By Chuck Doran
What keeps you up at night? When I ask organizational leaders this question, the answer is often what they don’t know. This includes instances of bullying or harassment within their workplace that could result in lawsuits or end up in the news.
It’s a concern that leaders might want to take seriously. Almost one-third of respondents in a 2024 national survey reported that they had been directly bullied at work, and almost half of respondents in another recent survey stated that they would not report harassment to their company unless their identity remained anonymous.
There are steep costs for organizations that fail to proactively address these issues. Beyond legal costs, one study showed that companies implicated in public harassment scandals (like those involving sexual harassment) lose market value. However, this loss can be largely mitigated if a company self-reports the misconduct.
Successful organizations build structures to surface these issues, especially the toughest ones, so they can proactively address them and cultivate a psychologically safe culture in their workplace.
Why Employees Keep Workplace Hardships To Themselves
In my work as an organizational ombuds, people cite various reasons why they distrust reporting workplace problems to their employer. Fear of retaliation is a major concern. Even when an organization implements whistleblower protections and anti-retaliation policies, many employees remain concerned that these policies will not protect them, and with good reason: Protections for those who report misconduct can fail, and whistleblowers may even be targeted for making reports.
Even in an organization with an open and healthy culture, employees often choose to keep quiet about their workplace concerns. They may fear gaining a reputation as a “complainer” or being defined by their status as the victim of misconduct. Or they may feel that the punishment for the wrongdoer’s actions is too severe. Sometimes, they want accountability and change, not retribution, so they avoid reporting the problem through formal channels and try to manage on their own.
Once an employee reports a serious issue like harassment or discrimination, they lose control of how the situation is handled. It often requires significant effort and follow-up, pulling their attention away from their work. And in the end, they may not have a say in the outcome and may disagree with it.
How Leaders Can Encourage Employees To Speak Up
Once leaders recognize the challenges employees face when they choose to report concerns and misconduct, they can intentionally create processes and build an organizational culture that makes it easier for employees to choose to speak up about workplace issues.
Start with your own mindset.
When an employee reports problems they are facing at work, they are going out of their way to provide you with valuable information. That doesn’t make it easy to hear, though. Good leaders treat both positive and negative feedback as useful information. To do this, try negotiating with yourself to view employees who speak up about their issues at work as an asset rather than a liability.
Build a strong feedback culture with psychological safety.
Psychological safety should include an assurance that you won’t be punished for bringing up new ideas, taking smart risks or speaking up. It’s a key ingredient for employees to feel comfortable giving upward feedback.
Psychologically safe teams create space for employees to report bad behavior that they see in the workplace, and they also perform better. To foster psychological safety, leaders should focus on building their curiosity and engaging in open dialogue with employees. Skills training in collaborative communication and negotiation is a great place to start.
Focus less on the person providing the information and more on the information itself.
When employees report misconduct, they fear that the focus will be on them and their credibility rather than the misconduct itself. This can cause some people to avoid speaking up to avoid being scrutinized.
Reports must be investigated for credibility, but the focus should be on the information provided and the situation itself, not the person reporting it. All allegations should be treated similarly by well-trained staff using consistent policies and procedures.
Offer confidential spaces for employees to raise concerns.
Sometimes, an employee keeps quiet about witnessing harassment or bullying because they are not sure how to talk about it, who to tell or whether the behaviors they saw actually crossed a line. They want someone to talk to, but doing so may trigger a formal investigation or corrective action.
Confidential resources, such as an organizational ombuds, give employees space to air what happened and clarify their concerns and goals, which allows them to move forward with confidence.
Show your appreciation and the impact of their feedback.
Employees want to know that their concerns are heard and appreciated, and they often don’t see how their feedback drives real change. Organizations demonstrate appreciation when they ask questions that help them understand employees’ experiences and address their concerns and suggestions. Show them that their feedback is valuable by following up and highlighting any ways their decision to speak up affected change in the organization.
Talk with an expert.
It’s not easy to build structures that encourage employees to speak up about harassment, discrimination, bullying, and other serious workplace issues. Don’t treat “soft” skills as soft, and recognize where you could benefit from expert advice, consulting and training.
You hire IT experts to build technology. Consider hiring communication and conflict resolution experts to build structures that garner important feedback and build trust, so employees will come to you when it matters most.
Leaders cannot control and prevent every challenge they face in the workplace. With the right investments, they can sleep easier knowing that they have provided employees with ways to speak up and turn challenges into opportunities that build a healthy workplace.
Chuck Doran is an experienced organizational ombuds, mediator, and dispute resolution trainer. Chuck is a Certified Organizational Ombuds Practitioner (CO-OP®) and a member of the International Ombuds Association who completed ombuds training with the IOA in 1995. Chuck has served as an organizational ombuds for companies, universities, and other organizations since 1997. A mediator since 1992, he is a member of the National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals and the CPR Dispute Resolution Panel of Distinguished Neutrals. Chuck is also a Distinguished Fellow with the International Academy of Mediators (IAM) and a past president of IAM’s Board of Governors. (cdoran@mwi.org)
This article was originally published by Forbes Business Council on October 20, 2025, and is reprinted here with permission.
