The Inner Workings Of Employer-Employee Relationships

Trends and gaps in 2021

Over the past 18 months, the way businesses operate has transformed tremendously. Businesses that once operated solely out of an office shifted to either fully remote or hybrid work environments. New advancements in technology have allowed for more streamlined operations, increased efficiency and more flexible working conditions. The success of remote workforces has led businesses to consider implementing the model permanently while others, who may not have adopted the model as quickly, are looking at it more closely now. 
 

A study by Upwork estimates that more than a quarter of US workers will work remotely through December. Additionally, the study estimates that one in every five workers, approximately 36.2 million Americans, will work remotely by 2025. 

With this shift to a new normal, technology continues to influence business operations and businesses are leaning on it now, more than ever. In a survey and economic analysis by Boston Consulting Group, commissioned by Zoom, 5,820 respondents were asked about videoconferencing and how their businesses were able to pivot their technology processes during the Covid-19 pandemic. The results show that there was a significant increase in both employees using videoconferencing solutions and total time spent on videoconferencing solutions in the past year. 

The increased use of technology may make day-to-day operations easier to handle, but how does it impact the relationship between employers and their employees? 

Recently, Elements Global Services surveyed 1,000 full-time workers and conducted a Google search trend report to assess the trends, gaps and pain points between employers and employees. 

The survey revealed a growing lack of trust between employees and employers and that fears over workplace surveillance are top concerns of employees in 2021. However, this erosion of trust provides organizations and companies ample opportunities to rebuild their relationships with employees by trusting their employees and allowing employees to be accountable for missteps or miscues in the workplace.

Do Employers and Employees Trust Each Other in 2021?

As a global HR tech company, Elements Global Services is working with businesses to help streamline and improve global people operation management. In an effort to do this, we analyzed Google search trends to explore what HR-related questions people are frequently researching. To conduct this analysis, Elements began with a list of more than 300 common HR-related questions, then narrowed that list to the top 50 most commonly searched. This concentrated list of questions is broken down into eight categories: privacy, compensation, surveillance, rest, interpersonal, benefits, scheduling and termination.

The most common questions that populated from the analysis include: 
 

• Do employers have to offer health insurance? 
• Must employers pay for unemployment? 
• Can my employer force me to take a lunch break? 
• Could my employer disclose my salary to other employees?
• Can my employer monitor my personal computer?

These frequently asked questions reveal what pain points these searches implicate in the modern workplace. Operating in a fully remote and hybrid work environment is unknown territory for both employers and employees alike. While the world is adjusting and pivoting to adapt to new work environments, there are still many grey areas to be explored.

The results from the survey illustrate a heightened concern over surveillance and privacy, with it equating to 42% of the top 50 common searches. These fears were existent prior to the pandemic, but the increase in concerns could be a result of many factors. As more businesses look to globalize operations and their workforces, remote or hybrid work is here to stay, so it is imperative that business leaders and CEOs understand their employees’ worries to create a better working relationship.  

What Level of Trust Do Employees Have When It Comes to HR Protecting Their Interests?

After conducting the Google search analysis, Elements then surveyed approximately 1,000 full-time workers across two dozen industries including accounting, engineering, healthcare, real estate and retail, to explore the relationship between employees and HR managers or departments. 

The study showed that the level of trust between employers and employees is being impacted by the new working landscape. Nevertheless, there are solutions available for businesses to bridge the gap and ease employees' concerns. 

Of the participants surveyed, two-thirds of workers said they’ve neglected to report something to HR because they didn’t think HR would fix the issues. On the other hand, 83% of participants said they trust their HR manager or department. 

These findings show that there is an opportunity for business leaders to make valuable improvements to their departments and processes. The trust is there, which is a good foundation. Understanding employees’ concerns, such as doubting that HR would resolve an issue, offers business leaders a more in-depth look into where the issues are and the opportunity to make an investment to improve internal operations.

Are Workers Hiding from Their Supervisors?

In addition to the dynamic between employees and HR managers, Elements analyzed employers monitoring on-site and remote employees during work hours. As hybrid workplaces and the use of technology in the workplace continues to rise, there are a growing number of ways an employer can track what their employees are doing and how often they are doing it. As a result, 74% of those who work remotely are concerned about their employer monitoring when and how much they work. 

Employees, specifically remote workers, feel the need to hide things from their boss as they are concerned their employers will use this information against them. Employees fear this information will be leveraged to either give employees more work or use as grounds for termination, further blurring the lines of a work-life balance and the idea of privacy in the workplace. However, knowing this, organizations and companies are able to regain that trust by allowing employees to hold themselves accountable with open lines of communication.
 
In today’s work environment, employers need to trust that their employees are working diligently and consistently throughout the workday. More importantly, CEOs and HR managers must trust their hiring process and that the employees they’ve hired are the right employees for the job at hand.

Big Brother: Employee Monitoring Software vs. Respecting Employees’ Privacy

As the team chat apps have increased and become the way of communicating internally, many employees have found themselves regretting something they’ve said via e-mail, Slack or Microsoft Teams. 

Elements researched communication regrets among employees. We found that 44% of workers have talked about something inappropriate at the workplace; 35% have gossiped or were negative; and 21% said their communications were simply off-topic from work and could be viewed as wasting time.

To minimize communication regrets among employees, business leaders need to establish a culture where employees are comfortable with approaching their superiors with mistakes, questions or concerns. Fostering work environments where employees are encouraged instead of chastised for making errors can reduce the need for employees to delete browsing histories, Slack messages or feel regret over communication among employees.

What Can Employers do to Earn Greater Trust From Their Employees? 

There are many solutions employers can implement to earn greater trust from their employees and create a level of transparency that was previously lacking. First, employers need to be transparent and truthful with their employees – clarity when it comes to an organization’s policies on benefits, privacy and surveillance would alleviate many pain points between employees and employers. HR technology is one solution that offers employees and employers access to all pertinent information. If an employee has a question about a policy, then they can easily access a program, such as Elements’ ApprovPay, that offers them all of the information they may need at the click of a button.
 
Additionally, employers need to build in accountability and consistency. If employers want their employees to be honest about how much they work and what they are doing, organizations can try implementing a software to track employees’ productivity and setting goals. From our research, two-thirds of all workers we surveyed admitted a software to track productivity would likely make them more productive.

Overall, trust is a central dynamic in employer-employee relationships, and it is evident from our most recent findings that there is much room for progress in building trust and accountability between employees and employers. 

Rick Hammell is the CEO and Founder of Elements Global Services. Visit https://elementsgs.com/  Connect Rick Hammell