Why establishing trust is more important than monitoring productivity

In the wake of Covid-19, many organisations – and employees – are concerned about maintaining productivity. The shift to remote working, combined with the chal­lenges of balancing career and caring responsibilities has led to the need for more flexibility.

Providing this flexibility re­quires trust, and while some organisations have put their em­ployees under scrutiny, those that understand the importance of trust have focused on enabling them to work in a way that accom­modates these trying times.

Employees at all levels are al­ready facing huge amounts of stress and anxiety, which is proven to undermine performance. Measures such as employee mon­itoring software only intensify these pressures, creating the perfect conditions for burnout.

Instead of focusing on short-term gains at the expense of employee health and wellbeing, now is the time to put more trust in your people. Studies have shown that employees working for or­ganisations with high levels of trust are more productive, have more energy at work, collaborate better with their colleagues and stay with their employers longer.

Building trust takes time, but it doesn’t require putting blind faith in your employees. As an organisation you can invest in technology that enables you to understand the needs of your em­ployees in real time, encourages management behaviours that es­tablish trust, and creates a feedback culture that relies on transparency and accountability.

In doing so, it’s possible to create an organisational culture that is more enjoyable for everyone involved, while still delivering high levels of performance and productivity.

Based on 10 million survey responses, our data reveals that Peakon customers improved employee engagement by 2 per cent between January and July 2020. Employees felt most positive about the ability to work remotely, the change to their working envi­ronment and the support given for their mental health.

Covid-19 has forced organisa­tions to make changes in months that might once have taken years. Those that have embraced this transformation and provided the trust and support that employees need are the same ones more likely to prosper in the new normal.

By Patrick Cournoyer, chief evangelist at Peakon, a Workday company

Download the full report at Peakon.com/heartbeat