Trust in the Workplace: Why It’s Needed More Than Ever

Written by Savannah Hayes | May 6, 2024

Leadership author Stephen Covey once said, “Trust is the glue of life. It’s the most essential ingredient in effective communication. It’s the foundational principle that holds all relationships.”

When quiet quitting is trending and burnout is at a global high, it’s time to dig deeper into how businesses and organizations can support a culture of trust. When employees trust their leaders, it can open doors for productivity, innovation, and positive relationships. On the other hand, the absence of trust can create a culture of suspicion, doubt, and possibly worst of all, wasted resources.

Trust in the workplace needs to be a priority for startups and corporations alike. While the bottom line is important in any business, there’s more to success than finances alone. This article explores the links between employee trust and productivity, engagement, innovation, and conflict so you can be fully prepared to step into a leadership role that inspires your team rather than demands from them.

Trust is knowing there is mutual respect and kindness.

Defining Trust

A lack of trust in the workplace is one of the strongest links to employee burnout but even further, workplace attitudes are stronger predictors of burnout than objective factors like employee turnover and vacancy rates.

Professional relationships differ among coworkers, team members, management, and senior leadership, but trust relates to them all. Trust is defined by some as the intention of vulnerability based on expectations of how the other person will treat you. Put simply, trust is knowing there is mutual respect and kindness.

When a professional relationship allows for autonomy, authenticity, and transparency, it creates an environment for innovation and productivity to flourish. These pieces all relate to one another — positivity and trust lead to more positivity and more trust.

In a healthy workplace, employees feel trusted, which lets them put out their best work. Here are four ways that employee trust in the workplace benefits everybody:

1. Higher engagement
2. More productivity
3. Collaborative innovation
4. Reduced conflict

Trust and Engagement

Trust creates a workplace where colleagues and leaders alike are comfortable sharing their ideas, concerns, and feedback openly. They’re engaged because they trust their perspectives will be valued and respected. It’s this openness that promotes collaboration and creativity, driving everyone to work together toward shared goals. Engaged team members see their contributions to those goals and care more about the success of the company.

Through open collaboration, people learn more about one another, creating a sense of belonging. That belonging fosters a culture of acceptance, understanding, and employee trust. With a culture of belonging, team members are more likely to express their authentic selves, leading to more engagement and satisfaction in their role. An especially valuable bonus is that employees who feel like they belong are much less likely to look for alternative jobs.

At the end of the day, the collaboration that comes from mutual trust means employees are more likely to feel like they belong. That belonging both prevents people from searching for other jobs while also contributing to the shared sense of teamwork.

Engaged team members care more about the success of the company.

Trust and Productivity

Productivity increases as micromanagement decreases. When employees feel a sense of autonomy, the ability to have some level of control over their work and their environment, their productivity increases. Not only is the employee working more efficiently, this leads to a more efficient team with better overall mood.

Imagine all the time lost  spent when stressed employees need to vent, question their managers, and consider what they would do differently if they were in charge. Instead, fostering employee trust relates to more work done in less time.

Trust starts with management. When managers trust team members to get their work done and done right, team members have the autonomy and flexibility to do their best work. Clear communication is the cornerstone to transparency, which contributes to organizational trust.

Trust and Innovation

Feeling safe to experiment allows for more innovation. Trust is what gives employees the freedom to develop and pursue new ideas or problem-solving styles. There’s no room for dismissive leadership. Why would someone offer their opinion if they didn’t feel valued or recognized?

Trusting that their hard work will be recognized gives people the motivation to try new things. There’s a sense of comfort and safety in innovation when there’s a foundation of trust. Being open and honest with feedback then welcomes innovation from all levels of an organization, even unexpected ones. All this innovation contributes to the bottom line.

Trusted employees are more likely to go above and beyond for their organization — they’ve said so themselves. This is especially true when senior leaders take the time to inspire and encourage their employees. A culture of trust encourages people to share ideas, questions, concerns and thoughts that others may not have thought of — again to the ultimate benefit of the company and everyone involved.

Trust and Conflict

Trust plays a critical role in team dynamics, and not only on the positive side. Healthy teamwork simply can’t happen when there’s no basis for trust. Communicating with clarity and transparency shows how well someone trusts their team.

Meanwhile, a lack of employee trust results in tension and conflict, wasting valuable time and energy. This distrust can trickle down all the way from senior leadership. If a manager feels their superior doesn’t trust them, that manager is more likely to feel doubtful or conflicted towards their team members.

Organizations that communicate clearly and with trust for their teams are going to move towards their goals much faster and with less conflict. Again, this starts with leadership setting the example. When leaders openly share their minds, intentions and beliefs, they set an example of trust and healthy communication for the rest of the organization.

Communicating with clarity and transparency shows how well someone trusts their team.

Take Refresh for Example

Refresh walks the talk. In a workplace where employees and managers trust each other all the way from top to bottom, innovative opinions are shared faster, issues are brought up and solved easily, flexibility contributes to more effective work, and team members discuss every idea and option to the fullest. Team members are valued and feel engaged in the greater good.

Ready to Join the Movement?

Discover how to improve your employee trust and team wellness with Refresh. Sign up for our newsletter for more organizational wellness content and to find new ways to support your team. Join us in nurturing the interconnected workforce of the future.