As business leaders pick up the post-recession pieces, I\u2019m increasingly asked how companies can restore \u201ctrust\u201d with employees.\u00a0 My answer:\u00a0 only by instituting new talent management approaches that reflect the reality of today\u2019s relationship between employees and the corporation.<\/p>\n
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Until roughly fifty years ago, there was a tacit understanding between employees and corporations:\u00a0 If employees worked hard and demonstrated loyalty to the company, the company would reward them with a steady career and comfortable retirement.<\/em>\u00a0 This equation had been at the heart of the relationship between individuals and organizations throughout centuries of Western economic tradition.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n One side of the equation began to erode in the 1970\u2019s as companies chipped away at the security and guaranteed payments they offered.\u00a0 Decades of lay-offs, downsizing, and reduced benefits later, we all know that loyalty and hard work will not guarantee a job for life nor a comfortable retirement.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n However, despite the obvious erosion, many of our talent management practices and behaviors are still predicated on this tacit agreement.\u00a0 It is the disconnect between the philosophy reflected in our formal policies and the reality of our personnel actions, between what we say and what we do, that lies at the heart of employees\u2019 sense of unease.\u00a0 Bottom line:\u00a0 the organization should not implicitly promise protection and care that it realistically can\u2019t and won\u2019t provide it.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The implicit promise is still conveyed today through talent management practices that tie employee interests to long-term service:\u00a0 pensions, tenure-based perquisites of any type (amount of vacation, for example), training and development investments that are focused primarily on youthful new hires (with the expectation that they will pay-off over a long period of time), and internal promotional ladders based on tenure.\u00a0 These vestiges of organizations\u2019 former commitment to long-term protection and care aren\u2019t consistent with today\u2019s reality.\u00a0 They just don\u2019t make sense.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Many times managers feel compelled to convey messages about organizational stability (\u201cno more lay-offs\u201d) that the listeners \u2013 and probably the speakers themselves \u2013 don\u2019t believe.\u00a0 These well-intentioned managers are trying to restore the old equation \u2013 but, in reality, are further decreasing trust by amplifying a tone of unreality.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n And, while companies no longer promise long-term protection and care, leaders have been slower to acknowledge that this lessens the employees\u2019 obligation for loyalty<\/a>.\u00a0 Many still expect an expression of unwavering loyalty.\u00a0 The practice of immediate dismissal upon acceptance (or, in some cases, exploration) of another job is still common in many firms.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n The mismatch between what we all intuitively know and our talent management practices and leadership messages are at the heart of the lack of trust.\u00a0 Restoring trust requires establishing a new, realistic relationship \u2013 one both sides believe \u2013 translated into talent management practices and leadership behaviors that reflect that new equation.\u00a0 Trust only breaks if you promise something you can\u2019t or don\u2019t deliver.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n I believe the new equation will be an adult-to-adult relationship between organizations and those who perform work.\u00a0 Organizations should expect that everyone who shows up to work will be fully present, engaged, and have the relevant skills to do the job at hand.\u00a0 Individuals should expect the opportunity to choose interesting, challenging work, suited to their skill set, and to be compensated through fair, transparent arrangements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Talent management practices that provide individuals with more choice in their work arrangements will be central to this shift.\u00a0 Already progressive companies are beginning to focus on measuring results, while leaving the choice of when and where to perform the work to the individual.\u00a0 They may specify the desired outcomes and principles under which the work should be performed, while leaving the exact approach to the discretion of the individual.\u00a0 Others are breaking work into projects and giving employees options about the type or intensity of project they\u2019d like to take on next.\u00a0 Some are creating menu-based work arrangements.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Technology is making it easier and less expensive to find the individuals with skills or knowledge well-suited to the specific task at hand.\u00a0 The value of longevity will decrease as matching the right person with the right task will be made much simpler.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n This shift will be a win-win in more ways than one.\u00a0 Openly reflecting the reality of today\u2019s employee-employer relationship \u2013 telling it like it is \u2013 is what\u2019s needed to restore trust.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n But, beyond that, I believe the new relationship is more appropriate for the levels of collaboration and innovation required today.\u00a0 Employee loyalty, whether to the organization overall or to the individual boss, can lead to conformity and dependence, rather than a sense of exploration and innovation.\u00a0 It can foster protectionist competition, rather than a willingness to share ideas broadly.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n