Workplace culture is a major factor in how effective and happy staff are at work. A SHRM study found that 83 percent of employees who described their workplace culture as “good” or “excellent” were motivated to do high-quality work, while only 45 percent felt the same level of motivation when the culture was rated as “poor” or “terrible.” So how does an organization cultivate a “good” or “excellent” workplace culture?
Building Psychological Safety with Trauma-Informed Equity Principles
Put simply, workplace culture is what people experience every day at work. It’s shaped by the policies we create, the practices we follow, and how we treat one another. When culture is unhealthy, it drains energy, trust, and performance. Conversely, when it’s healthy, it strengthens them.
At the heart of workplace culture is psychological safety: the belief that it is safe to speak up, ask questions, and admit mistakes without fear of judgment or punishment. Psychological safety grows when leaders communicate clearly, listen actively, and empower others. Leaders who cultivate psychological safety and model open communication help their teams build and sustain trust.
To help organizations cultivate healthier workplace cultures, CSW developed the Trauma-Informed Equity (TIE) Principles. This framework is grounded in trauma-informed and equity methodologies as these are both core components of psychologically safe and mentally healthy cultures. The TIE Principles framework is derived from combining the federal Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA) trauma-informed approach with the University of Michigan’s Equity Principles. The six TIE Principles are mutually reinforcing, meaning each strengthens the others. Safety builds trust; trust enables empowerment; empowerment fosters belonging, and so on. The TIE Principles help organizations build awareness and engage in action by providing a shared framework for identifying what supports or undermines trust, safety, and equity at work.
An important component of this exercise is to intentionally acknowledge and celebrate an organization’s current applications of the TIE principles. The process of working through the TIE principles is not just to identify opportunities for change, but to also recognize where you’re already doing great work.
How to Apply the Trauma-Informed Equity Principles in Your Organization
Safety, Acknowledgment, Respect, and Structured Interaction
Staff feel physically, psychologically, and emotionally safe at work; respected and valued for their contributions. Organizations can practice this by:
- Structuring meetings and workflows so that all staff have an equitable opportunity to participate
- Maintaining welcoming spaces which allow for staff to share personal information, if wanted
Trust and Transparency
Clear communication keeps staff informed about the organization and decisions that might affect them. Organizations can practice this by:
- Providing regular updates across multiple communications channels to ensure staff are fully informed of new information
- Providing clear, detailed explanations of the logic behind key decisions to reduce uncertainty and build confidence in leadership
Empowerment, Voice, Choice, and Flexibility
Staff have meaningful opportunities to share ideas and influence decisions that affect their work and experience. Organizations can practice this by:
- Providing flexible scheduling and minimize managerial involvement where possible
- Giving staff opportunities for shared decision-making
- Creating feedback loops to allow staff a hand in their own professional goals and growth
Peer Support and Belonging
Leaders and colleagues create opportunities for genuine connection and relationship building among staff. Organizations can practice this by:
- Including well-being check-ins to team meetings to encourage connection and group support
- Organizing informal staff gatherings to celebrate successes and work through challenges together
Collaboration and Mutuality
Staff and leaders work with and respect each other as mutual team members; all are valued. Organizations can practice this by:
- Shifting from a top-down mindset to a partnership approach; instead of saying “I’ll sort this out,” or “I give you permission,” leaders collaborate with staff to say, “Let’s work out a solution together,”
- Co-creating project plans and professional development goals across the team so that everyone’s voice helps shape the outcomes
Cultural Humility and Critically Engaging Difference
The workplace as a whole cultivates respect for and values diverse experiences and backgrounds. Organizations can practice this by:
- Celebrating a variety of cultural holidays and provide flexible, paid holiday time for staff to use
- Producing materials in multiple languages
- Learning about the social and economic factors that shape employees’ and participants’ lives
In practice, teams can use the TIE Principles to ground conversations about culture, set priorities, and design small, meaningful changes. These incremental steps build lasting trust and belonging, turning psychological safety from an abstract idea into something people experience every day.
The TIE Principles in Action at CSW
CSW aims always to apply the guidance we give to our clients within our own organization. To that end, we used the TIE principles to assess our own workplace culture. CSW engaged in a two-part discussion in two virtual all-staff meetings in the Summer of 2025. Each discussion gave staff an opportunity to examine three TIE Principles by asking two questions of each:
- How is CSW successfully following this principle now?
- What are additional ideas for how CSW can put this principle into action?
