Majority of UK workforce don’t trust those at the top

Managers need to do more if they want to earn the trust of their employees and to ensure they feel fairly treated, according to the latest survey into employee attitudes from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD), the professional body for all those involved in people management and development. Trust in senior management is declining, particularly in the private sector, with only 25% of all employees willing to place a lot of trust in senior management to look after their interests and 41% placing little or no trust in them to do so.

The survey, Employee Well-being and the Psychological Contract, is being launched at the CIPD’s Psychology at Work Conference on the 8 December. It is the ninth survey in the series and is based on responses from over 1,000 UK employees drawn from both private and public sectors. The survey explores trends in employee attitudes to work and relationships with managers and colleagues and provides a consistent baseline against which UK organisations can benchmark their own employment relationships.

Mike Emmott, CIPD Employee Relations Adviser, says, Trust is a key element in the psychological contract between employers and employees. If employees have a positive psychological contract, this means they will show higher levels of satisfaction, motivation and commitment to the organisation. Research shows these factors are important in helping employers reduce absence, retain staff and solve recruitment difficulties. So if employees don’t trust their employer, or don’t feel they are being treated fairly, this will be reflected in their lack of commitment and underperformance.

The survey shows that employers need to work a lot harder in order to get the best from their staff. Good communication is key -consulting people about change and ensuring they feel involved in the decision making process - is basic good management. But too many firms are not getting the basics right

It is not only top management who have problems - trust in employees’ immediate line manager has also declined, dropping in the private sector by over 10% over the past two years. Furthermore, fewer than half of respondents say their supervisor motivates them and only 37% say their line manager actually helps them improve performance.

The CIPD report, Understanding the People and Performance Link, by Professor John Purcell shows that line managers have a major impact on employee engagement and performance. A good line manager can help reduce absence, improve productivity and retain staff. It makes good business sense to ensure line managers are trained to motivate, communicate and engage with employees, says Mike Emmott.

Stress

The psychological contract report looks at levels of stress within the workplace and the issue of well-being at work. Research shows that stress can have huge costs for employers in terms of sickness absence, productivity and morale.

The report explored the characteristics of a high quality workplace. These are to do with the demands of the job, personal control, support from supervisors or colleagues, work relationships, clarity of role and degree of change in the workplace. The success of these six dimensions has a significant impact on levels of motivation, organisational commitment, satisfaction at work and customer loyalty. People who scored highly on these characteristics reported much lower levels of work-related stress.

Key findings from the survey include:

*21% of respondents said their jobs were either very of extremely stressful.

*26% said they received little or no support from their supervisor.

*42% said they have little control at work and 20% indicated limited control.

These findings suggest that managers need to make significant further efforts to tackle the issues responsible for creating stress: basically issues about good management.

Looking across the economy as a whole, employers appear to be falling below what the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) has identified as an acceptable standard on the core factors underpinning workplace stress levels. For example, 37% of respondents say their workload is too heavy and 20% do not believe the demands of their job are realistic. Although the published HSE stress standards do not incorporate a statistical threshold, HSE had previously suggested that figures over 15% on these factors should be regarded as unacceptable.

Mike Emmott says, The survey findings suggest that either the preliminary HSE standards were set too high or that UK plc is failing to put in place management practices that address the root causes of work-related stress. This is not a feel-good issue about being nice to employees. It is an issue about productivity and getting the best out of the workforce. The survey underlines once again that dealing with stress is an issue about performance and profitability.

Graduates
At a time when numbers of graduates are increasing and employers are fighting to recruit from this pool, it is interesting to note that graduates are less likely to report a positive state of the psychological contract.

*Graduates report lower levels of satisfaction and commitment, despite often occupying senior positions.

*Retention is more of a problem with highly employable graduates, especially those pursuing an independent career.

*24% of graduates seek independent careers and this group want career success but on their own terms and not tied to a particular organisation.

More and more people are going to university and the competition for top jobs is greater than ever. The negative attitudes expressed by graduates could be a reflection of the fact they have higher expectations about what they want from their job and they are not content to accept a job that doesn’t make them happy. They may appear unreliable to employers because they leave university not knowing what they want to do and perhaps take a job for the wrong reason.

Careers
We explored career preferences in terms of the following:
1. ’Traditional’ careers reflected in a long-term tenure in one organisation and upward mobility.

2.Those with ’independent’ careers who want career success but on their own terms and not tied to a particular organisation.

3.The ’disengaged’ who feel work is not a central life interest and want no emotional ties to their employing organisation.

*36% of respondents are pursing ’traditional’ careers; 25% have ’independent’ careers; and 31% are ’disengaged’.

*The traditional career retains its hold on young people, while older people are more likely to be disengaged.

*Traditional career workers are more likely to show organisational commitment and loyalty to their supervisor than people with other career preferences.

*Those pursuing independent careers have lower levels of commitment and satisfaction and a more negative psychological contract.

*Those with disengaged careers are less motivated.

These findings suggest that managers have a significant job on their hands in motivating a majority of their workforce. Those who are not looking for a traditional career are less likely to feel the need to make a favourable impression on their employer and less likely to demonstrate positive behaviours such as offering help to colleagues beyond their contractual obligation, says Emmott.