When we talk about workplace trust, what do we actually mean? Is it a high-level concept that's difficult to define? No, it's tangible and measurable. Trust, to me, means great workplace relationships, increased responsibility, and open communication. When I'm trusted to do my job, I excel, I'm productive, and I work well with others. It feels great. I'm sure I'm not the only one who feels like this.
Workplace trust fosters a culture of opportunity for growth and the ability for individuals to develop, make mistakes without fear of recrimination and grow personally and professionally. It underpins everything positive in the workplace. It benefits the organisation in increased productivity, better quality customer service and profitability. Let's translate this to the PBSA sector. High levels of workplace trust allow team members, both resident-facing and HQ based, to work effectively together to provide the best resident experience.
Conversely, a lack of trust can have dire consequences for workplaces: dysfunctional teams that don't work together but for themselves, a toxic working environment, high levels of employee relations issues, and poor levels of turnover and productivity. Sounds good, doesn't it?
This topic is so crucial to the foundation of any organisation that Edelman has been conducting a "Trust Barometer" for 20 years. They have been conducting a worldwide survey into levels of trust in government, work, and media to show the gap. Worryingly, this gap has been getting wider. In the business sector, trust has always been low. Since the pandemic, there has been a slight increase in trust levels owing to the support offered by the firm to team members- furlough schemes, etc.
If you start delving into the topic, you don't have to go down a rabbit hole to find that some of the workplace stats on trust are truly shocking. Stats like "58% people trust strangers more than their own boss" (Harvard Business Review)—let's just sit with that for a moment.
An old Dutch saying is, "Trust comes on foot but leaves on horseback". This is a compelling phrase about how it isn't easy to grow but quick to lose. You can't gain trust overnight, but you certainly can lose it. I could now cite several examples of organisations that have lost trust overnight. P&O and the shock firing of 800 employees, The Accident Group is firing team members by text—Brewdog with reports of a toxic culture. Fat Cat Bonuses, these all erode workplace trust.
With all this publicity and research into trust levels, why are organisations not focussing on improving trust? Maybe they don't understand the benefits. Well, there are many benefits and very few drawbacks.
The benefits of high levels of trust within an organisation are improved team member engagement, Improved collaboration, and high productivity levels. A recent PWC Trust Survey shows a mismatch between executives' beliefs about how much they trust their team members and the percentage of team members who feel their employers trust them.
Over the next few weeks, I'll be publishing articles on how organisations can build trust. Exciting topics include Building Trust from Day One, How managers can foster a trusting environment, and Sustaining Trust—long-term strategies for a trustworthy workplace.
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