New survey on culture of silence: “Telling about what went wrong is the most generous thing you can do”
29 September 2026
When problems are not raised in a workplace, it is rarely due to the courage or will of individual coworkers. Three research reports from the Swedish Work Environment Authority show that organisation, leadership and standards are crucial for ensuring that silence is retained, which can have a negative impact on the working environment.
Together, the reports provide an image of what a culture of silence is, how it arises and how common it is in Swedish working life.
One of the reports is based on survey and register data from over 7,000 employees and is the first of its kind in Swedish working life. The occurence of a culture of silence varies between industries and groups. Younger people (16-29 years) silence significantly more than the oldest group (65 years and older).
Another report compares Sweden with 17 other European countries. Silence is generally less common here, but recurs in all country groups.
Interaction determines
The researchers suggest a systemic way to understand culture of silence: it is about the interaction between employees, managers and coworkers, and about the structures that govern communication, management and work allocation.
– We recognise this from the industry. When a near-accident is not reported, it is almost never because you don't care, but because you lack time, clear reporting channels and routines or believe that it will lead somewhere. Then we need to look at the organisation, not the individual," says Christel Benke, Process Manager for SSG’s Safety Committee.
Sharing is preventing
According to Christel Benke, the countermeasure to silence is to systematically share - within one’s own organisation, but also between companies and industries.
– No workplace is safe alone. What a company learns from a near-accident can be exactly what others need to hear before the accident happens. One of the most generous things you can do for the industry is to share what went wrong, not least the actions taken and the experiences gained," she says.
This is also the idea behind SSG’s committees and networks, where experts from the entire industry come together to transform experiences into common standards and ways of working.
– In the committees and networks, there are people whose employers compete in the market, but not with the working environment and safety as competitive means. There is permission to say “this didn't work with us”. More workplaces need to build this openness internally," says Christel Benke.
