This special report looks at the issue of trust in the workplace and finds that employers have emerged as an anchor of trust and stability. 78% of employees see their workplace as a safe space for debate and turn to it as a primary source of community, before their neighbours and religious organisations. Edelman argues that this gives rise to a new employer mandate – to leverage the powerful force of employees to restore societal trust from the inside out.
Amongst the many surprising insights in the 2022 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust in the Workplace, this is the most powerful: To earn employee trust, you must first give them yours.
TO EARN EMPLOYEE TRUST, YOU MUST FIRST GIVE THEM YOURS.
Why is this important? Among the 71 percent of employees who said they feel their CEO trusts them, employee trust is remarkably high. But when employees don’t feel CEO trust, the picture changes drastically — they distrust the workplace and its management, potentially giving rise to all manner of workplace ills — from productivity losses to union organizing, to activism that wields material impact.
The importance of employee trust should not be underestimated. Here’s the danger in doing so: While related to engagement, trust is actually a forward-looking indicator. At its core, trust is the intention to accept risk in a relationship: The trustor (employee) accepts a level of potential volatility in their relationship with their employer. Trust allows an organization to take responsible risk, and if it makes mistakes, to rebound from them. This makes trust the ultimate currency in the war for top talent. If, for example, you need workforce patience in getting return to office right, you won’t experience detrimental attrition.