In today’s employment environment, silence isn’t golden, it’s a warning signal. When leaders go quiet in the face of obvious change or tension, and when employees fall silent in meetings or once-vibrant conversations, something dangerous is brewing beneath the surface. If left unchecked, this invisible crisis can erode trust, fuel disengagement, and drive your people to start going into self-preservation mode. High-performers who are suddenly disengaged is a leadership problem, not an employee problem.

The Financial Impact of Silence and Disengagement

According to Gallup (2025) U.S. employee engagement has sunk to a 10-year low, falling to only 31% of employees feeling engaged. Given that data, ignoring the warning signs of silence goes beyond creating cultural risk, it’s a costly business mistake. According to Gallup’s State of the Global Workplace Report, actively disengaged employees cost the world economy $9.6 trillion in lost productivity annually. In the U.S. alone, disengagement accounts for 18% lower productivity and 15% lower profitability across industries.

For every 100 disengaged employees, companies can expect 37% higher absenteeism, 18% lower productivity, and 15% lower profitability.(Source: Gallup, 2024)

Further, the American Psychological Association reports that workplace stress costs U.S. employers approximately $500 billion per year, factoring in healthcare costs, absenteeism, turnover, and lost productivity. High-stress environments also lead to increased health issues such as anxiety, depression, and burnout. All of which further impact performance and increase healthcare-related expenses.

Silence from Leadership

A Breeding Ground for Fear and Mistrust

Leadership silence during uncertain times or visible organizational changes is one of the fastest ways to damage psychological safety. Your employees are perceptive. When they sense tension but hear nothing from those at the top, they begin to fill the void with their own stories typically fueled by fear and worst-case scenarios. The warning signs your employees will notice are avoidance of direct conversations about visible changes, vague company updates, and lack of leadership presence in what may have been routine events. This is true for onsite and remote work.

This kind of communication vacuum leads directly to:

• Rampant Gossip: In the absence of facts, speculation takes over. Water cooler talk becomes toxic.
• Heightened Anxiety: Mental stress skyrockets as employees imagine layoffs and restructuring.
• Decreased Productivity: Mental distractions and emotional fatigue lead to reduced focus and output.

Silence from Employees

A Sign You’re Losing Them

While leadership silence breeds fear, employee silence signals something more critical, disengagement. When your once vocal, idea-sharing, collaborative employees go quiet, it’s because they’ve disengaged. They are fed up, loyalty has faded, and their trust in leadership is fractured or gone completely.

They’ve moved from hopeful and enthusiastic contributors to detached observers. It’s likely they are already planning their exit.

With employee engagement receding, the biggest category drop was in management, with young managers and female managers leading the drop. This signals an overall domino effect that needs to be reversed. There could be  many reasons for this beyond silence, but that is for another article. Overall, only 33% of employees feel like they are thriving in their lives.

Some of the warning signs you should be looking for:

• Sudden quietness in meetings or brainstorming sessions.
• Reduced participation in voluntary initiatives or committees.
• Short, surface-level responses to feedback or engagement surveys.
• An increase in “quiet quitting” or doing the bare minimum without any of the fire you previously saw.

Break the Silence

Solutions for Leaders

• Communicate Early and Often: Even if you don’t have all the answers, share what you do know. Transparency builds trust.
• Acknowledge the Obvious: Don’t pretend everything is fine when it clearly isn’t. Address the elephant in the room directly.
• Be Visible and Accessible: A consistent leadership presence creates calm and assurance.
• Rebuild Psychological Safety: Foster a culture where it’s safe to share feedback without fear of retaliation.
• Invite Honest Conversations: Hold skip-level meetings and anonymous feedback sessions. But don’t just listen, act on what you hear.
• Recognize and Reward Loyalty: Celebrate contributions, acknowledge hard work, and ensure employees feel valued.

A Fresh Perspective for Healing and Maintaining Mental Health

Bring in On-site Employee Wellness Support

Sometimes, the damage is too deep for internal teams to repair alone. This is where a third-party on-site coach can be a game changer. An external coach brings a neutral perspective and can be a safe space for active listening. Having a person dedicated to ensuring employee wellness, which includes cognitive health, and also a liaison to the HR team can go a long way. They can help rebuild trust between employees and leadership, and provides practical strategies for improving mental wellness and workplace communication.

The Benefits of an On-Site Coach

• Encourages or even helps facilitate difficult but necessary conversations.
• Provides confidential spaces for employees to express concerns.
• Coaches the leadership teams on creating psychologically safe environments.
• Offers mental health and stress management workshops to ease emotional burdens.

The Mental Cost of Silence

Mental stress at work isn’t a personal issue, it’s a business issue. Chronic anxiety and fear in the workplace have a direct impact on productivity, innovation, and retention. When employees are mentally drained, their cognitive abilities, creativity, and collaboration skills decline. And when your best people no longer feel safe or heard, they’ll find a workplace that does make them feel that way.

The message is clear, silence speaks volumes. Are you listening?

We would love to tell you about how we help our clients bridge the gap to cognitive wellness, one of our three wellness pillars. Get in touch! Follow us on LinkedIn so you don’t miss any articles.