Scorecard for psychological health and safety

Easy to use scorecards are available for organizations or leaders to measure and track trends in psychological health and safety. Use the samples provided or follow the guidelines to create your own.

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A Psychological health and safety (PHS) scorecard can help employers and leaders measure if what they’re doing to protect employees’ mental well-being is improving the employee experience and the bottom line. While comprehensive measures of psychological health and safety are available in the form of employee surveys, they aren’t always practical or easy to administer. The scorecard is intended to be a high-level way to monitor trends but may highlight the need for a more comprehensive approach.

You can use our leader scorecard | PDF or organizational scorecard | PDF  below or you can develop your own. We recommend the leader scorecard for anyone with a team of fewer than 10 people, including small business owners.

Leader scorecard for PHS

This version is useful for anyone who is a small business owner, or for individual leaders in larger organizations. It will help you track the following:

  • Well-being awareness  
    • Measure: Team member awareness. Percentage of team members who anonymously agree or strongly agree with the following: "My leader cares about my well-being at work."
    • Why: You will not be able to prevent employees or their loved ones from struggling with life stressors or health issues. If you can help them access effective supports more efficiently you can help them resolve them more easily and improve their ability to focus when at work. Doing this can also help you open a dialogue about coping with stress and managing well-being at work. 
    • Suggested actions with resources: 
  • Engagement
    • Measurement:
      • Turnover: The number of team members who left your team in the year divided by the total numbers of members that were employed during that time.        
      • Absenteeism: The number of days absent divided by the number of available days for each employee.          
    • Why: Retention of team members is much more cost and time effective than constant turnover. Absenteeism is inevitable but high rates may indicate something more. It could indicate that stress levels, team culture, boredom or unresolved issues mean employees find the work environment one that they would rather avoid.
    • Suggested actions with resources:            
  • Team dynamics
    • Measurement: Psychologically safe team assessment results. Review report and choose targeted action to address the most relevant issues.
    • Why: Feeling that you are part of a community at work builds commitment and engagement. Inclusion is often experienced at the team level. Building resilient teams contributes to overall organizational and employee success.
    • Suggested actions with resources: 
      • Facilitate the development of team resilience. Resilience for teams offers assessments, strategies, and workshop materials that will help you do this.
      • Assess and support inclusion for all team members. Inclusion strategies for leaders includes questions to ask yourself, “Am I an inclusive leader?” as well as strategies that you can implement immediately.
      • Assess and support team cohesion and positive team dynamics. Psychologically safe team assessment can be used to help assess and address team cohesion and team dynamics. It generates a report that includes resources and strategies to help you take targeted action.
  • Employee success
    • Measurement: Team member awareness. Percentage of team members who anonymously agree or strongly agree with the following: "My leader supports my success at work."
    • Why: Rather than struggling with performance and productivity in silence, an employee who knows they can ask their leader for support or accommodation is more likely to continue to do their job successfully. This can also reduce any stigma or shame related to asking for help, including when experiencing a mental health condition or disability.
    • Suggested actions with resources: 
      • Ensure team member awareness of accommodation processes. A tool to support employee success can be used to help support success at work, even for employees who may be experiencing life or health stressors.
      • Ensure employee issues and concerns are resolved effectively. Employee concerns offers many strategies to help in a way that is less likely to harm psychological health and safety at work. The concerns include workload stress, caregiver responsibilities, being a newcomer to the country, dealing with grief, and much more.
      • Help every team member to optimize their performance and success at work. Performance management gives many strategies and tips to help. It can be confidentially used by an individual or assigned to all leaders by an organization. 

[Insert Resource Card for PDF]

Organizational scorecard for PHS

This version is useful for those who have decision-making responsibility and authority for a medium or large organization. It’ll help you track the following:

