leadership
High-trust Workplaces
Promote Employee Well-being
DEMONSTRATED COMMITMENT FROM LEADERS IS NEEDED TO MAKE THIS A
PART OF AN ORGANIZATION’S CULTURE
Great workplaces aren’t defined by eye-popping perks, pay
and benefits. Rather, what these workplaces have in com-mon
is a culture of trust. Great Place to Work Institute
(GPTW) has set the standard for defining and measur-ing
what it means to be a high-trust workplace. A key insight from
GPTW’s research is that trust-based cultures not only drive supe-rior
business performance, they also foster employee well-being.
This connection between trust and well-being deserves closer
scrutiny, given that more employers are trying to move beyond tra-ditional
occupational health, safety and wellness by embracing the
more holistic concept of employee well-being.
LINKING TRUST AND WELL-BEING
According to the International Labour Organization, well-being
includes, “all aspects of working life, from the quality and
safety of the physical environment, to how workers feel about
their work, their working environment, the climate at work and
work organization.”
Employers can improve employee well-being by taking an
integrated and comprehensive approach to promoting physical,
psychological and emotional health and safety. Most critical is
demonstrated commitment from leaders to improve employee well-being
and embedding this goal into the organization’s culture.
GPTW’s research shows how this happens. Employees trust
managers who are concerned about their well-being. Trustworthy
managers listen and respond to employee input and are open and
honest about change. Strong core values – such as fairness, respect
and integrity – positively guide day-to-day interactions among
co-workers, between managers and employees, and between
employees and their customers or clients, suppliers, business part-ners
and the larger community. Employees take pride in their work
and feel a true sense of camaraderie with co-workers. The synergy
between trust, pride and camaraderie inspires collaboration, cre-ativity
and innovation. As a result, employees flourish and their
overall work experiences are positive.
ASSESSING WELL-BEING
That’s because a high-trust culture promotes psychological well-being,
which is a central goal of the National Standard of Canada
for Psychological Health and Safety in the Workplace (the
By Graham Lowe, PhD
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