It’s unlikely that anyone will be surprised to hear that building employee trust is harder now than it ever was before. A few years ago, there would be an endless number of experts who could tell you how to build trust in the workplace but considering the job climate today and the unrest that employees are facing, it is quite difficult to reassure employees that their position is secure. Employee engagement strategies are a very important investment no matter what the ultimate goal is for your organization as it is the only way you’ll be able to motivate your workforce to seek progress—but, this will not happen overnight.
According to MIT Sloan, one in four workers do not trust their employers. That’s a pretty significant number of employees who feel vulnerable and on edge every time they come to work. If you think that doesn’t mean too much, consider that the research also found that trusting employees have 260 percent higher motivation to work, their absenteeism is lower by 41 percent and they are 50 percent less likely to consider switching jobs. Building employee trust is absolutely an important factor in running a successful organization and companies need to start giving workers some importance within the organization.
Image – Freepik
Building Employee Trust Is a Continuous Process but the Results Are Immediate
The reason why many companies struggle with the question of how to build trust in the workplace is because they fail to define what trust means to them and their workforce. Is it trust that the leadership will make good decisions for the organization? Is it trust that the management will look out for the workforce when things take a turn for the worst? Is it the basic expectation of support when the organization’s efforts do not go as planned? There are many elements to building trust and respect with employees, but as with everything else we talk about here, it starts with communication.
Employers need to be proactive in understanding the mental state of their workforce and building bridges where their communication channels have fallen through. Business leaders might look down from their top positions and assume that all is well within the workforce, too far up to see the cracks in the most basic elements of their organization. Without returning to the workforce and seeking genuine feedback on how employees feel, companies will never be able to build a reliable relationship with their workforce. Employees who believe that their company will trade them for better resources will abandon ship the first chance they get because they know their organization won’t be looking out for their best interests. Companies that prioritize building trust and respect with employees in unison will have a much easier time finding stability as well.
How to Build Trust in the Workplace: Exploring Employee Engagement Strategies
In between an already packed schedule and an endless list of tasks to get to in order to get through the day, it can feel quite cumbersome to also consider employee emotions and feelings as an added responsibility. While that’s a fair concern, it also highlights the problem—of looking at HR responsibilities and strategies for building employee trust as a secondary “other” responsibility. Organizations need to consider how to build trust in the workplace as a serious priority for it to lead to strategies that the company will find worthwhile investing in and those that employees will find useful. Whether through DEI strategies or building communities within the workspace, there are various employee engagement strategies to consider.
Invest in Analytics
It’s quite possible that your employees already have some amount of trust in your organization but you might end up changing those elements without realizing it. Consider investing in HRIS software and other management tools that can give you a good understanding of how your employees feel and what their major concerns are. This will be a good space to start building employee trust and will allow your employees to feel heard as well. Data-centered decision making will ensure that the devised strategies accurately target the right areas and the progress towards goals can be tracked more effectively as well.
Build Reliable Communication Channels
Employers and senior management may not always be available to answer questions and put the employees’ minds at ease but it can help to have certain experts that the employees can turn to who can answer the questions for them. Even as these individuals facilitate communication, there should also be paths for the employees to have some conversations with organization leaders when necessary. Employees kept at an arm’s length away will always find it difficult to trust in what their employers are doing as they have no grounds to build any trust. Communication can change how work is done at an organization so always pay heed to building systems that facilitate it.
Ensure Stability Wherever Possible
There are many elements that contribute to stability for a stressed employee. Fixed work timings, clarity on their job responsibilities, fixed mentors and colleagues, guidelines for the work culture, clear records of company policy, etc. When there is some element of predictability to their everyday experience, employees can start to feel more comfortable and get into the groove of work. Too many unpredictable changes can make it very difficult for anyone to settle down and find a working style that suits them and their team. Even with distant changes, such as the senior management in the organization constantly changing, it can be very difficult for anyone to understand the vision for the company, impeding the process of building trust and respect with employees who don’t know whose ideologies to pursue.
Fairness and Equity is the Way Forward
How to build trust in the workplace? Show employees that you can be relied on to pursue the correct course of action in all matters. Issues of bias and inequality can leave employees at a constant disadvantage, which is very counterproductive to gaining their support. Company policies need to be clearly stated, constantly updated, and regularly communicated with workers so they understand where the company stands on important issues.
Violations should be dealt with immediately and even senior team members should be held accountable for any missteps. Always lead by example. This way, employees are reassured that they will always receive a fair ruling and will also know the seriousness with which they need to treat their work as well. Fairness needs to be considered in all aspects of the company’s functioning.
Creating a Culture of Being Supportive
While we talk about setting rules, this doesn’t mean over-stringent guidelines for every single area with zero flexibility. Harassment, bullying, and other inappropriate practices should be strictly dealt with, but companies need to maintain some degree of flexibility with employees in circumstances like family emergencies, health challenges, hybrid schedules, etc. While it’s obviously fair to have standard policies, under such circumstances can be dealt with on a case-by-case basis. To build trust in the workplace, employees need to feel that they can turn to their employer during difficult times and find support so they can resolve their extenuating circumstances and return to work with greater focus and clarity. Otherwise, employers afraid of talking to the employees will just turn to taking shortcuts and impulsive measures that may hurt the company in the long run.
Supportive work environments can extend further to a company culture that acknowledges the importance of each employee and encourages them to collaborate with each other. Happy employees are those who have a team they can rely on. Encourage trust and respect as cornerstones of your organization’s values.
Invest in Development Programs
Unsurprisingly, investing in your employees is a great way to gain their trust. It shows a genuine interest in them as individuals and faith in their worth at the organization. Target areas of employment so employees can keep growing with the company instead of seeking growth opportunities elsewhere. Especially considering the need for reskilling over the next few years, instead of changing employees out constantly for new hires, build trust in the workplace by showing that you are willing to support the employees and keep them as active members of your workforce.
These employee development programs don’t have to solely target their work either. Leadership, communication, critical thinking, decision-making, etc. are all skills that your workforce can benefit from and this will also benefit you as an organization. Additionally, consider helping employees plan out their career paths and chart out their overall career goals and you might also find ways to incorporate their services in other areas where they could be more helpful. Collaboration is essentially the way forward.
Pursue Transparency in All Things
Employees struggle to trust employers because they are often alienated from all decision-making processes within an organization. Many employees hear about their own company from the media before they hear from their bosses, making it very difficult to trust that their employer considered them in their decisions at all. The state of uncertainty is what leaves them stressed and unable to work even when their job hangs in the balance. Try to pursue transparency with all aspects of work and try to involve representatives across the organization in key decision-making processes. This way, employees know how to act as well, for example, when risk-taking might be appreciated and when they need to play it safe with major clients. Informed employees can be responsive employees.
This transparency should be applied even during reviews and performance evaluations so employees are aware of exactly what they’re being graded on and where their shortcomings lie. This way, they can also work on their identity within the company rather than suddenly finding out that their employers were never considering keeping them around the company long term. Building employee trust starts with honesty and clarity at every step of the journey towards the company’s goals.
The list of employee engagement strategies and ideas for building trust in the workplace goes on and on. Empower your employees to participate in meetings and discussions and share their opinions when possible, appreciate successes and develop improvement plans for failures, provide mentors to help build a support system, promote a healthy work-life balance and create guidelines to actually follow through with it, and finally celebrate successes and show recognition for work done. By creating a culture of growth, trust, and communication, you will find yourself building employee trust with ease.