Importantly, staff were divided into three different virtually facilitated breakout groups comprised of executive leadership, directors, and staff to provide safe spaces to share potentially sensitive feedback. Following the discussions, the Trauma and Resilience at Work team combined the notes for each group into a detailed summary. CSW’s leadership then reviewed all feedback, identified themes, and prioritized suggestions the organization could implement. This process increased transparency, strengthened collaboration, and built shared ownership for creating a supportive work environment. Each TIE principle revealed both areas of strength and opportunities for meaningful change in how we work together at CSW.
Safety, Acknowledgment, Respect, and Structured Interaction:
- Wins we’re celebrating: Staff indicated that they feel psychologically safe to speak up, including in front of leadership, and to share feedback and trust that their input will be genuinely considered.
- Opportunities we’re pursuing: CSW is working with a human resources consulting firm to develop supports for staff to disclose hidden disabilities. Additionally, CSW is working to provide training and support for staff and supervisors on working and communicating in a virtual environment (CSW is 100% virtual).
Trust and Transparency
- Wins we’re celebrating: Employees described CSW as a place where leadership communicates openly and follows through on commitments. CSW provides transparency by sharing a detailed organizational financial update in every bi-weekly staff meeting. Staff value that the leadership team is clear about how organizational decisions, such as employee policy changes, are made.
- Opportunities we’re pursuing: CSW will launch a redesigned Performance and Learning Development (PLD) process to further strengthen the employee growth and learning aspects of the plan, explore additional feedback mechanisms between staff and supervisors, and continue to prioritize regular all-staff meetings that keep information transparent and accessible to everyone.
Empowerment, Voice, Choice, and Flexibility
- Wins we’re celebrating: Staff value CSW’s workday flexibility and the trust placed in them to manage their own work.
- Opportunities we’re pursuing: CSW will formalize discussions about workload and scheduling, revisit paid time off policies, and continue developing clear pathways for career growth and advancement.
Peer Support and Belonging
- Wins we’re celebrating: Staff described CSW as a close-knit, supportive community where people feel cared for and connected. They highlighted several existing initiatives that support this principle, including our Employee Engagement Committee, which connects staff across teams in personal, non-work-focused ways. CSW’s Culture Buddy system pairs new employees with a peer who serves as an informal guide during their first few months of onboarding. Newly hired staff have expressed appreciation for CSW’s organized orientation process to help new staff build relationships and feel welcomed from their first day on the job.
- Opportunities we’re pursuing: CSW will continue to invest in staff engagement activities, mid-year PLD check-ins (versus only annually), and build new opportunities for staff to connect across teams.
Collaboration and Mutuality
- Wins we’re celebrating: Staff feel CSW is a highly collaborative organization, with many employees working across teams and learning from one another.
- Opportunities we’re pursuing: CSW will provide training on virtual collaboration tools, intentionally dedicating more time in all-staff meetings for sharing information on current projects and lessons from completed projects, and create space for discussing how teams can center participant and community voices in their work.
Cultural Humility and Critically Engaging Difference
- Wins we’re celebrating: CSW’s employees expressed pride in working for an organization that values diversity, equity, and inclusion, especially as these values are under threat. CSW has a policy of flexible holidays, allowing staff to celebrate holidays they participate in rather than specific, pre-set holiday dates.
- Opportunities we’re pursuing: Leadership will engage CSW’s internal newsletter, our Racial Equity and Inclusion team, and our Employee Engagement team for additional efforts to reinforce CSW’s goal of fostering a workplace where everyone feels engaged, seen, respected, and valued.
CSW is genuinely committed to building a healthy workplace culture. In addition to the TIE Principles discussion, we use several tools for this purpose including, but not limited to, annual Performance and Learning Development Plans that focus deeply on professional growth; a Gallup survey on employee engagement; and annual “stay” interviews with each employee to understand what motivates them to stay at CSW and how we can improve their employee experience. The Trauma-Informed Equity Principles framework is another excellent tool for improving workplace culture and job quality.
TIE principles provide a clear, shared language for creating healthier, more inclusive spaces at work. Every small step toward trust, empowerment, and belonging strengthens your workplace culture. If you want support or resources to get started, connect with CSW’s Trauma and Resilience Team to learn more. If every organization applied just one TIE principle this month, workplaces everywhere would feel a little safer, more connected, and more human.
Additional Resources
Meet the Author
Aaron Cadayong
Aaron is an intern with CSW’s Trauma and Resilience at Work team, working to advance workplaces and workforces that are culturally responsive, trauma-informed, resilience-building, and supportive of mental well-being.
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