The Workplace as a Sanctuary in an Age of Crisis
6 min read
Recent years have shown us something important: people cannot leave the world behind when they come to work. War, displacement, climate anxiety, financial stress, and social trauma all find their way into meetings, emails, and daily conversations. The question for HR is no longer whether to respond, but how. Resilient organizations are starting to design the workplace not only as a site of production but also as a kind of sanctuary, a safe place where people can perform well and also exist with dignity in difficult times.
The World Health Organization (WHO) defines mental health at work not as an optional extra but as a strategic responsibility¹. Its recommendations on job design, manager training, and flexible adaptation policies are not just good intentions, they are grounded in science.
At the team level, the first condition of sanctuary is psychological safety. Defined by Harvard Business School’s Amy Edmondson, it describes an environment where people can share ideas openly, see mistakes as part of learning, and ask for help without fear². Research shows that psychological safety is not only about morale, it is also a foundation for learning, innovation, and quality improvement.
The American Psychological Association’s 2024 Work in America Survey, based on more than 2,000 employees, highlights critical findings. Among employees reporting high psychological safety, 87 percent are satisfied with relationships at work, compared with only 34 percent among those with low psychological safety³. Only 11 percent of employees in high-safety workplaces describe their environment as “toxic,” while 89 percent of employees in low-safety workplaces do.
Crises are not abstract, they are part of employees’ lives. The International Labour Organization (ILO) emphasizes that crisis-sensitive employment practices strengthen resilience for both organizations and communities⁴.
Mental Health America’s 2024 study, based on 3,915 employees, provides striking results. Seventy-five percent say workplace stress affects their sleep. This rises to 90 percent in unhealthy workplaces, but falls to 44 percent in healthier ones⁵.
Generational differences are also clear. Seventy percent of Gen Z employees report unhealthy workplace wellbeing scores, compared with 45 percent of Gen X. Sixty-three percent of Gen Z say they do not feel safe expressing their opinions⁵.
Global political tensions, wars, and social divisions also increase the experience of feeling excluded. McKinsey’s 2023 research shows that 43 percent of employees feel left out at work because of differing views⁶. This exclusion may be tied to ethnicity, religion, politics, sexual orientation, or lifestyle, but it also arises from differences in thinking styles, values, and approaches.
Climate anxiety is shaping career choices too. According to the Yale Program on Climate Change Communication, 76 percent of Americans aged 18–34 worry about climate change, and this concern affects their job decisions⁷.
A sanctuary can be thought of in four layers: policy, leadership, community, and support systems.
Policy: Building a Protective Framework
Solve structural problems such as workload and unclear roles
Provide emergency leave, flexible work, and financial aid mechanisms during crises
Ensure inclusive policies, equal opportunity programs, and diversity training for employees who feel marginalized
Leadership: Managers as Carriers of Culture
Train managers to recognize struggling employees, support them, and guide them to the right resources
Reward leadership behaviors that encourage questions, learning, and experimentation
Community: Creating a Sense of Belonging
Establish voluntary support groups for employees who feel marginalized, hold different views, or face special challenges
Offer opportunities such as volunteer days, donation matching, or engagement in community projects
Support: Making Help Visible and Accessible
Strengthen psychological counseling, financial support, and confidential reporting channels
Expand return-to-work programs for mental health as well as physical health
A healthy workplace is not only an ethical responsibility, it is also a performance driver. OECD findings show that wellbeing initiatives increase participation and productivity⁸. Deloitte’s 2025 Global Human Capital Trends report also shows that the most successful companies in times of uncertainty are those that create stability by placing human performance at the center⁹.
Mental Health America’s findings show that only 47 percent of employers promote transparent communication, and just 45 percent invest in developing fair and supportive managers⁵. The least common benefits include transparent pay policies (17 percent), people management training (20 percent), and mentorship programs (16 percent).
Ignoring these needs has a cost: absenteeism, lost productivity, and quiet quitting. Gallup’s 2023 State of the Global Workplace report estimates that low engagement costs the global economy 8.8 trillion dollars annually¹⁰.
● Conduct a quick review of workload and role clarity, and fix the top two or three stressors
● Provide short, scenario-based training for managers on psychological safety and supportive communication
● Launch a small pilot program for inclusive hiring and promotion practices
● Establish support groups in two areas of greatest need, for example caregiving burden or climate anxiety
● Publish a simple, clear one-page guide on how employees can access support during crises
A workplace sanctuary is not an escape from performance. It is the framework that enables people to bring out their capacity in a world full of crises. When HR adopts this perspective, it protects human values, builds trust, and creates organizations with strong adaptive capacity.
Research shows that teams with high psychological safety generate 67 percent more innovative solutions and have 27 percent lower turnover¹¹. These findings confirm that building sanctuary is not only a moral duty, it is also a strategic investment for organizations.
In short: when the world outside is stormy, the workplace does not need to be an escape. It can be a sanctuary, a safe place where people can breathe and continue forward.
¹ World Health Organization (WHO). (2024). Mental Health at Work: Fact Sheet and Guidelines. https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/mental-health-at-work
² Edmondson, A. (2019). The Fearless Organization: Creating Psychological Safety in the Workplace for Learning, Innovation, and Growth. Wiley.
³ American Psychological Association. (2024). 2024 Work in America Survey: Psychological Safety in the Changing Workplace. https://www.apa.org/pubs/reports/work-in-america/2024/psychological-safety
⁴ International Labour Organization (ILO). (2024). Crisis Situations and Response; Crisis and Resilience. https://www.ilo.org/global/topics/crisis/lang--en/index.htm
⁵ Mental Health America. (2024). Mind the Workplace 2024 Report. https://mhanational.org/2024-workplace-wellness-research
⁶ McKinsey & Company. (2023). Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in the Workplace. https://www.mckinsey.com/featured-insights/diversity-and-inclusion
⁷ Yale Program on Climate Change Communication. (2023). Climate Change in the American Mind. https://climatecommunication.yale.edu/publications/climate-change-in-the-american-mind-april-2023/
⁸ OECD. (2024). Promoting Health and Well-being at Work. https://www.oecd.org/health/health-data.htm
⁹ Deloitte. (2025). Global Human Capital Trends. https://www2.deloitte.com/global/en/insights/focus/human-capital-trends.html
¹⁰ Gallup. (2023). State of the Global Workplace. https://www.gallup.com/workplace/349484/state-of-the-global-workplace.aspx
¹¹ Google. (2016). Project Aristotle: What makes a team.
