Why do executives believe that workplace trust is 16% higher than employees do? A disconnect is happening somewhere between what employees experience and what executives think is happening — or perhaps, in how they come across. Either way, building trust in the workplace isn’t something anyone can afford to overlook.
Businesses need to find a fix for this. Employees who don’t feel trusted won’t necessarily quit. In fact, they’ll do something that will hurt your bottom line much more.
Why building trust in the workplace is important
You might think the top reason for building trust in the workplace is employee retention, but actually, it isn’t.
Low trust doesn’t lead to more resignations, it leads to something worse: employees staying but putting less effort in.
So you don’t spend money hiring, you lose money because everything moves at a snail’s pace.
I’ve seen this happen in real time, at previous organizations I’ve worked for where leadership changed, management styles changed, and employees struggled. No one knew what management expected or what direction we were going in. Instructions were confusing at best, contradictory at worst. Instead of building trust in the workplace, they allowed it to completely break down.
Over time, people did leave. But months before that, they went quiet. Took longer to reply to messages, didn’t produce as much as they once did, didn’t seem as engaged during meetings — instead, they looked forlorn.
Communication barriers increased and team collaboration all but vanished. The people who’d created a strong community for the organization all disappeared as well, literally or metaphorically.
That business no longer exists.
Tips for building trust in the workplace
So how do you avoid that mistake?
Be open — and say when you don’t know something
Building trust in the workplace starts with openness. Employees need to know what’s going on and what it means for them.
It’s also important to be comfortable saying “I don’t know” or “Can I get back to you?” That will build confidence much more quickly than pretending you have an answer and changing your mind later.
Flip flops decrease trust, especially if they become commonplace. People start to wonder if what you’re saying is true, or if you’ll change your mind tomorrow.
Involve employees in decisions
83% of employees would trust their employer more if their supervisor involved them in important decisions.
Most employees won’t ask you to include them out of fear you’ll penalize them.
We’ve all worked somewhere someone got into trouble for voicing their opinion, even if they were told that they should, or that the company had a policy of “radical candor.”
If you offer employees the opportunity to speak up, or ask for their input, however, they’ll feel more included and like they have a greater stake in what’s happening.
Listen
Over two thirds of employees feel that having a manager who listens to them is very important for building trust in the workplace. Their manager hired them because they think they’d be good at their job, so why wouldn’t their manager listen to them?
HR teams also need to consider how they listen to employees. For instance, regular employee feedback surveys give you the opportunity to find out what your team really thinks.
Using Workrowd, you get the data analyzed automatically, too, meaning you have more time to act on the results.
Offer career advancement opportunities
61% of employees feel that career advancement opportunities are key to building trust in the workplace. Investing in advancement opportunities is a subtle communication that speaks to employees’ future within your company.
If employees feel like working for you is a dead end, where they’ll be stuck doing the same thing forever and never earn any more, they’re not going to want to stick around long-term.
If there’s a progression plan in place, they can see that you’re invested in their future and want them to continue working for you.
Prioritize flexibility around work
Office-based working has its benefits. But so does remote work. That’s why flexibility matters so much.
Many employees perform better in their own spaces, so long as they can come together with colleagues for planning and meetings.
An office should be a middle ground, not somewhere they must be present during all working hours.
Commutes are expensive and can limit where someone could work from — meaning you might miss out on the best talent for the role not because they don’t want to work for you, but because getting to your office isn’t feasible.
Flexibility is key to building trust in the workplace. Giving employees the ability to work from wherever shows you trust them to do their jobs. You don’t have to see them as physically present at a desk to know that they’ll achieve something.
69% of employees state that flexibility around where they work would build more trust. Yet just 39% of executives offer this flexibility.
Think about when work happens
We often talk about where work happens, but spend little time on when.
Despite the ubiquity of the 9-5 model, it’s not the best way for everyone to work. It’s just become habit.
Just over 7 in 10 employees feel more flexibility around when work gets done would help with building trust in the workplace, yet 43% of executives offer this.
Some of my best work — whether that’s school essays, novel writing, or client work — has come at midnight. For you, that might be well past your bedtime. But for me, if I know that’s when I do my best work, why would I want to miss out on that?
The same is true for your company. Your best employees may have unconventional working hours, but isn’t what matters the quality of their work?
Don’t track online activity
Employees don’t want to feel like you’re watching their every move.
Over a third of employees who work for companies with remote work policies would trust companies that track their online activity less. Which makes sense, because the subtext of this move is that you don’t trust them to do their job when at their work laptop.
It becomes a self-fulfilling prophecy: the company doesn’t trust the employee, so then the employee doesn’t trust the company. It can make employees wonder what else their employer is monitoring. It’s certainly doesn’t support efforts towards building trust in the workplace.
Conclusion
Employee trust is difficult to build but easy to lose. It’s not a one and done situation; you have to consciously work at building trust in the workplace to grow your relationship with your employees and get the most from that. That means showing you value them, but also making them feel like they’re more than just a cog in the machine.
Want to find out what your employees really think? With Workrowd, you can send surveys at set milestones. Find out where your employees are really at and what’s going on within your company. Get in touch to learn more.
