Havens of trust

In 1974, in his book “The Limits of Organization,” Nobel laureate Kenneth Arrow wrote the following words:

“Trust is an important lubricant of a social system. It is extremely efficient; it saves a lot of trouble to have a fair degree of reliance on other people’s word. Unfortunately this is not a commodity which can be bought very easily. If you have to buy it, you already have some doubts about what you have bought.”

Aware of the power of this “social lubricant” for the proper functioning of their organizations in turbulent times, it seems that companies are taking this topic of trust more and more seriously.

For example, as we discovered in a report we produced at Future for Work Institute on the demand for leadership behaviors in Spanish companies, a growing number of companies want their team leaders to involve their collaborators in work-related decision-making, consider their suggestions and concerns, delegate responsibility and authority for important tasks, and allow them to solve work-related problems without prior approval. To do so, these leaders must trust their teams.

At the same time, companies are beginning to understand the importance of creating contexts of psychological safety where team members feel that they can take certain interpersonal risks, and freely express thoughts or feelings related to work, and that if they make a mistake, other people will not judge them negatively, or penalize them for asking for help, information, or feedback, which is particularly difficult in diverse teams and uncertain situations, where it is not always clear whether you are right or how others will react (Bresman & Edmondson, 2022).

In parallel, science (De Jong et al., 2016) has discovered under what conditions trust affects collective performance the most: a) when the interdependence of people’s tasks is high, b) when the skills of different team members are highly differentiated (since each member has to rely on the knowledge and skills of the rest of the team members to achieve the group’s goals), and c) when levels of authority are clearly differentiated (both by the trust people with authority place in other team members when delegating certain activities to them, and by the trust team members need to have that people with authority will make the right decisions).

Regardless the new methods companies now have for measuring trust, such as the analysis of internal relational networks (Organizational Network Analysis – ONA), a technique that allows them to visualize, in addition to other types of relationships, the strength and direction of trust relationships that link the members of the organization.

Now, a new report on trust in the workplaces by Edelman suggests that this growing concern among business leaders for creating environments of trust within their organizations is paying off. 

And this despite the turbulent environment both workers and employers are facing. On one hand, the proportion of people who are concerned about the possibility of losing their jobs has increased due to various reasons. Among others, the risk of an economic recession (49%), automation (46%), international trade conflicts (46%), lack of skills or training (46%), and competition from freelancers (44%) or cheaper foreign workers (42%). In addition, because of everything that has happened in the world over the past few years,

many people (two-thirds of the workers, according to the survey) are reconsidering how they will spend their time in the future, and many others no longer expect the same things from their jobs and their employers. They are not just looking for professional development, competitive salaries, and career opportunities; workers are also seeking empowerment, transparent communication, accurate information, inclusion, and to be heard. Similarly, social impact is becoming an increasingly relevant factor. For example, three out of four people aspire to a job that allows them to contribute significantly to building a better future, while 61% expect the CEO of their company to take a public stance on certain social and political issues that concern them.

Even so, the numbers are clear. The results of the study, that involved 7,000 workers from seven countries (Brazil, Germany, China, India, Japan, the United Kingdom, and the United States), show that the institution in which workers have the most trust (79%) is their employers, while the gap between the trust they have in their employers and the trust they have in other institutions has increased by 23 percentage points from 2021 to 2023. It’s as if workers are seeking their employers as a “haven of trust” in the face of the uncertainty generated by these other institutions in which they feel they can no longer trust.

In addition, more people now believe that if they exert enough pressure, a large group of employees can get their organization to change almost anything about itself. In this regard, it is also notable that there is an increase in the percentage of workers willing to work together with their employers (be it their direct manager, HR, or the company senior leaders) to produce or motivate urgent changes within their organization, while the percentage of those who would opt for publicly addressing the problem through a social media whistleblower campaign, leaking internal documents, going on strike, or other types of protests is decreasing. However, it should not be overlooked that members of the so-called Generation Z (those under 27 years old) are much more willing than previous generations to air out issues publicly.

In relation to the members of this generation, the report also reveals the significant influence these young individuals are exerting in the workplace. Particularly noteworthy is that 93% of respondents from other generations say their colleagues in their twenties have in some way influenced their views on various issues (among others, the boundaries between work and life, openness to new technologies, desire for professional success, the meaning of fair pay for work, advocating for their rights, the role of work in their identity, and employer involvement in social issues), their willingness to push their employers to change things they disapprove of, and their degree of openness to the existence of unions or other types of worker representatives in their companies.

However, GenZ’s are not the only segment of workers showing particularities in terms of trust. The report dedicates a special section to those workers who, due to the inherent nature of their jobs, do not have the option to work remotely. Data show that these “deskless workers”, many of whom form the front line of contact for their companies with customers, tend to place lower levels of trust in their employers compared to their colleagues who have the option to telework, whether they take advantage of that option or not. What can employers do to bridge that trust gap? The study suggests that the first step for employers is to demonstrate their own trust in their employees. For instance, compared to workers who believe their company executives do not trust them (34%), those who feel trusted (66%) display much higher levels of trust in their direct managers (89% versus 40%), in the CEOs (78% versus 24%), and in the heads of Human Resources of their companies (78% versus 26%). In addition, employers should take into consideration that for many employees, their direct bosses are the most reliable source of information to know what is happening in the organization, and that they feel more heard and valued when they know their bosses have formal support to voice their concerns, and if senior executives spend time with them experiencing their day-to-day work.

All told, this new report reveals the dimension and complexity of the challenge many employers face in a context of generalized trust crisis. In a world full of uncertainty, trust in the workplace has become an extremely valuable resource not only for companies but also for the workers themselves. Employees trust their employers more than any other institution, and this is undoubtedly an encouraging sign and an opportunity for employers to further strengthen this bond through transparency, psychological safety, and a commitment to addressing the diverse needs and expectations of the modern workforce, but also confers them a responsibility. They cannot take this level of trust for granted. The world keeps changing, and the trust of workers is a fragile resource that requires ongoing and active commitment on their part.

***

Photo by Billy Freeman on Unsplash