Research by Slack has found that, on average, 28% of desk workers worldwide do not feel trusted at work. The findings were based on a survey of more than 10,000 desk-based workers in the U.S., Australia, France, Germany, Japan and the U.K., conducted by Qualtrics.
The findings are part of the wider future of work research that Slack conducts. It has chosen to reveal some of the findings that indicate how this lack of trust not only exists but impacts productivity.
The statistics in the report were collated using a scale from -60 (most negative) to +60 (most positive). This is important as it makes comparisons on a percentage basis difficult to justify.
The release indicates little variance across industries for the key finding. Enterprise Times asked about this. Christina Janzer, Slack’s Head of Research and Analytics, replied, “Slack’s research shows that 28% of global desk workers do not feel trusted at work. This phenomenon is present globally and across industries – though there are slight variations. People working in the Media, Entertainment and Arts sector (29%) are the most likely to say they don’t feel trusted, followed by those working in Consumer Goods & Retail (26%) and Healthcare & Pharma industries (25%).
“Employees in the technology sector (24%) are less inclined to report that their employer doesn’t trust them – a level matched only by people working in the Financial Services Sector (24%).
“The research suggests trust is a universal challenge. As work continues to evolve and hybrid cements itself as the de facto approach, it is one that leaders have to address. Companies that can successfully create an environment of trust will not only unlock greater productivity (2x) and better focus (2.1x), but also a better culture with more engaged, and satisfied employees (4.3x).”
Why feeling trusted is important
The report indicates even those who don’t feel trusted, 87% believe they meet or exceed manager expectations. So why is the feeling of being trusted important? According to the research, trusted employees have better focus, higher productivity, and higher satisfaction levels. Those who feel trusted also put more effort into their work. Though this difference is less significant, 36% of those who feel trusted put more effort in vs 27% for those who don’t.
While all employees marked their response as positive, it is clear that those feeling trusted seem to enjoy their role and perform better. Janzer commented, “Companies across geographies and industries have been for years experiencing an erosion of trust. The data shows this widespread problem unlocks opportunities for businesses to focus on trust to achieve both cultural and worker productivity benefits.”
On the downside, those employees who do not feel trusted are likely to have higher stress and anxiety levels. They also feel they have worse access to relevant people, files, and resources at work. Thirdly they have a 4.2x lower sense of belonging (33.4 vs only 7.9 on the scale).
The research also indicates that managers who do not feel trusted are twice as likely to reveal this to employees. However, the research was not detailed enough to indicate whether the feeling of managers impacts the feeling of their reports. However, those employees who feel untrusted are twice as likely to look for a new job. How can organisations increase trust?
Janzer added, “This research reveals a new path for leaders: to build trust in the workplace, focus on showing your employees that you trust them. Feeling trusted breeds hard work, which leads to more trust. This is a virtuous cycle all leaders can take advantage of to boost employee performance and wellbeing.”
Transparency key
One of the key elements in increasing trust is transparency. The published findings did not indicate what other factors were involved. Though 32% of respondents said, they lack information about changes at work.
Other research has indicated factors such as career opportunities, training, and flexibility. Slack focused on transparency in this release.
Slack asked why employees thought their company was not transparent
- Not taking into account employee feedback (33.3%)
- Sharing too little information (30.5%)
- Sharing information too late to be helpful (19.6%)
Where companies were transparent, employees were 67% more likely to feel trusted, 84% higher productivity and 126% more focused, see graphic below.
Janzer said, “Cultivating channels for employees to share their ideas and feedback is a win-win even when the feedback itself is challenging. It allows organizations to tap into their own subject-matter experts to improve work output and experience — and it’s the first step to ensuring employees feel valued and heard.”
Improving transparency
Slack argues that one way to improve transparency is to introduce better technology. Its argument is based on the finding that desk workers who feel their companies lack the right technology are 22% more likely to say they lack information about upcoming changes compared to technology innovators and early adopters.
Slack platform enables organisations to create a digital HQ that can quickly disseminate information across appropriate channels and groups. It enables employees to locate the right channel and information quickly. Or be informed of changes immediately if they are a member of the right group.
The research shows that investment in these collaboration technologies seems to pay off (the research was not dedicated to Salesforce and Slack users). Employees at “innovative” companies are 2.4x more likely to say their company is transparent than those at “laggard” companies. “innovative” companies are also 1.4x more likely to feel trusted.
Enterprise Times: What does this mean
The published results are limited in scope and raise more questions than the answers it delivers. One of the issues is that the data is presented within a limited set, and the issues raised are more complex than just using technology such as Slack to fix them.
Having said that, collaboration technologies such as Slack can help organisations to improve transparency. Not only does Slack have the capability of becoming the Digital HQ for organisations, it can also become the place of work, a next-generation UI that enables employees to remain within a single application, powered by integrations to other applications such as Salesforce.
The key takeout is that trust matters. Business leaders must first identify what the state of trust is within their organisation. They can achieve this using employee engagement tools such as Qualtrics. Once benchmarked, they can use solutions such as Slack, as well as HRM tools to help build trust between an organisation and its employees.
