Retention Tip: Develop Trustworthy Managers
June 6th, 2007Approximately 32% of a worker’s desire to stay or go is the result of feeling or not feeling trust towards their boss. An employee’s longevity with a company directly correlates with how much they trust their immediate manager or boss. The extent to which an employee trusts their direct boss directly relates to their desire to spend their career with a company.
People tend to trust their direct boss a bit more than they trust top management.
- 34% of people strongly trust their direct boss.
- 35% moderately trust their direct boss.
- The remaining 31% range from not trusting to strongly distrusting their direct boss.
- Only 20% of people strongly trust the top management of their organization.
- 36% moderately trust their top management.
- The remaining 44% range from not trusting to strongly distrusting their top management.
Specific trust issue predictors for employee loyalty and retention:
- By far the most important factor is that their direct boss responds constructively when employees share a work-related problem (26% of wanting to stay or go).
- The direct boss makes smart decisions (adds another 3%).
- The direct boss is honest and truthful (adds another 2%).
- The direct boss helps employees grow and develop professionally (adds another 1%).
- Employees receive consistent direction from their immediate supervisor.
[Data from the Leadership IQ organizational trust study, which polled 7,209 executives, managers and employees.]
How do you find out whether your managers meet these predictive factors? Ask the people who report directly to them! Ask your employees specific questions, using a third party survey provider that can provide complete anonymity (Many employees, understandably, will not provide honest – useful – information unless they can be sure that their answers cannot be held against them in the workplace). Data Dome provides surveys to assess all aspects of organizational culture vitality, and trending surveys are also available, so that you can validate successful changes.
How do you hire and develop trustworthy managers that will fulfill the terms of these predictive factors? Use the proper validated assessments as part of your hiring process. Run 360-degree surveys to get the complete picture on their performance (make sure that survey questions are specific and validated). Invest in professional development and communication training.
How can you build trust toward top management? Communicate your vision better, include bottom-up on-the-ground information insights in the planning process. Make sure that employees understand how they fit into the organization and how they affect the bottom line.
If, in fact, your employees are correct to mistrust top management, it is long past time to confront and reshape the ethical values of the organization. Your top resource is the talent that drives the business and enables it to thrive and grow. As the skilled workforce shortage has an increasing impact, you’re going to need to be able to attract the best talent – and to do so in a much more competitive environment.