  • Leader impact
    • Measure: Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment results. Review reports and choose targeted actions for individual leaders as well as organizational actions for all leaders.
    • Why: Assessing and supporting the ability of those who manage, support or lead employees to provide a psychologically healthy and safe work environment is one of the best investments an organization can make. Rather than waiting for a complaint, provide the resources, skills and tools that your leaders need to succeed.  
    • Suggested actions with resources: 
  • Engagement
    • Measurement:
      • Turnover: The number of team members who left your team in the year divided by the total numbers of members that were employed during that time.      
      • Absenteeism: The number of days absent divided by the number of available days for each employee, and add the percentage of each employee, and divide by the total number of employees.
    • Why: Retention of talent is much more cost effective than constant turnover. Absenteeism is inevitable but high rates may indicate something more. It could indicate that work stress, organizational culture, or unresolved issues mean employees find the work environment one that they would rather avoid.      
    • Suggested actions with resources:                   
  • Organizational culture
    • Measurement: Guarding Minds at Work employee survey results. Review report and choose targeted action to address the most relevant issues identified.
    • Why: The only effective way of assessing psychological health and safety or organizational culture is to ask your employees. In a culture of fear, employees may not complain or express concerns directly. An anonymous survey can improve the chance that you’ll learn their true perspective. The impact on their focus, energy, and commitment has far-reaching implications for your organizational reputation and success.
    • Suggested actions with resources: 
  • Performance
    • Measurement: Key performance indicators (KPI). Ensure KPIs for the organization, leaders and individual employees are clear, relevant, regularly measured and evaluated.
    • Why: Clear expectations and valid measurements of success help the organization, its leaders and its employees to strive for quality performance. When this is done in a supportive and unambiguous manner, it also supports psychological health and safety.
    • Suggested actions with resources: 
      • Ensure that your approach to performance management is both effective and psychologically safe. Performance management provides many tips and strategies for leaders to do so in a psychologically safe way.
      • Take a systematic approach to continual improvement that protects psychological health and safety. Psychological health and safety change process provides a framework to create organizational change in psychological health and safety at work.
      • Support the continual improvement of emotional intelligence to improve collaboration and decision-making. Emotional intelligence in organizations provides many strategies, tools and tips to improve the emotional intelligence of all employees and leaders.

[Insert Resource Card for PDF]

Support accountability and continual improvement

Once you have your scorecard, review regularly to consider whether the:

  • Process includes an accountability loop so that results are monitored 
  • Targets are realistic
  • Targets support and align with organizational goals and objectives
  • Measurements are accessible and accurate
  • Data collected is helpful in understanding where targeted action will have the most impact
  • Actions taken are effective in improving psychological health and safety

 If not, make adjustments until you have the right mix of measurements.

The scorecards we shared have links to resources that can support potential actions you can take. You can find many more in Evidence-based actions for psychological heath and safety. And if you’re developing your own scorecard, you can include strategies you know will be effective in supporting psychological health and safety in your organization.

Develop your own PHS scorecard

A well-designed PHS scorecard begins with clarity and intention. It should:

  • Be logical and simple to use – it doesn’t have to be complicated
  • Measure what affects psychological health and safety for your employees
  • Include both self-reports from leaders and employees and objective data measurement to help avoid bias

Suggestions for ease of use:

  • Start with a simple scorecard.
    • Measure just a few objectives and build or modify as you learn what matters most for psychological health and safety in your organization. 
    • See some sample objectives with measurement ideas below.
    • Some measurements may just be data taken from your human resources records, like turnover or harassment complaints. 
  • Measure once or twice a year. 
  • Provide comments at least annually on what is needed and actions to be taken for continual improvement.
    • The intention is to use the scorecard to motivate action and assess whether the action had the intended outcome. 
    • Help leadership understand why they should invest in psychological health and safety by presenting a summary of the benefits you have tracked by taking action.
  • Recommend actions that are relevant, cost-effective and practical in your setting.
    • Identify targeted actions, especially when time and budget are limited
    • Actions could include leader-facilitated discussions, formal training, assessments, one-on-ones, employee surveys, data collection, guest speakers, seminars, emails or awareness campaigns. Evidence-based actions for psychological health and safety provide ideas relevant to each of the psychosocial factors.

Choose which metrics to track

Below are some sample objectives followed by a potentially simple method of measurement. It includes a brief note on why this matters and actions that could be taken if it is identified as an area for improvement.

Some would make sense for a leader scorecard and others as an organizational scorecard. Choose those that make the most sense for your purposes.

