According to a 2014 American Psychological Association survey, nearly 1 in 4 employees say they don’t trust their employer. Only about 50% of the 1,562 US workers surveyed believe that their employer is open and upfront with them. This is quite unfortunate, considering that trust is the cornerstone for cultivating an environment where workers are productive, engaged, and continually productive. This lack of confidence is attributable to the absence of transparency in the workplace.
An increase in remote working due to Covid-19 has created the perfect storm of logistical challenges for organizations. One of the major difficulties facing team leaders or managers is having enough transparency to ensure that the team can work well together in a remote setup. Organizations must adjust their business structure and protocols to facilitate greater employer transparency in a remote workplace.
Here are some reasons why employer transparency is crucial in a remote workplace — whether you are a hybrid-remote or a fully remote organization.
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Relationship-Building
The potential benefits of remote working are substantial, from lower costs to improved productivity and greater talent access. However, remote working can put a strain on workplace relationships. For instance, remote workers in a hybrid-remote model often feel disenfranchised, isolated, and unhappy. Over time, this will take a toll on workplace relationships. Greater employer transparency improves employee trust. Trust is critical when it comes to building and maintaining solid workplace relationships.
Culture-Building
Company culture is a great way for workers to understand what their employer values beyond their individual contributions. A significant shift to remote working can negatively affect the ability to generate social cohesion and create a common culture within an organization. Organizations need to define core values and encourage a unified culture for their remote teams. Team leaders can achieve this by using videos, virtual town halls, techorating, and other efforts that could support employee engagement and learning.
Improved Understanding Of Roles
Your organization may be saving a lot of money by letting your team work remotely. But it’s not easy to keep a remote workforce working as a unit. It’s challenging to stay focused when working from home. Some employees may feel a bit lost without an office structure. Transparency fosters a better understanding of roles within a remote workforce. Ensure that your employees understand their role in the organization’s context to ensure efficiency when working remotely by implementing greater transparency within the organization.
Increased Engagement
Whether you have just a handful of remote employees or your entire staff is working remotely, it takes some talent to manage them. For instance, it isn’t easy to keep employees engaged in a remote working environment. Being more transparent with your employees can help. An organization that values transparency in the workplace breeds more engaged workers. Research shows that employees are more engaged when senior leadership continually updates and communicates company strategy via email, digital signage, social media, and other communication tools.
Adaptability
One of the main advantages of a remote workforce is the increased potential for flexible adaptation in their industry. Often, employees have a hard time adapting along with the organization, especially if there is no transparency about changes in the organization. Employees will find it easier to adjust to new industry conditions with effective communication from company leadership. Information should be distributed in a timely fashion through communications that value transparency.
Reassurance About Job Security
As an employer, it’s essential to understand that people want to feel safe and secure. When employees come to work, they want to know that the management values them and that their jobs are safe. It’s hard for someone to do their best work if they are in a constant state of worry and stress about the future of their job. So, a lack of clarity about company structure and company initiatives makes workers feel uncertain about job security. Employer transparency in the form of reassurance about job security can make things easier.
Adjustment To Changing Employee Values
There has been a massive shift in the values and attitudes of the workforce as well as the work culture over the last few years. The adjustment to remote working is just one of the aspects of a changing working landscape. Public visibility in organizations’ inner workings — pay rates, employee experience, operations, and financials — is increasing over time. Transparency can help your organizations adjust to the changing times.
With the increasing need for remote working comes the need for increased transparency on the employer’s part. In other words, being transparent with your workers will ensure that they feel like they are part of the team and perform their specific tasks, increasing productivity, and making your business grow. Use the above strategies to increase transparency with your remote workers and watch them interact better and perform the required tasks with little supervision.
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