Singaporeans feel the least psychologically safe in Southeast Asia

Over 4 in 10 (45%) of employees in SEA feel that psychological safety is poor or does not exist at all at their workplace.

Singapore employees feel least psychologically safe amongst workers in Southeast Asia, a joint survey by mental health organisation Calm Collective Asia and Southeast Asia consumer research firm Milieu Insight found.

The “Mental Health At The Workplace” study was conducted to understand the mental health needs of employees in Southeast Asia and bridge resource needs and availability in workplaces [1]. 

About 4 in 10 of the respondents said that they are not comfortable to share their mental health challenges with their managers. More than 6 in 10 Singapore employees share this sentiment  making them the least comfortable to share mental health challenges with their managers across the region. On the other hand, only 21% of Vietnamese employees  said that they are not comfortable doing so.

The lack of psychological safety that workplaces provide, if any, for their employees is one of the biggest barriers in normalising mental health conversations, with 45% of respondents stating that it is poorly implemented or non-existent in their workplace. The term ‘psychological safety’ is defined as a ‘shared belief that the team is safe for interpersonal risk taking [2], and psychologically safe workplaces provide a safe space for employees to openly share their concerns without fear of judgement. 

However, the reasons cited by employees  for feeling uncomfortable about sharing mental health challenges with their managers include a  ‘fear of being judged or discriminated’ (37%), ‘being perceived as ‘weak/unproductive/lazy’ (36%) and ‘concerns over confidentiality’ (30%). General societal attitudes towards the topic have also made people less willing to share their problems, with 38% saying that they ‘do not want to burden people with my problems’.

Within this climate where psychological safety is lacking, respondents also shared the following concerns:

Employees’ mental wellbeing is adversely impacted by workplace stressors.  Among respondents surveyed, 42% recently had anxiety symptoms due to work-related stress, 40% experienced burnout, 30% felt disengaged at work and 23% had depressive symptoms. 29% also felt high intent to leave their jobs.

Employees are not satisfied with current mental health resources provided by their employers. Less than 1 in 5 (18%) employees indicated ‘high’ or ‘very high’ satisfaction with their company’s mental wellness resources, and satisfaction levels are lowest in Malaysia (13%) and Indonesia (10%). 

Employees know what they want. The most preferred mental wellness resources amongst respondents were flexible working arrangements (53%) and paid time off (49%).  

“The study findings reveal the gaps we have to close to support mental health at work effectively. Psychological safety creates the conditions for employees to seek help from their managers, and use the resources available to them. By increasing their mental health literacy and practising compassion, managers can positively influence the well-being of their teams. Furthermore, companies need to recognise the business case for this: Psychological safety helps boost employee engagement, performance, and retention. It’s clear that healthy people equals healthy business,” adds Sabrina Ooi, CEO and Co-founder of Calm Collective Asia.

“The availability of workplace mental health resources that are accessible and actually useful to employees are crucial to allow employees to balance work responsibilities and personal well-being. The barrier preventing employees from seeking help is often due to the lack of safe spaces in the workplace, stemming from many causes including the lack of perceived care by the company for their employees’ well-being as reflected in our study. While mental health resources are important, they are part of a well-rounded solution needed to provide a healthy environment that employees can thrive in,’’ says Gerald Ang, CEO and Founder of Milieu Insight.

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For more resources on psychological safety, click here.

Bring Calm Collective to your workplace and strengthen psychological safety in your teams. Learn more about our workplace well-being programmes here.

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About Calm Collective Asia

Calm Collective Asia is a social enterprise with the mission to normalise mental health

conversations in Asia. As a workplace mental health consultancy, Calm Collective Asia works with corporate organisations through the co-creation of mental health talks, workshops, training, and peer support programmes.

In serving the broader community, Calm Collective creates mental health content, and hosts events including regular talks, Calm Circles peer support programme, and CalmCon mental health & well-being festival. Calm Collective was selected as the Youth Co:Lab champions for the Youth Action Challenge Season 2 supported by the National Youth Council (Singapore), CVC Capital, Citi Foundation, and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). For more information, visit: www.calmcollective.asia

About Milieu Insight

Milieu Insight is a consumer research and analytics company that connects businesses directly with their target audience for market research. The company collects consumer opinion data across a multitude of lifestyle topics and sectors through a proprietary mobile app known as Milieu Surveys. Milieu's customer platform, known as Canvas, offers businesses a wide range of tools for accessing, analysing, and visualising high-value and timely consumer opinion data to help power better decision-making and strategy. For more information about Milieu Insight visit: www.mili.eu

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[1] N=6,000 employees (N=1,000 each from Singapore, Malaysia, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam and The Philippines) were surveyed via Milieu Insight’s online proprietary panel in September 2022.

[2] Edmondson, A. 1999. “Psychological Safety and Learning Behavior in Work Teams.” Administrative Science Quarterly 44 (2): 350–83. https://doi.org/10.2307/2666999.