma
Operations Consultant
👉 Contact us at livempowered.ca
Sources
Bhattacharyya, B., & Berdahl, J. L. (2023, March 7). Do you see me? Study examines how women of colour experience invisibility in the workplace. Ivey Business School, Western University.https://www.ivey.uwo.ca/news/knowledge/2023/3/do-you-see-me-study-examines-how-women-of-colour-experience-invisibility-in-the-workplace/
Empowered EDI. (2026). The Trust Tank [Video]. Empowered EDI.
Simpson, M., Ray, J., Grant, H., Smith, K., Rock, D., & Weiss, M. (2019). The science of speaking up. NeuroLeadership Institute.https://hub.neuroleadership.com/hubfs/Corporate%20Membership%20Content/NLI_JRL_The%20Science%20of%20Speaking%20Up.pdf