How to Build Trust with Your Employees

With any small business, knowing how to build trust with your employees is key to success. When you find the right people, you need to keep them by your side, especially those who watched your company grow from the start and know your company inside and out. Trust is vital in good business relationships, and can be cultivated with some simple yet effective techniques.

Incorporate flexible working

Nothing strengthens the employer-employee relationship more than trusting your staff to get on with their job without constant oversight and checking. It really proves that the company trusts the employee, and this trust will naturally be returned to the benefit of both parties.

Allow your employees to work from home using Voice Over Internet Protocol (VoIP) enabled technology. This cloud solution integrates modern communication software to create a “virtual office” for employees, wherever they work. All your employee needs is a good internet connection and VoIP platform, and they can take part in conference calls, access address books and company work files, and do everything they could in the office, at home, or wherever else they need to work. Encouraging flexible working gives your employees a level of autonomy that truly demonstrates you trust them to fulfill their work commitments. It may sound risky, but it’s not all that uncommon. There are over 4.2 million people working from home in the UK in 2015, an increase of 800,000 since 2005, and home working is set to become the norm where possible in future.

Encourage career development

No one is happy feeling they are stuck in a dead end job, with little chance of promotion. It can greatly demotivate staff and mean you’ll eventually lose the most dynamic employees to your competitors, who’ll gain the benefit of all the knowledge and expertise they learned with you. Prevent this by investing in solid career development techniques for your staff. Find out the roles or areas they would like to move in to, and put together a solid, measurable plan for each employee, and stick to it. You may discover hidden talents or ambitions that could greatly benefit your company in the long run, as well as building trust in your employee that the company cares about their well being, making them far more likely to stick around.

Build strong teams

Trust is essential for effective team working. Give your employees a chance to get to know each other and connect with each other, through team building exercises or social events. Connect the work you are doing with the company’s values, so team members understand the company vision and are more likely to respect the work they do. Encourage debate, and never chastise anyone publicly for voicing concerns or opinions, so your teams build up trust in their colleagues and feel the company is listening to them. Uncertainty feeds mistrust, so ensure to provide regular constructive team feedback so each member understands their input is valuable and knows where they stand with their work, as well as how they might improve it.

Staying in contact with your employees is vital for building trust and long lasting relationships. But different age groups prefer to use different forms of communication. A VoIP solution combined with a fast internet connection will give you access to all current forms of communication. VoIPOffice from Telappliant provides instant messaging, UK and International calling from a PC, tablet or mobile, video calling and free VoIP-to-VoIP calls. While the fast internet connection enables VoIP it also allows your employees to communicate via email and so completing the full range of communication options available to your staff.

Contact us today and see how a VoIP solution could help build trust with your employees by enabling remote working.

Source for stats: https://realbusiness.co.uk/article/30370-42m-people-across-the-uk-now-work-from-home-but-trust-is-a-growth-barrier