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Why Repairing Trust After Workforce Reduction Enhances Productivity
Written by Dianne Crampton Workforce reduction, if it is handled poorly damages the perceived integrity, reliability and fairness of the organization. When this happens, trust is compromised. This article offers insight in how employees respond to low trust work environments. |
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I remember how I felt the day I climbed onto the ledge six feet above the concrete pavement and looked down at my colleagues. We were enrolled at a Project Adventure facilitator’s boot camp and I was getting ready to turn away from the group, cross my arms over my chest and free fall backward into their arms. Trust was an issue. I was surrendering my safety, well being and control over to someone else. I had to trust that their sense of duty and responsibility for my safety was real. That elusive feeling of trust that develops gradually within a group can be easily diminished or lost by inattentiveness. I tilted back on my heels and fell. It took all my self control not to flail my arms out to catch myself and inadvertently break someone’s nose as adrenaline and blood surged through my body. The risk was real. The feeling of free fall and faith that someone is prepared to catch you is also common among survivors of corporate reduction. Do they trust that the company is reliable, has integrity, is fair, cares about their well being and is competently prepared to catch stressed and concerned employees? Do they think the company cares? According to Roberta Matusun’s recent Op Ed in New England Journal of Technology, how an organization downsizes effects employee morale and commitment. She gives examples of both good and poor workforce reduction procedures. Trust is the belief and confidence in the integrity, reliability and fairness of a person or organization. It is history dependent because what is said and what is done must be congruent over time. And, it is easier and less expensive to build trust then it is to rebuild it. Workforce reduction and the way it is handled either reinforce congruency or breaks it along with perceived integrity, reliability and fairness. When this happens, trust is compromised. According to Abraham Maslow, trust is an essential human need, and as such is required for a person to grow cognitively to fulfill his potential. This potential slows during prolonged periods of stress and uncertainty. For one reason, employees are defensive rather than open and creative when trust is compromised. This leads to reduced workforce productivity and the following behaviors: -- Suspicion -- Guardedness --Taking on more than they can handle resulting in poor internal and external customer service -- Working more slowly -- Missing important details -- Not freely helping others for fear of being replaced -- Closed and silent when their input is requested for problem solving -- Non genuine -- Disloyal First, the fight or flight response releases hormones, which become harmful if not used that reduce the employee’s ability to perform complex problem solving, creative functions, and activities that require memory. This is why a fearful and stressed workforce tends to score lower in problem solving, creativity and the ability to learn new skills than an enthusiastic workforce with multiple opportunities to learn and grow without fear of repercussion. Second, these same fight or flight hormones compromise a healthy immune system. This is why many highly stressed people tend to come down with more colds and flue than less stressed colleagues. For this reason, Toyota, the world's No. 1 automaker, is resisting job cuts for its 1,900 workers in San Antonio, offering reduced workweeks instead of pink slips. And, as Toyota faces its first corporate loss in its 70-year history, the automaker is offering buyouts to 18,000 U.S. workers in an attempt to thin its factory workforce voluntarily. The manufacturer also hires temporary workers to meet fluctuating market demands and these employees know up front that they would be let go first before full time employees. Executives at Toyota believe that losing employee trust is far too costly to pursue short term decisions that impact long term productivity. Trust because of its impact on workforce productivity is too valuable an asset to be taken for granted. It's very difficult to negotiate organizational change or do collaborative work without it. Therefore, companies can help repair trust by taking measures to help employees manage stress and let go of disappointments effectively. For a FREE white paper discussing the best and most disruptive behaviors that face teams today, go to http://www.corevalues.com/about-you.html . |
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