The Ugly Truth: Why Trust and Mental Health Are Suffering, and What Businesses Can Do to Solve It

By Cate Murden, CEO of PUSH Mind and Body

Employee wellbeing and mental health have worsened since the pandemic. Trust is breaking down between employees and managers, which is having a big impact on organisational effectiveness as well as the bottom line of the business.

In fact, a majority of c-suite leaders in the financial services industry (55%) say their company has shown no improvement or is operating less effectively than pre-pandemic.

At the same time, employees don’t believe that employers and c-suite executives are doing enough to safeguard mental health and provide them with the support needed to excel.

In the financial services industry, employees are suffering more stress (44%), burnout (40%) and anxiety (36%) than pre-pandemic.

This is culminating in hugely disengaged workforces. And as we know, a decrease in productivity will have an enormous effect on the success of a business.

These stats are shocking, but all is not lost.

To overcome disengaged workforces and a breakdown in communication, organisations must have a genuine and empathetic understanding of how people in a business are feeling. These insights can be used to create and maintain a working culture and environment that makes employees feel safe.

In this article, we’ll discuss what a safe space is and how financial services organisations can create a culture of conversation within the business – to promote positive mental health and ensure net positive effects on a business’ profitability.

What’s gone wrong?

The past few years have seen a seismic shift in where, when and how employees work.

As a consequence of the pandemic, the decades-old business model of rigid office-based working no longer exists, and the vast majority of financial services companies have pivoted to a hybrid or remote working model.

While this new way of working was intended to improve mental health and enhance flexible working conditions, we are instead seeing a series of cascading problems emerge.

In our recent survey, we found that more than two-thirds of employees (68%) now say they either “don’t” or only “somewhat” trust their manager. When asked why their manager doesn’t get the best out of them, 82% of employees responded, “they don’t make any effort” and “don’t understand me”.

Our research found clear discrepancies at all levels of financial services organisations. In fact, more than half of managers (56%) either flat-out “don’t” or “only somewhat” trust their teams to manage workloads when working from home.

These findings reveal a crisis in trust and a clear breakdown in communication. Much of the problem stems from the top of the organisation, as c-suite leaders appear to be disconnected from the problem.

When queried on the subject, 75% of c-suite executives say work engagement has been positively impacted since the pandemic, while a further 55% say productivity has been positively impacted.

These results clearly don’t stack up. Employees don’t trust managers, managers don’t trust employees, and yet c-suite executives believe that engagement and productivity has been positively impacted since the pandemic.

How can we solve this problem?

The need for a safe space

For businesses to deliver the kind of rebirth that we so need right now, they must cultivate the kind of fertile places of work where people and, consequently, innovation can truly thrive.

Financial services brands must prioritise the kind of environment where teams feel safe, are comfortable with failure and are then nurtured to easily face and overcome challenges whilst bringing their best selves to work each day.

At present, however, the data shows there is much work to be done.

When polled on how financial services organisations can make work a better place, employees said they want leaders to provide “burnout support” (32%), “better communication” (29%) and “clearer boundary setting” (27%).

To provide the support, communication and boundary setting that employees are seeking, organisations need to make the development of a safe space a top priority.

Safety is at the heart of connection. If you want to stimulate any sort of corporate spirit, it’s essential that participants experience their environment as being a safe space.

This means teams feel comfortable being themselves and around each other. This leads to honest conversations, fertile and fulfilling relationships and the freedom to suggest new ideas.

Embed a growth mindset culture to truly thrive

To create a safe environment and build a culture of conversation within the business, organisations need to focus on embedding a growth mindset.

A growth mindset means that employees are comfortable with failure, remain curious to try new things, feel confident to communicate and face conflict, and can practice self-acceptance.

While 76% of managers agree that having a growth mindset is crucial to their team’s success, a resounding 56% say they have “little understanding of how to support a growth mindset”, “wouldn’t know where to begin”, or that “fostering a growth mindset is never mentioned at my organisation.

Financial services organisations need to make addressing this a top priority. When a growth mindset is implemented effectively, it has net positive effects on mental health, productivity and commercial effectiveness.

A growth mindset equips employees with the right behaviours and mindsets to make a safe space work effectively and consequently feel more comfortable and capable to embrace uncertainty (which has been rampant in the past few years).

As businesses embrace more agile ways of working, addressing and supporting the development of key behaviours will allow people to thrive regardless of external circumstances.

Because ultimately, this is the key to unlocking innovation.