Winning Company Culture Is Built on Trust

While many people already know that trust is essential for enduring and healthy personal relationships, trust is often an afterthought when it comes to the workplace. 

Consider some of these surprising statistics, sourced from a 2016 PwC survey of global CEOs and recent research published in the Harvard Business Review. Employees working in a company culture with high trust: 

• Report 74% less stress
• Report 106% more energy at work
• Feel 76% more engagement with their work
• Experience 40% less burnout
• Take 13% fewer sick days

Clearly, trust brings out our best in the workplace. But it’s elusive: consider that 55% of CEOs say a lack of trust within their companies is a problem. How, then, do you recognize when a lack of trust and engagement might be affecting your company culture? 

Recognizing the signs

According to the Forbes Coaches Circle, six common signs of lack of trust—and, by extension, happiness—in the workplace are: 

• Retention problems
• Poor communication and/or use of force and intimidation
• Culture of self-preservation
• Erratic, frequent change
• Lack of diversity and inclusion, or unwillingness to embrace D&I
• Rampant gossip

Acceptance of a problem is often the first step toward transformative change. Leaders who recognize signs of low trust and poor employee engagement in their workplaces can begin to take steps to address these problems—with huge benefits in productivity, contribution, collaboration, and employee loyalty. 

Making the shift

Research in the Harvard Business Review recognized key actions management and leadership can take to build cultures of high trust and engagement. These include: 

• Recognizing excellence, especially in public and personal ways
• Setting “stretch goals” that are achievable and ask people to work at the outer limits of their abilities
• Giving employees autonomy to get their work done
• Encouraging greater productivity and commitment by providing some choice in how and where people work, and what they work on 
• Being transparent in communication and sharing information broadly 
• Focusing on building relationships with colleagues

Join us to learn more

Want to learn more about building a healthy company culture? Join us in January to hear from Hollie Delaney, Head of People Operations for Zappos.com. Hollie will cover how company culture impacts HR and Zappos’ approach to self-management, the various programs directed at engaging employees and how trust plays a big part in the hiring decisions.

Since 1939, DallasHR has served Dallas-area HR professionals, helping them advance their careers and build their networks through education, events, and support. With more than 2,200 engaged members, DallasHR is the nation’s third-largest affiliate chapter of the Society for Human Resource Management (SHRM). DallasHR powers The HRSouthwest Conference, the official State of Text SHRM Conference and—with 2,300 annual attendees, speakers, and exhibitors, it’s one of the largest regional human resources events in the US.