When you get down to the heart of it, trust is an element which bleeds into every aspect of a business. A lack of trust between employer and employee suggests a fundamental disconnect between goals and is a good indication of how prevailing attitudes towards workplace structure may hamper the relationship between businesses and their people.
The ability for businesses to engender a strong culture of trust within their people will be absolutely vital in helping promoting engagement and wellbeing- elements crucial in driving forward productivity and profitability so crucial to ensure a strong post-pandemic recovery.
We understand that this is a task which is easier said than done. Crafting and promoting policy designed to engender trust within an organisation relies upon juggling a myriad of factors and represents a significant undertaking for HR teams and business leaders.
At Advanced, we understand how vital it is that you are able to create a culture of trust within your organisation, which is precisely why our cloud based HR solution was crafted to help give your people teams the oversight and the information you need to help drive conversations around trust within your workplace and how you can empower your people to achieve more.
Why is trust important?
Trust is a two way street and in order for employees to feel fully trusted and to in turn, place their trust within their workplace, it requires positive action from business leaders. We have seen the widespread positive impacts of hybrid working In helping businesses to remain agile and operational, even in the face of a global crisis. Despite this, there are far too many indications that some businesses are still unwilling to place a basic level of trust in there people, instead, letting themselves become overtaken by older prejudices around home working and productivity.
The level of trust in your workplace also serves as a weather vane for motivation and engagement. A staggering 90% of respondees to a Microsoft survey felt a sense of inclusion within their organisation, with this sense of close knitted camaraderie being reflected in output, with a further 77% claiming that their productivity levels never dropped over the course of a year between June 2020-2021. What this suggests therefore, is a close link between well embedded trust and high performance.
As companies reconcile themselves with the structure of the new working world, one of the most important elements which businesses will be looking to embed is a strong sense of engagement from their people. The issue of how to remain connected with and continuously empowering and motivating an increasingly widespread workforce, is understandably being seen as a major roadblock to growth and recovery. Research by the Harvard Business Review highlights the close connection between trust and engagement, with 76% of people surveyed stating that they felt engagement within their business was higher as a result of high levels of organisational trust.
Trust also feeds directly into employee stress levels with 74% of people working in an organisation with a well embedded culture of trust, feeling less stressed than many of their contemporaries. Any workplace which is able to demonstrate a kinder, less stressful working environment will inevitably see this reflected in lower instances of stress related sick leave.
How Cloud HR can help
The answer to embedding a strong culture of trust in an organisation will once again fall at the feet of HR teams. The systems and processes championed by your HR professionals are the ultimate way for you to gain access to the metrics you need to grant you an understanding of the wider output of your people. Engendering trust within your workforce cannot happen if business leaders are jumping at shadows and second-guessing productivity every step of the way. Lean on your systems and technology to ensure your people are hitting key deadlines and deliverables- focus on those goals, rather than the method.
Your HR systems are also an invaluable asset in helping you manage and maintain employee wellbeing, allowing your HR teams to drive forward important conversations with your people around their working conditions, workload and any other external factors which may hamper their input. The pre-pandemic world is bringing with it a greater demand for more engaged and empathetic HR teams and by being able to proactively drive conversations around wellbeing now, you are better equipped to anticipate the needs of your people and ultimately, help make them feel looked after
We built Cloud HR to help you achieve exactly that: removing the tedious elements of the HR functions and freeing your people teams to be the influential driving force in retaining your talent that your business deserves them to be.
So just how can Cloud HR help engender trust?
Communication
Much the same as when businesses were first laying out their future working plans, the key to engendering trust will be to ensure that clear lines of communication exist between organisations and their employees. No policies or shifts in company culture can exist in a vacuum and just as businesses relied on the input of their people to help shape their flexible working set ups, so too should they lean on their employees to continuously help refine processes.
Cloud HR offers you the ability to stay connected with your people and drive conversations around your organisational structure, effectively taking into account the needs of your people. Cloud HR offers you the oversight you need in order to keep an open forum policy and ensure that your people are kept aware of any impending changes to their working structure. Keep your people engaged too via pulse surveys or other metrics, so that their considerations can help shape policy.
Gain trust through trust.
While this may seem paradoxical, no business can expect to have a well embedded culture of trust if senior management is unable to display a certain degree of trust in their people. As mentioned previously, one of the biggest hurdles facing organisations is the potential of backsliding into pre pandemic prejudices around homeworking and falling into the trap of second guessing productivity of remote staff.
By working in lockstep with the other elements of your HCM function, Cloud HR offers you the ability to create a seamless workforce management experience such as the time and attendance and payroll function, effective collating data around hours worked and other metrics regarding employee output.
For building trust amongst hybrid teams, a focus should be placed firmly on output. Drive every conversation around performance and meeting deadlines- Praise your people for consistency in hitting targets and if possible, try to gather team members in a face to face setting in order to celebrate successes. By focusing more on output and wins, you de-emphasise the differences in working set ups and turn people’s attention onto factors which are ultimately more meaningful.
Focus on the Human element.
We believe in the power of HR software as a tool to achieve more than just monitor your people and processes. At Advanced, we believe that when harnessed properly, technology has the ability to empower and transform the very fabric of businesses. We designed Cloud HR with that exact purpose in mind- to free HR teams and to help them accomplish the full scope of their role.
HR teams serve as the cornerstone of empathy, engagement and wellbeing within their organisations. “Soft” Human skills were already becoming an increasingly human part of the HR function pre pandemic and in the wake of the crisis, this looks to be more influential than ever. A commitment to looking after the wellbeing of your people, as well as demonstrating a degree of understanding of the factors which can negatively impact them, will be a vital element in building trust with your people.
In order to fully embed and promote a culture of trust, HR teams should be encouraged to continue to nurture these “Soft” skills, driving conversations around wellbeing with employees and ensuring that no employee need suffer in silence, regardless of where they choose to work from. Cloud HR has been designed to offer you the framework you need to stay connected with your hybrid teams and effectively drive those vital conversations around wellbeing and offering a forum for employees to voice any concerns to the wider business.
What’s next?
It’s obvious that trust plays a huge factor in determining levels of employee engagement, wellbeing and motivation. With organisations setting their sights firmly on driving forward business recovery plans, it goes without saying that those businesses who are unable to foster a culture of trust within their employees will find any growth or success severely hampered.
The answer to embedding a strong culture of trust in an organisation will once again fall at the feet of HR teams. The systems and processes championed by your HR professionals are the ultimate way for you to gain access to the metrics you need to grant you an understanding of the wider output of your people. Engendering trust within your workforce cannot happen if business leaders are jumping at shadows and second-guessing productivity every step of the way. Lean on your systems and technology to ensure your people are hitting key deadlines and deliverables- focus on those goals, rather than the method.
Your HR systems are also an invaluable asset in helping you manage and maintain employee wellbeing, allowing your HR teams to drive forward important conversations with your people around their working conditions, workload and any other external factors which may hamper their input. The pre-pandemic world is bringing with it a greater demand for more engaged and empathetic HR teams and by being able to proactively drive conversations around wellbeing now, you are better equipped to anticipate the needs of your people and ultimately, help make them feel looked after
At Advanced, we believe in the power of technology to help you achieve more. We understand that the future of HR is going to place a focus squarely on the “Human” element, which is why our Cloud HR solution is designed specifically to give you the oversight you need to understand the challenges facing your people and to help you craft policy and procedure to meet their needs.
The future success of your business may very well depend on how effectively you are able to foster a culture of trust and open honesty within your organisation. If you’d like to find out more about how Advanced can help engender trust within your workforce, get in touch with one of our friendly team members today.