Qualitative metrics

  • Employees are informed and updated about mental health resources at work and in the community.  
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees who report their employer has shared useful mental health resource information in the last 12 months.
    • Why: When employees or their loved ones struggle with mental health, they are able to access effective supports more efficiently, reducing stress. This also opens a dialogue about mental well-being at work that will make reaching out for help more likely.
    • Actions: Asking human resources or other competent people to continually review and recommend resources that are accessible and effective. These can be online, providers near your employees or benefits available through the organization.
  • Strategies and resources to help reduce stress and prevent burnout at work are discussed with teams. 
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees who say their leader has taken action in the last 12 months to help them reduce stress and prevent burnout at work.
    • Why: Stress at work is inevitable. Helping employees to manage work stressors in ways that prevent burnout not only promotes psychological health and safety but also supports ongoing organizational success.
    • Actions: Can include looking at strategies known to help such as Employee stress prevention and Burnout response for leaders.
  • Every employee is aware of our accommodation policy for disabilities.
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees who took part in a discussion with their leader in the last 12 months to better understand the process for requesting an accommodation at work if they have a disability.
    • Why: Rather than struggling with performance or taking leave, an employee who understands what is available can ask for accommodation so that they can do their job successfully while experiencing a disability. This can also reduce any stigma or shame related to asking for help.
    • Actions: Take 5 minutes every year to highlight the intention and process involved of the accommodation policy and a link to the wording. It is a good idea to also include this for new employees as part of Psychologically safe orientation strategies.
  • Employees with an accommodation are assessed annually to ensure the accommodation continues to support work success. 
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees with accommodations in place who say their accommodation plan continues to be effective and has been reviewed in the last 12 months.
    • Why: Things change. Employees conditions can improve or decline. Work tasks, equipment, team members, or priorities can evolve. Reviewing and adjusting accommodations to ensure ongoing success on the job supports psychological health and safety of the employee and potentially those they work with and serve.
    • Actions: Set regular times to review accommodations as well as considering a review during times of change. Using a tool like Supporting employee success can be helpful.
  • Employees report a high comfort level talking to their leader about issues or concerns at work. 
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees who say they would feel comfortable talking to their leader about issues or concerns they had at work.
    • Why: When concerns, risks or issues are not addressed, there is potential for harm, loss of morale or productivity. When employees feel safe to speak up, risks can be assessed and mitigated.
    • Actions: Teach employees to speak up effectively and respectfully. Ensure that they are heard and understand the rationale behind the response taken, including when no action will be taken. Learn more about how to Elicit feedback.
  • Leaders are assessed on their ability to provide a psychologically safe and inclusive work environment.
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees who say they feel their work environment is psychologically safe and inclusive for all employees.
    • Why: Perception of safety affects employee attention, focus and morale. It can impact accident and injury rates as well as attendance. 
    • Actions: Tools like Psychologically safe leader assessment or Psychologically safe team assessment not only provide an assessment of opportunities for improvement, they provide targeted actions for each identified need. 
  • Leaders are assessed on their ability to support the growth and development of their employees.
    • Measurement: Percentage of employees who say that they feel their growth and development is supported at work.
    • Why: Growth and development do not have to include promotions or expensive training to be effective. Team discussions, opportunities to shadow leaders, participate in special projects or attend meetings or events can all provide opportunities for growth and development. 
    • Actions: Share Evidence-based actions for growth and development with leaders and discuss which ideas would work in your organization. You could also suggest that leaders facilitate Putting growth and development on the agenda to discuss this issue with their team.
  • The organization assesses the psychological safety of leaders to speak up about concerns.
    • Measurement: Percentage of leaders who say they would speak up to their superior about any concerns or challenges they face at work. 
    • Why: Leaders want to demonstrate competence in their roles, but when they struggle with the demands placed on them, they are more likely to risk their own psychological health and safety and that of their direct reports. Making it safe for leaders to speak up allows issues to be identified and resolved earlier. This can also help prevent leader burnout.
    • Actions: Create a formal or informal system for mentoring and supporting leader success. 

Quantitative metrics

You may also want to include objective data known to reflect, at least in part, the level of psychological health and safety at work. In all cases, this data will need to be analyzed for cause and effect and could include:

  • Turnover rates – voluntary and involuntary. Ensure you know why people leave your organization or change jobs within your organization.
  • Employee complaints including grievances or incidents related to discrimination or harassment. Know what conditions impacted these complaints including leadership, policies, processes or team dynamics.
  • Absenteeism rates including whether there are trends related to specific times of year, teams, roles or leadership.
  • Percentage of staff who took their allocated vacation days. This can help you spot potential workload, work-life balance or job insecurity issues. Workers who have balance are more productive and generally more committed to their organization.

Reflection questions

You can also include reflective questions in the scorecard to facilitate a performance review discussion. Questions could include:

  • What was the biggest challenge in providing a psychologically healthy and safe work environment?
  • What actions have been taken to support and protect psychological health and safety at work? How was the effectiveness of these actions measured?
  • What actions will be implemented in the future to improve psychological health and safety? How will success of these actions be measured?

For more comprehensive assessments of psychological health and safety, you can also take advantage of tools like Guarding Minds at Work, Psychologically Safe Leader Assessment and Psychologically Safe Teams.

Contributors include:Canadian Positive Psychology AssociationCatherine GordonMary Ann Baynton
Published on Mar. 5, 2025.    Last reviewed on Jun. 19, 2025

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