As we enter the final month of Q1 2024, the perspective of business owners, leaders, managers, and HR professionals may be one of cautious optimism. Or it may be more like the old saying, “The hits just keep on coming!” The challenge of nurturing a workplace culture of trust and collaboration, while not new, has become more difficult as businesses experience the impact of accelerated change across several fronts.

The end goal of nurturing a positive workplace culture is always improved engagement – engagement that encompasses every member of the organization, top-down and bottom-up. For many years, Gallup’s continuing research has been an important tool for those responsible for the health and well-being of employees and their business. We know that when employees are engaged, they work safer, feel more prepared, are more productive, and have a genuine concern for their fellow workers and the organization’s success.

Rachael Yi identifies six worrisome workplace trends in her article, 6 Worrying Workplace Numbers – And What You Can Do About Them. It is interesting that all these trends point to a lack of trust and collaboration and are compounded by the rapid changes taking place in the workplace and the world.

• Few employees in the US (only 23%) strongly trust those in charge. This means that 4 out of 5 US workers do not.

• Employees who feel appreciated – that they get the right amount of recognition at work – are four times more likely to be engaged. In the US today, only 23% strongly agree that they are properly recognized.

• 53% of employees are fearful of AI. They don’t feel prepared to utilize AI, and they are afraid they will be replaced by it. Leaders will need to provide skills training and development to alleviate this fear. My colleague, Scott Newman, addresses this topic in an article entitled AI and the Modern Workplace. It is a short read and well worth your time.

• Half of currently employed workers are either watching for or actively looking for a new job. This is a direct result of the lack of trust, recognition, and insecurity prevalent in today’s workplace.

• 80% of employees do not feel connected to their organization’s culture. Improvement in culture-building is complicated by the trend of increasing remote and hybrid work. Employees are demanding remote work, but also complain of feeling disconnected.

• Only 4 in 10 employees report unethical behavior when they have firsthand knowledge of it. This is a symptom of the larger problem – employees’ lack of trust in leadership, which results in an increase of quiet quitting.

For owners, leaders, managers, and HR professionals, to improve engagement, we ourselves must be engaged. Awareness, knowledge, and wisdom are the difference between cautious optimism and resigned pessimism. If we don’t engage, the hits will just keep on coming.