Brexit is not the only thing worrying employees.
All of us seem to be obsessed about Brexit– an uncertain future that seems to change every day. But in the workplace there are plenty of other changes that employees are being forced to deal with.
As the workplace continues to evolve ever faster, employees are swamped by seemingly endless change initiatives. Whether it’s related to adoption of new technology, ways of working or restructures, employee agility is always being tested. The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer reveals that almost half of employees feel the pace of change in the workplace is too fast – they’re struggling to keep up.
What’s even more worrying is that only 38 per cent of employees believe their employer communicates the nature of changes sufficiently clearly and often. Employees have high expectations – it’s not always simply the change that frustrates them. It’s more how leaders communicate. And this will be a major contributor to the successful introduction of new working environments.
Employers need to get comfortable with their role as trusted partners in change and ensure those expectations are met.
Here are five tips to keep employees involved and content during any period of transformation:
- Tell a compelling story: use the power of storytelling to explain changes in a way that grabs attention
- Create a trust-building environment: ensure leaders understand how best to engender trust – by being open and honest and explaining the rationale for decisions
- Include and empower employees: give them the information they need early on and provide avenues for them to express their feedback
- Help leaders and managers support their workforce: make sure those expected to interpret how change is going to work understand the critical conversations they need to have to bring their people on the journey
- Encourage two-way conversation: real dialogue, not a series of top-down instructions is the way to discover what is at the heart of employees’ concerns
Managing change as it happens is critically important. Employers will be in a much better position to do this if they take care of the necessities that make their employees trust them.
Nicole Linger is a Senior Director at Edelman, you can contact her directly at Nicole.Linger@edelman.com