Trust is Key for Terrific Toilers

As you may have heard, won the Shropshire Star’s annual Excellence in Business Awards, as one of the best places to work in the county :-)

We’re over the moon of course to be recognised in this way, as amongst other things, we place a strong emphasis in promoting from within and encouraging our team to work hard and play even harder.

A big part of what we do is managing internal communications for a diverse range of companies, from large FTSE 100s through to small boutique brands. So this fab news got us thinking – what really makes a company great to work for? Is it about the staff benefits, flexibility in terms of working hours and locations, or career development and progression opportunities?

We did some investigating and found that for the majority of employees, the most important key factor is trust. This can be with regards the trusting relationships between line managers and colleagues, or indeed trust in the work they’re doing and in the actual product or service being offered to clients. If there’s trust in all of these things and this aligns with an individual’s personal core values, there’s already a fantastic footing to make a great working environment.

But we all see the world through a different lens, so it’s not so surprising that the perspectives of an employee and employer vary. This can subsequently and directly have an effect on results, employee motivation, engagement and outputs – depending on how different they are…

An Employee's View

A great working environment is one where they:

• Trust the people they work for
• Have pride in the work they do
• Enjoy the company of the people that they work with

And an Owner or Manager’s View

is one where they:

• Achieve organisational objectives or goals…
• ...with employees who do their best and
• Work together as a team in an environment of trust

In our experience – particularly in light of the industry we’re in – one of the biggest reasons for decreased employee motivation is directly due to poor communication between the individual and their senior colleagues. If what is expected of each other isn’t clearly outlined between both parties, trust can’t be properly established and maintained, which may cause problems down the line.

We asked our team individually at Zen to identify the most impactful things an employer can do to create an awesome workplace. Our findings differed naturally, but if you look carefully at each point, they tend to all come down to trust:

• Looking after the team | genuinely caring about each other and showing interest in work lives and personal lives really does count
• Creating a place that they love | spending most of the day at work, it’s important to be in an environment that’s comfortable and welcoming
• Encouragement | push employees to become better at what they do and recognise them for achievements. The sky is the limit and no one will hold them back
• Varied work | everyone has a job they dislike – but have to do anyway – so it’s crucial to have a varied workload to keep motivation and enthusiasm high
• Feeling important | no matter what level, age, skills or knowledge, everyone in your organisation has to feel like they matter, and that you care about them. After all, employees are your most important asset! 

We’d love to hear about what you do to enthuse, motivate and engage with your team… And what makes *your business* an awesome place to work, so do share the love :-)