Not surprisingly, a workplace without trust brings about disengaged, unproductive, and non-innovative employees.
A recent survey by EY has shown that employees who have a high level of trust are happier, stay at the company longer, are more engaged, and more inclined to recommend their workplace to others.
The survey polled almost 10,000 full-time employees worldwide. People, age 19 to 68, were asked to rate their level of trust in their companies. Less than half (46 percent) stated that they placed “a great deal of trust” in their companies. 39 percent stated that they had “some trust,” while 15 percent had “very little or no trust at all.”
Those who answered “very little or no trust at all,” were then asked about the biggest complaint about their employer. The most cited reasons were: Unfair employee compensation, lack of equal opportunity for pay and promotion, lack of strong senior leadership, a high level of voluntary or involuntary employee turnover, and a non-collaborative work environment.
While the results of the study show a lack of trust in leadership, only 49 percent of those surveyed felt a “great deal of trust” for their co-workers.
The group placing the least amount of trust with their employers was Generation X (born between 1960 and 1980). Only 41 percent of Gen X-ers admitted to having “a great deal of trust” in their employer. The main reason cited for the lack of trust was unfair employee compensation (54 percent).
The women surveyed showed a more pronounced tendency to be influenced by a lack of trust. 44 percent of women, compared with 40 percent of men responded that they would look for other employment because of their employer trust issues. Pay (61 percent) and promotion opportunities (52 percent) were more important trust factors for women.
The results of another study showed that younger generations, especially those in Generation Z (born between 1995 and 2015), were influenced by their parent’s workplace experiences. Again, workplace trust played a major part for respondents. For a majority of Gen Z’ers the workplace experiences of a parent or guardian had a significant positive impact on the amount of trust they expected to have for future employers.
The workplace issues cited as future reasons for a greater lack of trust for Gen Z’ers were: lack of pay raises, lack of trust or dislike of boss, job dissatisfaction, and dislike or lack of trust for company executives.