Debunking myths about employee silence

if you’re like a lot of managers, you pride yourself on your open door and all the other ways you signal to employees that you welcome their input. And you probably believe that you’re actually hearing what’s on most people’s minds. Well, you’re not hearing as much as you think or as much as you need to.

surprisingly, the most common reason employees withhold input is a sense of futility rather than fear of retribution.

in part because employees do sometimes speak up, bosses are often unaware of their workers’ self-censorship. the combination of tight-lipped employees and oblivious bosses buries constructive criticism, not to mention the unvarnished truth. Most important, it prevents good ideas from bubbling up through the organization.

data from 439 Cornell national social survey respondents who work full time and aren’t self-employed allow us to debunk four common myths.

Myth 1:

Women and nonprofessional employees withhold more information than men and professional staffers because they are more concerned about consequences or more likely to see speaking up as futile. (there are no statistically significant differences between workers of different genders, education levels or income levels in the likelihood of holding back because of fear or assumptions of futility.)

Myth 2:

if my employees are talking openly to me, they’re not holding back. (fully 42 percentof respondents report periodically speaking up but also withholding information when they feel they have nothing to gain.)

Myth 3:

if employees aren’t speaking up, it’s because they don’t feel safe doing so. (More than 25 percent say they withhold feedback on routine problems and opportunities for improvement to avoid wasting their time, not because they fear consequences.)

Myth 4:

the only issues employees are scared to raise involve serious allegations about illegal or unethical activities. (About 20 percent say a fear of consequences has led them to withhold suggestions about ordinary problems and making improvements. such silence keeps managers from getting the information they need to prevent bigger problems down the road.)