Building a safe workplace begins with trust

Developing a culture of trust is important in providing a safe environment for employees. Without this vital component, workplaces stand to alienate people.

Trust should be used as the foundation for implementing work health and safety policy, noted Hall and Wilcox partner Fay Calderone. People who don’t trust their employer could be less likely to come forward when issues of bullying and harassment arise.

“The important questions that leaders need to be asking themselves are really around trust,” Calderone said.

“Have we built an environment here where people trust the system in terms of reporting? Do people come forward in terms of issues that have arisen in the workplace, complaints they have, bullying, sexual harassment or otherwise? And do they trust leaders will believe them or appropriately address these issues in the workplace?”

Leaders should build a system of safety that employees trust; otherwise, initiatives can fall flat. To ensure processes remain effective, Calderone outlined some questions employers can ask themselves.

“Are we trusting the system? Are we following through on consequences? But more positively, do people come to work knowing why they are there? Is there the fundamental glue in the way that the culture of your business has been built? Do people know the why? Do people live the values? Are you, as a leader, engaging consistently with those values? And when people show up to your workplace, is it that they are?” Calderone said.

“We want them to be safe. That’s the fundamental, that’s the baseline. But do they also feel like they are included? Do they also feel like they belong? They belong because belonging is where the true magic happens.”

Gauging opinions is an important step in building trust. If you don’t connect with your workforce, how can trust thrive? According to Calderone, making use of data is a great way to identify themes.

“Leaders should definitely look at the data first and foremost. Look behind the scenes. Things like absenteeism records, turnover records, exit interviews, [and] claims complaints will tell you a lot about what might be happening or bubbling under the surface. But after you’ve seen the data or have hunches around the data, it is critical to have conversations with your people,” she said.

“The first and easiest way to do this … are things like psychosocial surveys, as many organisations across Australia are doing at the moment, where people can respond anonymously, and that can give you a bit of a heat map in terms of things that might be occurring or problem areas that there might be that need to be addressed.”

Calderone added: “But more fundamentally, I think the best work is had in focus groups and in conversations with people. And the most important thing, or the only way you will be able to have these conversations meaningfully and productively, is if you have those environments where there is trust. So, if there’s no trust, you might have to build it before you get people in a room.”

This conversation will appear on a forthcoming episode of The HR Leader podcast.