Ask employees, “do you trust management?” and heed what they say

I have lost count of the number of times senior managers have said,”I don’t know why our employees are so distrusting “. Perhaps these comments from employees will help them understand.
We asked a cross section of employees. Do you believe what you are being told? Have you faith in the those in charge? Do you believe management know what they are doing? This is what they said
“ It’s not that managers deliberately mislead or lie but they can give the impression of certainty when they know things can and often do change. Some times the words they use are so carefully chosen you suspect there is a catch. Like when they say you will transfer on the same terms and conditions but don’t tell you your new employer can renegotiate after 12 months.
Managers are keen to state your basic salary will be the same but what they won’t commit themselves to is no changes in overtime rates which could have a dramatic impact on some peoples take home pay.
They said no one would be made redundant, they didn’t say no one would lose their job. So I’m offered redeployment or voluntary redundancy. So that means moving to a new work place, with new colleagues and a new manager. I like my old team and got on with the boss. I work shifts, I don’t have a car, where I work now I can walk to work. The new place is miles away.
I thought redeployment meant  I would be slotted into the same job in a different team. I didn’t think I would have to have an interview. I was told I didn’t have to accept the first post I was offered but after I turn the first one down I was put under a lot of pressure to accept posts that were unsuitable.
I don’t understand why I had to apply for my own job, the one I have been doing for the last five years. They said it was a new post but as far as I can see it’s doing all the things I use to do in the same office just with a different boss and new fancy job title.
There are a group of us internal candidates applying for these new posts in the new structure. There was a formal interview process after which not one of us was appointed and the posts were advertised externally. They told us we could apply again in competition with the external candidates but what’s the point.
We could have told them these changes wouldn’t work but no one asked us we were simply told senior management had decided that this would be a more efficient way of working. Now we are getting a lot of complaints from customers and management are blaming us!
Some of my colleagues think the trouble is that most senior managers have no experience of how things work on the front me I think the biggest problem is those managers who have worked there way up from the front line. They think they know exactly how things work trouble is their experience is 20 years out of date. They don’t realise how much things have changed due to the technology. “
Creating a successful organisation is about more than vision and strategy. At its heart it’s about trust.

    Read more

    Latest News

    Read More

    Leadership in turbulence

    1 April 2025

    Newsletter

    Receive the latest HR news and strategic content

    Please note, as per the GDPR Legislation, we need to ensure you are ‘Opted In’ to receive updates from ‘theHRDIRECTOR’. We will NEVER sell, rent, share or give away your data to third parties. We only use it to send information about our products and updates within the HR space To see our Privacy Policy – click here

    Latest HR Jobs

    University of Exeter – Human ResourcesSalary: The starting salary will be from £33,482 on Grade E, depending on qualifications and experience.

    A renowned industrial developer with a strong reputation for delivering high-quality projects and fostering an outstanding workplace culture is seeking a HR Director on a

    Were looking for great people to join our growing team here at Elevate.Elevate is an award-winning global people powered agency creating compelling human connections with

    As our new Director of HR, you will be at the forefront of creating the Land Registry of the future, ensuring that we have the

    Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE

    Read the latest digital issue of theHRDIRECTOR for FREE