Businesses around the world need to do more to gain the trust of their workers, according to a survey by EY.
The study found that trust in your employer is closely linked to your performance and happiness at work. In fact, strong trust in a business is likely to see an employee remain at the company for longer, improve the quality of their work, increase their productivity and recommend to business to others.
The survey of nearly 10,000 workers - across Brazil, China, Germany, India, Mexico, Japan, the UK, and the US - found that less than half of workers (46%) said they have "a great deal of trust" in their employer. But 15% revealed they have "no trust" or "very little" trust in the business. The remaining 39% said they have "some trust", suggesting plenty of room for improvement.
Those who said they have very little or no trust whatsoever in their business revealed their top five trust issues: “"mployee compensation is not fair", the business “does not provide employees with equal opportunity for pay and promotion,” there’s a “lack of strong senior leadership,” “too much employee turnover — voluntary and/or involuntary,” and the employer does not foster a “collaborative work environment".
Those part of Generation X appear to be the least likely to trust their employer, with just 41% placing a "great deal of trust". The survey also found that women are more likely to take action as a result of lack of trust. Forty-four per cent of women said they would look for another job, compared with 40% of men, and 26% would actively reduce the quality of work (vs 24% of men).
With equality in the workplace receiving such a focus in the UK at the moment, in terms of both pay and opportunities, EY found that women were far more likely than men to cite pay and promotion opportunities (61% vs 52%) and a diverse environment (42% vs 33%) as "very important" factors in trust towards their employer.
