Figures on failure culture. Evidenced, not asserted.
A reference work on the economic and scientific evidence around failure culture, psychological safety and learning culture. Every figure with its source and year.
What a weak failure culture costs in quality.
Failure-related cost items with a direct bearing on failure culture add up to around €1,206 per employee per year. Staff turnover costs are deliberately not included here — they are considered separately under “People”.
Source: sample calculation by the Wolf I.O. Group, 2020, normalised to 1,000 employees. Staff turnover costs not included.
Sample calculation by the Wolf I.O. Group, 2020, normalised to 1,000 employees. Only cost items with a direct bearing on failure culture are included. Staff turnover costs are deliberately excluded and considered separately.
What every avoidable resignation costs.
average cost of staff turnover per resignation (2026) — up from €43,069 (2016), because the average time a position stays vacant has climbed from 93 to 168 days.
At a market-standard turnover rate of 10%, 100 employees leave voluntarily each year. If an open failure culture lowers that rate by just 3 percentage points to 7%, 30 resignations a year are avoided:
in avoided turnover costs per year (30 × €102,014).
Source: WOLF Managementberatung / Gunther Wolf, Kompetenz Center Mitarbeiterbindung (2016 & 2026); vacancy duration: Bundesagentur für Arbeit. These figures are lower bounds and exclude the loss of know-how.
Error management culture correlates measurably with profitability.
The scientific validation of the economic benefit was provided by Cathy van Dyck, Michael Frese, Markus Baer and Sabine Sonnentag in two replicated studies on the influence of organisational error management culture on company performance.
In study 1 (65 Dutch companies), failure culture showed a significantly positive correlation with the achievement of operational goals and with hard economic performance indicators. In study 2, this finding was independently confirmed using objective data on changes in profitability over a longer period at 47 German companies.
Dutch companies — study 1: positive correlation between failure culture and goal achievement.
van Dyck, Frese, Baer & Sonnentag (2005)
German companies — study 2: confirmed through objective change-of-profitability data.
van Dyck, Frese, Baer & Sonnentag (2005)
greater likelihood of producing genuine innovation where failure and learning culture are integrated.
Deloitte (2019)
The core mechanism: sharing failure transparently prevents different people from repeating the same mistake at different times — the knowledge becomes collective immediately.
It is not the uncertainty. It is the judgement of others.
No metric moves anything as long as people do not talk about failure. The barrier is almost never a lack of ability — it is the expectation of being judged for a mistake. Understanding where that fear comes from also shows where cultural change has to begin.
Three quarters of respondents name not the uncertainty of whethersomething will work as the greatest barrier — but the certainty that others will judge them for it.
This figure comes from our own international survey within our LinkedIn community, and should be read as a valuable indication of sentiment with a clear message.
What is missing is not individual self-confidence. What is missing is a culture in which people encourage one another — and learn from failure together.
of people under 25 do not dare to admit mistakes openly at work.
AXA Support Report (2024)
of leaders fear damage to their careers if their mistakes become known.
EY Fehlerkultur-Report
higher psychological safety in the team when leaders visibly admit their own mistakes.
HR Performance Institut
A tolerant failure culture does not make people careless — it makes them more productive.
The assumption that tolerating failure leads to carelessness has been disproven scientifically. Where failure can be analysed without sanction, processes can be optimised radically.
higher employee productivity where the learning culture is strong.
Bersin by Deloitte
in the real error rate after introducing structured “lessons learned” rounds in the team.
Case study, HR Performance Institut
staff turnover where 60% of employees feel that their opinion counts.
Gallup
fewer safety incidents — hazards and near misses are reported proactively 80% more often.
Gallup
In addition: a 12% to 20% increase in work productivity where psychological safety is high (Gallup).
Why high-trust organisations perform better neurobiologically.
The neuroeconomist Paul Zak demonstrated that trust releases oxytocin in the brain — it strengthens the cohesion of a team and dampens the amygdala, which releases the stress hormone cortisol when we are afraid. In environments hostile to failure, chronic stress blocks the prefrontal cortex — the control centre for complex thinking and creative problem solving.
less chronic stress at work.
Zak (2017)
more energy and drive on the job.
Zak (2017)
higher overall work productivity.
Zak (2017)
higher emotional engagement (less quiet quitting).
Zak (2017)
fewer sick days per year.
Zak (2017)
lower risk of burnout.
Zak (2017)
Source: Paul Zak, “The Neuroscience of Trust” (2017) — high-trust compared with low-trust companies. In addition: 29% higher life satisfaction.
Vienna and Berlin compared: failure is also a question of location.
An online study by the Failure Institute in cooperation with Junge Wirtschaft Wien and Wirtschaftsjunioren Berlin, among entrepreneurs under 40 (Vienna: n=400, Berlin: n=150).
Source: Failure Institute in cooperation with Junge Wirtschaft Wien & Wirtschaftsjunioren Berlin (2025). A positive failure culture also needs the right political, fiscal and administrative conditions.
Short impulses break cognitive barriers — measurably.
A culture only settles over months of consistent leadership behaviour. Short impulses — such as sharing personal failure stories on stage — nevertheless take away the listeners’ inner state of alarm immediately, and demonstrably lower the barriers to speaking up.
in measured psychological safety within a year through targeted speaking-up training.
HR Performance Institut
immediate increase in the team when leaders show themselves to be vulnerable.
HR Performance Institut
within six months through regular, fear-free “lessons learned” routines.
HR Performance Institut
As diagnostic instruments we use Amy Edmondson’s validated 7-item scale (TPS-7) and the maturity levels defined by Timothy R. Clark — as a data-based before-and-after indicator directly after a keynote or workshop.
List of sources.
As at 2026. Detailed references and access to the studies are available on request.
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