A total of 28% of employees do not trust the senior leaders in their organisation.
According to a new study by the Kenexa High Performance Institute, only 48% of survey respondents say that they trust the senior leaders in their company. Out of the 10,000 employees surveyed, the remaining 24% were undecided about whether they trusted senior management.
The study, entitled Trust Matters, states that the three behaviours that mainly affect whether employees trust or distrust their employers are: integrity (are they honest?), kindness (do they care about me?) and competence (can they do their job?).
The study goes on to say that employees are twice as likely to trust their senior leaders if the organisation has published a mission statement, carried out an employee opinion survey, sponsored a quality improvement initiative, collected customer satisfaction feedback, carried out annual performance reviews or cross-trained employees.
The survey’s authors think that a culture of mistrust within an organisation can have dire consequences for employees.
Dr Rena Rasch, research manager at the Kenexa High Performance Institute and author of the report, says: “Trust is about relying on, and having confidence in, the actions of another person.”
“Employees who distrust their leaders are nine times more likely seriously to consider leaving their organisation. They’re also 15 times more likely to report unreasonable work stress and seven times more likely to feel mentally and physically unwell.
Those surveyed worked in a mix of private sector and public sector jobs.
