4 Ways to Build Employee Trust at Your Organization

According to Secure Data Recovery, 43% of Americans feel like they can't trust their small business' human resources department. This statistic is problematic because positive relationships - between employees and employers, employees and customers, and buyers and suppliers - are the foundation of successful companies. Every positive relationship is based on trust and transparency.

But what is the reason for trust?

According to James H. Davis, professor of strategic management at Utah State University, the three drivers of trust are ability, benevolence and integrity. When an employee decides whether or not they can trust HR, they essentially ask themselves three questions:

• Can the HR employee do what he says he will do?

• Does the HR manager really care about me?

• Does the HR manager live by values that I share?

If employees can answer yes to these questions, then you have probably earned the trust of employees in your company. If not, here are some steps you can take to boost your employees' trust.

How Can HR Build Employee Trust?

1. Ensure a sense of safety

According to Abraham Maslow, humans have five categories of needs: physiological needs, security, love and belonging, esteem and self-actualization. To reach the top levels of the pyramid, you must first reach the lower levels. The physiological needs, located at the bottom of the pyramid, represent the basic biological needs for survival: breathing, food, water, shelter, clothing, and sleep. The second need is that of security, which includes the following areas: health, personal security, emotional security and financial security.

Employees must feel that their physiological needs are being met and that they are safe before they can develop a sense of belonging and high self-esteem. When employees do not feel safe in the workplace, it is impossible for them to self-actualize or reach their full potential.

Workplace safety goes beyond OSHA physical safety requirements. It also includes psychological safety. As quoted by Great Place to Work, Amy Edmondson, who coined the term “psychological safety,” describes it as “a shared belief among members of a team that the team is safe to take interpersonal risks.”

Signs of an unsafe work environment include:

• Managers constantly shut down employees' ideas or contributions.
• Employees do not take risks
• Managers gossip about employees and spread rumors
• Managers don't allow employees to fix their own mistakes.
• Managers do not provide constructive feedback
• Managers do not have an honest dialogue with employees about workplace conflicts
• Team members don't know how to work together effectively
• Employees don't feel supported
• Employees are afraid to ask questions, share ideas, or make mistakes

Without trust, no growth can take place. When employees can't ask questions without feeling judged, growth becomes very difficult. In a Ted Talk, James H. Davis explained that “vulnerability and risk build trust.” When people feel safe enough to take risks and be vulnerable, their ability to trust increases. Many employees would rather hold back and perform less than be perceived as incompetent, and so they stagnate in their role.

An employee who feels psychologically unsafe, unappreciated, or unimportant in their company is less likely to put in as much effort or care about their work. They may even behave completely disengaged.

You can ask yourself the following questions to assess your impact on employees' feelings of safety:

• How do I react when employees ask me questions?

• How do I deal with workplace conflicts or employee concerns?

• Do employees know that I care about their development and success?

• Am I teaching managers how to give constructive feedback?

2. Be transparent

Transparency in the workplace includes clear and frequent communication between employees and management. But of course, any company can easily send 1000 emails without really saying much.

To add to this definition, transparency in the workplace also means sharing information and expectations - and feeling safe doing so - both within individual teams and at individual levels of the organizational chart. Transparency includes both quality and quantity.

HR managers should be transparent by promptly communicating changes within the company. Employees should always be aware of changes in the company, especially those that may affect their job. Employees should also be informed about the company's revenues and processes and how the company's decisions are made. The more informed employees are about why and how things work in the company, the better they understand how their role contributes to the company's goals and overall success.

Additionally, something seemingly insignificant like office design can change the perception of your company's transparency.

Although every office layout has its pros and cons, an open office space inherently promotes trust and provides greater transparency. Employees know where the people they need are and they can see what every member of the organization is doing. Employees don't have to jump through as many hoops to speak to HR, and in turn, management appears more approachable to them.

I'm not suggesting that you literally tear down walls to achieve transparency, but you should tear down walls figuratively.

If you don't have an open plan office, you can still break down barriers between you and your employees. Tom Peters, a management expert, coined the term “Management by Wandering Around” (MBWA) in his book In Search of Excellence. MBWA describes the practice of managers standing up from their seats and offices to walk around and talk to their employees. This is the most direct way to find out what is working in the organization and what needs to change. It also shows employees that HR truly takes and values their opinions on matters that directly affect them.

3. Give employees autonomy and responsibility

Most people don't want to be micromanaged. Employees begin to trust leaders when they feel that leaders trust them.

Human resources should convey to employees that their work is important and support managers in giving employees responsibility for work-related tasks and projects.

In The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People, Stephen Covey defines the term “trust” in this context. He says: “Trust is the highest form of human motivation. It brings out the best in people...The steward becomes his own boss, guided by a conscience that includes commitment to agreed upon desired outcomes.”

Giving your employees more autonomy will ultimately help your company achieve the results you want and it will improve your employees' ability to trust the leaders in the company. When you encourage autonomy, you encourage your employees to take risks that can lead to more innovative problem solving.

Stephen Covey further writes: “When you don’t have trust or a shared vision of desired outcomes, you tend to monitor, control, and direct everything. There is no trust and you feel like you have to control people.” Managers who intentionally or unintentionally control their employees send the message that they don't trust their employees to make smart decisions or achieve goals without holding their hands.

4. Practice integrity

You can model integrity by adhering to and enforcing an ethical code of conduct. No one is more unreliable than a leader who establishes a code of ethics but doesn't stick to it himself.

Before you make important decisions that impact your company's employees, ask yourself: Am I acting out of benevolence or self-interest?

SHRM has an excellent HR Code of Ethics with three key messages:

• The human resources department is tasked with protecting the rights of partners, customers and employees.

• Human resources must set the standard for ethical behavior in the workplace, and

• HR must promote justice and fairness in the workplace.

As HR, all eyes in the workplace are on you. They set the standard. If HR maintains integrity and a strong sense of ethics, managers and other employees will follow their lead.

Another way to practice integrity is to attend to and address employee concerns in a timely manner. If employees can't trust you to take action and take their concerns seriously, they won't feel safe and comfortable reaching out to you.

Doing what you promise is not a very difficult principle to follow and will help build your credibility and trustworthiness as a leader. This trust-building strategy goes back to James Davis' Ted Talk. Ability, one of the drivers of trust, is the question: “Can this person do what they say they will do?” If you are unable to do what you say you will do, you have no credibility as a leader.

Remember that building trust is not a linear process. It takes time and will not happen if HR managers do not make a conscious effort to achieve it. When all eyes are on you in the workplace, you can be the reason other leaders in your company begin to build trust within their teams. Ultimately, your business will benefit from increased productivity, better collaboration, and greater success.

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