A couple of weeks ago, Ken Myers wrote a guest post called: Want Happy Customers? Cultivate Happy Employees. In the post, he articulates what we can expect when we implement this simple mantra: an engaged workforce, a growing customer base and, crucially, increased productivity.

But, how does a company go about empowering its employees and making them happy? Myers believes that there are many things a company can do but valuing your employees contributions, giving them more responsibility and allowing them to take ownership of important company decisions is crucial. However, to make all of these work requires one thing.

Trust.

But, what does it take to have trust in and build and earn trust with your employees?

Susanne Jacobs and the employee benefits team at Unum have been exploring that and have come up with an interesting infographic that illustrates the impact trust has on a workforce.

They have found that there are 8 indicators of trust, each one leading to a more motivated workforce:

1. Belong and connect,
2. Voice and recognition,
3. Significance and position,
4. Fairness,
5. Learn and challenge,
6. Choice and autonomy,
7. Security and certainty, and
8. Purpose.

If you address these factors and combine these with a number of individual and environmental factors, it can have a significant impact on employees’ wellbeing, trust and performance.

Workplace Trust: An infographic by the team at Unum UK

Thanks to vagawi  for the image.