Who do you trust?

Which brands do you put your ‘trust’ in?

Do you have a ‘go to’ car brand?

A supermarket you rely on above all others?

A fashion label that ‘gets’ you?

62% of people say that trust is an important factor to them when choosing to engage with a brand, according to Accenture’s (NYSE: ACN) 18th annual Life Trends report.

Now think about Trust in the workplace.

Who has earned your trust? Your manager? Colleagues around you? The leadership team? How deep is the is the ‘reservoir of goodwill’ they built with you?

According to the PWCs trust survey from last year, 86% of executives say they highly trust their employees, but only 60% of employees feel highly trusted.

So why the gap? Well, what has the business done to earn their trust? Does it allow them to perform at their best? Does it provide the tech tools and working environment needed to succeed? How about its culture, is it supportive? Does it invest in learning and development?

Increased employee satisfaction in turn leads to increased productivity, better customer service, greater innovation and discretionary effort and ultimately a stronger employer reputation – all of which improve organisational performance.

As a result, it’s essential for companies to measure and understand the key drivers that impact an employee’s view of the business. It’s all well and good investing in salary benchmarking tools, a brilliant tech stack and an outstanding ESG strategy – but if an organisation hasn’t taken the time to understand employee perception, then it can’t be surprised by the lack of discretionary effort in return. Not to mention increased attrition and a problem attracting talent.

There’s only so far goodwill will take a brand – for both customers and employees. So when (for whatever reason) that goodwill starts to disappear, it’s essential that an organisation understands the reasons why.