Transparency With Employees: How Openness Plays a Key Role in a Positive Employee Experience

Transparency with employees is crucial to a positive employee experience. It not only helps employees feel more valued and cared for, but it also fosters trust and invites openness. Openness involves actively seeking out experiences and being thoughtful or reflective about what is encountered in everyday life. It’s about embracing new experiences and changes in life, or how ideas or experiences have a positive impact on how people feel and function.  

When it comes to the workplace, transparency isn’t a one-size-fits-all approach. It can require different solutions and approaches depending on the company, relationships and culture.  

Key Takeaways:

• Openness plays a key role in shaping positive life experiences because it reduces constraint and allows a sense of possibility and flexibility to flourish.
• How an employee generally feels with their life directly impacts how they show up at work.
• Effective and open communication can encourage employees to trust and connect with each other and their organization. 

The Impact of Openness at Work  

Openness helps people feel more satisfied with their life, lowers stress and supports good physical health. How an employee generally feels with their life directly impacts how they show up at work. If employees are open to new experiences, it’s possible they’ll feel more motivated in their work and tasks. They can also become more solution-oriented and able to remove roadblocks or obstacles. Openness plays a key role in shaping positive life experiences because it reduces constraint and allows a sense of possibility and flexibility to flourish. 

How to Promote Transparency With Employees 

1. Open lines of communication 

A study by the Limeade Institute found that when employees feel as though information flows freely throughout their organization, they’re three times more likely to feel included and four times more likely to trust their organization. The report also found that when employees feel they have received adequate information they’re five times more likely to feel like their organization cares and nearly twice as likely to feel they have well-being in their life.  

Effective and open communication — whether it’s providing feedback, sharing company updates, involving employees in company decisions or communicating new benefits and HR resources — can encourage employees to trust and connect with each other and their organization. 

2. Recognize employees 

Transparent and visible employee recognition for a job well done can motivate and engage employees. It can also help employees feel that their work directly impacts the business. Celebrating employees can be as simple as sharing an employee’s success story in your company’s well-being program or giving a shout-out in a team meeting. 

3. Have an open-door policy 

An accessible leader who encourages employees to talk to them allows free-flowing communication that can increase transparency in the workplace. Managers are one of the strongest drivers of employee well-being and engagement. An open-door policy can help facilitate discussions, address concerns and resolve issues — while also building trust between managers and employees — ultimately boosting employee morale.  

4. Be authentic 

With work and home lives blurred, employees want to work for leaders who are authentic, honest and real. Employees crave meaningful connections and trust, which can come from leaders and managers being their true selves at work. Go beyond surface level conversations and really get to know your employees — discuss family or friends, hobbies, passions or weekend plans. Authentic leadership can create deeper relationships with employees, build intentional communication and help show employees you care.  

Want to learn more about experience activators? Check out the other elements for a positive employee experience.