Trust – it’s difficult to earn, easy to lose, and critically important for your organization’s success.

• Employee mistrust will be a leading cause of turnover as the job market revives.
• Employees who do not trust their managers and organizations focus on protecting themselves at the expense of the commitment, productivity, and cooperation organizations need to compete.
• Mistrust makes it more difficult to create a compelling culture that provides a sustainable competitive advantage.
• Managers and organizations can significantly reduce mistrust by providing open, honest, and frequent communication.
• Follow-through on commitments and promises may be the single most important behavior in preventing employee mistrust.

These are just a few of the conclusions from Phase I of the Trust Factors @ Work study conducted by Pennington Performance Group in partnership with IRI Consultants to Management and Pilat NAI.

The negative effects of mistrust in the workplace are widely accepted. But, investigation into the exact behaviors and performance that reduces trust between an organization and its employees has been minimal until now. The Trust Factors @ Work study was initiated to identify the causes of employee mistrust and its effect on both people and organizations.