There has been much debate about the gender pay gap between men and women in the workplace but is this now expanding to a trust gap too? Trust and fairness in the workplace is one of the main areas that employees will pay particular attention to, asking themselves regularly whether their situation at work is a fair one. And in most cases comparing themselves with their colleagues too.
Whilst many companies are committed to gender equality, women are still massively under represented in the workplace and progress is slow, meaning that these barriers can hold women back in the workplace, leading to a trust gap.
Sadly the Covid-19 pandemic has exacerbated this with women facing greater challenges re home and work, children, those who care for elderly relatives in relation to work, progression and pay!
According to a recent study, one in three employees do not trust the leaders in their company and the annual survey completed by Mercer Sirota which surveys over 1 million employees around the world found some rather interesting facts when it comes to gender and the trust gap:
• 26% of female employees do not believe they can report an ethical concern without fear of retaliation
• 33% of female employees do not feel they can express their ideas or their views without fear of negative consequences
• 47% of female employees perceive favouritism at work with regards to distribution of promotions and workload etc.
Trust is one of the most important factors for any company and this has to be a two-way street for both employees and employers. Trust is an organisational performance and profit multiplier as those companies with a higher trust culture perform nearly two times better than the rest of the market.
Trust is an employee engagement and satisfaction multiplier where the top two elements that contributed towards employee satisfaction were:
• Respectful treatment regardless of seniority level
• Trust between employee and senior leaders
Trust is also an individual and performance retention multiplier whereby a recent report suggested that those people in high trust companies perform 20% better and are 87% less likely to leave compared to those working in a low trust company.
For leaders and managers, closing this trust gap is paramount when it comes to keeping talent at the workplace and this can easily be achieved by being transparent, open and honest and by behaving ethically. If companies across the world can close the trust gap, they are automatically creating a workplace where all employees, including female talent, can thrive and consider their organisation a ‘great place to work’.
CJC with its years of grass root experience and people contact (actual people not emails or social media), understands how important equality and trust in the workplace; is it time for a re-think?