Trust issues: 38% of Australian workers say they don’t trust their employers

A survey of more than 1,000 Australian workers has reported rapid change and more aggressive performance goals are causing stress as employees are being squeezed to deliver more for organisations.

Empathetic leadership is in demand in a landscape of overworked staff struggling to meet the rising demands of their 9-5 job, according to the findings of a global workforce trends survey.

About 47% of Australian survey respondents disagreed their workplace empathised with employees, 90% of whom said that having their manager show more empathy would make a positive difference to their work life.

Of this group, 41% of those who reported having bosses who were not empathetic said it affected their loyalty to the company.

Meanwhile, trust amongst company leaders has taken a hit, with 38% of Australians saying they did not trust the people who employed them.

Perceptions about the extent to which employers trusted their workforce were just as low, with 40% of people saying bosses did not trust their staff.

The ‘Pulse of talent: navigating the great workforce balancing act’ report was published last week.

The findings were informed by data collected between August and September 2023 from more than 8,700 employees in workplaces of at least 100 people each from Australia, Canada, Germany, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, the UK, and the US.

More than 1,000 of the pulse respondents were from people working in Australia.

This is the 14th year the annual survey has been conducted by human capital management software company Dayforce.

A total of 47% of respondents said more empathetic leaders would improve their job satisfaction; 34% said it would lift their job performance; 38% said it would increase productivity; and 47% said it would improve their mental health/levels of burnout.

Growing levels of stress (64% of Australians said their stress had risen because of more aggressive performance goals and targets) were also flagged as significant issues affecting the domestic workforce.

According to Dayforce’s vice president for global talent management Katie Meyers, the majority of Australians believe more understanding and action is needed in workplaces to lift productivity (92%).

Meyers said the survey trends showed organisations were trying to balance the need for increased efficiency, staying competitive in the market and safeguarding staff wellbeing and trust.

“The good news is that tools and initiatives are readily available to help both sides of this equation meet the challenges of an ever-changing workplace and a boundless workforce,” Meyers said.

“[About] 50% (vs 56% vs Australia) of respondents think that artificial intelligence (AI) can improve their productivity at work, and 80% (vs 80% in Australia) of surveyed employees were at least slightly interested in their employer using AI to recommend new internal career and skills development opportunities.”

The survey also found Australians wanted their company to create a better work-life balance (38%), for more people to be hired to fulfil the work of the team (28%), and for more flexible work arrangements (26%) to be made available.

A total of 43% of workers said they lost motivation when they failed to meet their performance goals.

Australian workers also expressed concern about burnout, with 87% reporting burnout in the past 12 months. This rate of concern has been consistent for the past three years.

This article was first published by The Mandarin.