The workplace is evolving and so are the needs of employees. Younger workers want to feel challenged, motivated, happy and valued. They also want a work-life balance that gives them the freedom to thrive at work whilst not interfering with their social life.
In order to retain younger talent, companies need to find ways of building trust with their employees. This can be done through communicating openly, showing appreciation for their contributions, and making sure they have the tools they need to do their jobs well and develop their careers.
Trust is a crucial aspect of any workplace environment. It is the key to creating a positive and productive working environment. Trust can be broken down into two components, trustworthiness and reliability.
Also check out: How to Get Your Employees to Trust You
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How Can You Build Trust With Younger Employees?
Trust is an essential component of any successful relationship, whether in the workplace or not. When it comes to building trust with younger employees, there are a few things you can do.
Honesty
Start by being open and honest about your goals for the company, department, their job role and their career development.
Be open with your discussions about how you will achieve these goals, together and as a team and the support that will be available to help them succeed.
You can also be clear about what you expect from them and how they will be rewarded for their hard work. If you are able to do these two things, it will make it much easier for younger employees to trust you in the workplace.
Training & Career Development
Confidence is a big factor in the workplace. There are many ways to make younger employees more confident. One way is to provide them with a mentor. A mentor can help the younger employee by providing guidance and advice on how to do their job better.
Providing employees with the training opportunities to develop their knowledge and improve their career prospects is a great way to help build trust.
Provide Feedback in a Positive Way
Giving feedback is an important skill for managers. Feedback is a way for employees to understand their strengths and weaknesses. It also helps them to improve in their respective fields.
Giving feedback is not always easy, but it doesn’t have to be difficult either. There are many ways of giving feedback that can help you do it in a positive way, such as:
- Giving specific examples of what they did well and what they need to improve on;
- Giving constructive and actionable feedback so the person can know where they need to focus more;
- Using positive language so that the person feels good about themselves;
- Giving praise when appropriate.
Provide a Challenge
Another way to build trust is to give employees more responsibility and a challenge at work. People like to feel challenged and that their management cares about their interest in the work.
Providing new challenges will give them the opportunity to learn and grow in their position, which will increase their confidence level and hopefully grow their trust in yourself as a manager and the company.
Emotional Wellbeing
As a manager of younger employees, it is important to recognise their emotional well-being, that they are supported as employees and that their workload is fair so as not to overwhelm and cause unnecessary stress.
Vitality Britain’s Healthiest Workplace study found that young workers are most likely to suffer with poor mental wellbeing at work.
Canadian website getmaple.ca list these as the main reasons for stress amongst younger workers:
- Finances
- Work-life balance
- Technology
- Competitive pressures in the workforce
- Increased mental health acceptance
Regular Communication
In the modern world of work where remote working is becoming more popular and a prefered method, the need for improved communications across the team has never been so important.
But whether you are operating remotely or in the office together, constant communication with your younger employees is a must.
Constant communication does not mean micro-managing, but rather offering the support needed and treating younger employees as you would any other to make them feel a valued part of the team.
Leaving a member of the team in isolation can leave them feeling undervalued and can cause feelings of stress if they need assistance but feel you are unapproachable.
What are the Benefits of Building Trust?
Building a trustworthy relationship with your employees is very important for their work and careers. There are many benefits to this relationship, including high performance, higher retention rates, and decreased turnover rates. It will also make the individual feel more motivated, respected, and invested in their job.
Consider these benefits for why you prioritise trust-building with your younger employees.
Productivity
An employee that is confident in their work and has trust in their management team and employer is more likely to be productive in their role.
Staff Retention
One of the biggest challenges a business faces is finding the right talent and keeping hold of them. Recruiting new staff can be costly financially and in the time taken to train new starters.
By nurturing your younger staff, developing trust, giving them the tools they need to succeed and providing a career path, companies can benefit from improved staff loyalty.
Your Future Workforce
Younger generations are the future of the workforce and for technical professions, starting to learn at a young age provides a great opportunity to acquire the staff that could become masters of their profession, for many years.
Versus past generations, the younger generation now and subsequent generations will be more technologically literate. As businesses embrace new technologies such as cloud computing and SAAS, having a workforce familiar with these technologies will prove to be an advantage.
What are the Challenges of Building Trust With Younger Employees?
Building trust in the workplace is not an easy task. There are many challenges and barriers that we need to overcome in order to build trust with younger employees.
The first challenge is that younger employees are more likely to change jobs than older employees. This can lead to a decrease in loyalty and commitment to the company.
Younger employees also have different values and expectations which can lead them to be less satisfied with the work environment.
The second challenge is that young people are more likely to be sceptical of employers because they are at a stage of life where they want new experiences, new challenges, and new opportunities. They want excitement, adventure, and variety which may not be what an employer can offer them at this point in their lives.