By Michael W. Hill, Mobius Vendor Partners Executive Consultant, Birkman Professional

Trust can take a great deal of time to earn, yet you can lose it in a heartbeat. A recent PwC Trust Survey reports that 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.

Workers lose trust in an employer when they are treated in an impersonal manner. Emails, texts, voicemails, can be insulting to employees when face-to-face meetings or get togethers could be used. And I’m sure we’ve all read about employees being terminated via email.

When employers treat their employees in this manner, word can spread very quickly that this is not the kind of environment that most employees want or deserve.

Here are four more ways an organization can destroy trust in the workplace:

1. Lack of transparency
2. Office politics
3. Unfair treatment
4. Micromanagement

On the other hand, when employers are open with communication, trust is established, and this leads to a very high level of respect. In person meetings and to at least include off-site employees in zoom meetings raises the trust factor.

Here are four more ways to build trust in the workplace:

1. Listen more than you speak.
2. Solicit and act on feedback.
3. Show appreciation every day.
4. Create an inclusive culture.

What is the cost to employers with low levels of trust? Lack of trust can lead to lower productivity rates, lower quality of products and services and even operational losses.

What is on the profit side of a trustworthy organization? Obviously, higher productivity and product quality. When employees realize that their employer “trusts” them to do the right things and allows them to make decisions to get the work accomplished, both the organization and the employee win.

A side benefit to an organization that becomes known as a trusting organization is that its employees will talk about their organization in a positive manner and their friends and acquaintances may want to seek out a position with the company!

So, how do you determine the level of trust in your organization? Don’t just ask management what they “think.” We recommend surveying your employees. Go right to the source, no second guessing on an issue this important.

You may want our help.

At Mobius’ Employee Experience – EX Consulting Employee Experience – Mobius Vendor Partners (mobiusvp.com) – we have the software to measure whether your employees feel there is the correct level of trust in your organization. After measuring it, we can help you get to the level of trust your organization needs to be successful.