Organizations must cultivate trust between corporate executives and employees.
There is a growing trust gap that is emerging between the C-suite and rank-and-file workers, according to global accounting, audit and management consulting firm PwC’s recent Trust Survey. The study sheds light on the trust levels between business executives, employees and other stakeholders.
A majority of the executive respondents (95%) believe that organizations have a responsibility to build trust, as it can directly impact the company’s bottom line.
When asked how much executives trust their workforce, 86% reported a high level of trust toward employees. However, the survey revealed only 60% of workers feel that their employers trust them.
Business leaders are finding it increasingly harder to build trust with stakeholders, as 94% reported facing at least one challenge. They are well aware that if employees don’t trust them, they risk a drop in productivity, along with diminishing quality of products and services, operational efficiencies and profitability.
“Traditionally, companies have viewed trust among employees as a means to attract and retain talent. But this data shows that lower trust among employees has an immediate impact on everyday operations. The risk is not that people leave—it’s that they stay and work half-heartedly,” the report stated.
Do Executives Really Trust Employees?
Building on first principles, one of the core purposes of a company is to help employees conduct their best work everyday. When management believes in and trusts its people, the team is empowered to decide for themselves where, when and how they will work. If someone desires to work from home for the week, that should be acceptable in a climate of open transparency and trust. Whereas, monitoring remote workers will erode trust, as 35% of employees stated they would trust their company less if they were to track their online activity.
Although there has been a proliferation of “tattleware” and other surveillance technologies in the workplace, 68% of executives say they trust remote and onsite employees equally, while only 20% say they trust in-office employees more.
Forty percent of executives in organizations with remote work policies say they monitor how often employees are in the office, and 37% track employee online activity, such as time logged in.
What Causes Distrust?
When executives fail to involve workers in important decision-making processes, it can lead to a breach in trust. A mere 30% of C-suite leaders involve workers in co-creating organizational strategies, according to Deloitte's recent Global Human Capital Trends report.
It infuriates employees when business leaders implement changes that impact the workforce without first asking for their input and thoughts on the matter. The workers feel as if their voices don’t matter. Employees believe that top brass doesn’t have enough faith in their judgment and believe they are not intellectually equipped to participate in the strategic decisions that will impact their daily work lives. It’s only reasonable for a person to feel distrust over being left out of the conversation.
Workers lose trust in an employer when staff is let go in an impersonal manner, such as being fired via emails, texts, pre-recorded or one-way videos. Terminating an employee in this cold-hearted way demonstrates a glaring lack of empathy and respect for both those who are let go and the employees that remain. Unfortunately, this ugly trend has left workers feeling disposable, especially when companies operate under the notion that they are “family.” Those who remain will constantly worry about when they will be given the pink slip. Working in an environment characterized by fear heightens distrust management.
When a person loses their job, it’s a traumatic experience, especially if the worker doesn’t have sufficient funds to get them through the gaps of unemployment. When a business believes that a layoff is needed, the immediate managers must be honest and compassionate.
They should take great strides in sharing the reasons why this is happening. Each and every person should be spoken to privately to discuss their specific situation. Trust would rebound if the C-suite executives would first consider other measures to enact when cutting costs before laying off workers.
Building trust will go a long way if the executives and managers ask for salary and bonus cuts, so that the rank-and-file see that they are doing everything they can. Moreover, trust would be won if the executives who made the poor business decisions that financially harmed fell on their sword and resigned, telling the staff that they are sorry for getting everyone into this mess and relinquishing their roles.
Those who are let go should be offered generous severance packages, continued health benefits and access to recruiters and career advisors.
A lack of transparency breeds suspicion and undermines trust. Positive performance reviews followed by sudden layoffs create a climate of fear that you are never completely safe at work. When management says everything is fine and subsequently announces a mass layoff, it creates a sense of betrayal.
This inconsistency sends a message that performance doesn't matter as much as other metrics. Also, when a person is put on a performance improvement plan, it’s a signal you’re being pushed out of the door and quietly fired.
As it relates to responsible AI, the PwC data shows that 69% of employees say it’s important that companies disclose how decisions are made. It’s anticipated by the respondents that this topic will become more of an issue as employee awareness around the need for AI governance increases.
How To Rebuild Trust
The survey indicates that 61% of workers agree that their perceived lack of trust by their employer impacts their ability to do their jobs well. The hindrance in their productivity and daily performance will hurt the company’s bottom line. To stop this from happening, organizations must cultivate trust between corporate executives and employees.
Being polite, acting in a respectful manner and treating everyone with dignity, compassion and grace does not cost anything, but contributes heavily to improving the working conditions at work.
Managers can give social recognition to show their appreciation and applaud a job well done in public to foster a positive and affirming work environment.
