In The Happiness Index Part 1, we shared why The Hire is so focused on measuring workplace happiness, what it means to us, and how we are quantifying it with recently placed candidates. In Part 2 we shared what we learned about the value of Inclusion. This article conveys what “The Happiness Index” taught us so far about the value of Transparency and how it can impact your bottom line.
Transparency is Keeping the Promises made in the Hiring Process
It is vital to keep the promises made in the hiring process. We asked our candidates whether promises were kept, and how they felt as a result. We found that those who identified as successful/satisfied feel like companies “aren’t holding anything back and sharing information about important decisions (i.e., employment status).” The vast majority (89%) of respondents felt transparency was important in the hiring process, and that it impacted happiness positively. Lastly, but not surprisingly, transparency has a significant impact on trust: 83% of those surveyed felt a lack of transparency – or unfulfilled promises made during the hiring process – damaged or would damage their relationship with the company. We also found that transparency can have a compounding effect when communication is open and honest from both sides. In short, transparency breeds trust which in turn begets transparency [as much as we hate circular phrases]. Again, all of these results add up to happier teams.
Career Paths demonstrate Transparency
The promise of transparency in hiring is directly tied to transparency about career paths. The more transparent an organization is with the route there, the better people feel about their prospects. This drives happiness in two ways. (1) When an employee knows what lies ahead, they are less worried about being “stuck” in a position for years. Candidates want transparency in the process, and transparency implies options – both real and perceived. (2) Transparency helps people think long-term about where they want to be. Because employers are willing to share information regarding their growth opportunities.
A Surprising Benefit of Transparency
There was one final benefit to transparency that we didn’t expect… As you might have guessed, transparency is most important when NOT communicated well. We asked people what drove them most crazy during the hiring process and transparency was third only to:
– No feedback (76%)
– Technical glitches (64%)
This shows how important transparency is for transparency’s sake. Very few people actually expect perfect communication, but we all want transparency. And as such, our respondents feel they are better employees if their employer treats them like adults and gives them information as they need it – without trying to paint an overly rosy picture of the future. This type of transparency allows people to make decisions about whether or not they want to be part of a company based on the full story and lets their managers know that they can depend on these people to do a good job.
Transparency Positively Impacts Performance
Lastly, transparency has a positive impact on performance. Transparency keeps employees happy and helps them feel that they are part of a team. However, our data showed that transparency directly impacts revenue: those who responded as successful/satisfied were eight times more likely to be with a company reporting higher revenue than those who identified as unsuccessful/dissatisfied. Transparency is important because it builds trust – which means better performance for the company.
Again, transparency is not simply a matter of being nice – it is an emerging business best practice. Transparency about company goals and objectives drives performance. It makes employees feel like part of a community. In turn, transparency helps people see how their work fits into the larger picture.
Transparency Influences Retention
Transparency is the best way to ensure someone stays around for a while. Not only does career path transparency make employees happier, it also helps you find people looking beyond the next paycheck or gig. As an organization, transparency is one of your strongest allies in building trust with candidates and clients alike. It will this result in long-term retention which drives our desired outcomes: happiness for more than just those individuals participating on The Happiness Index.
But Change does not happen overnight – it’s an evolutionary process for both companies and candidates to become more transparent. One of our core values at The Hire is transparency. We treat it as an investment in our candidates because we believe it builds trust among our team members. And we look for that in the clients and organizations we partner with. At a time when employers seek ways to attract top talent without over-paying for them, transparency is an important tactic.
We will release one more article in this series with our finding from The Happiness Index™ – covering what we learned about the benefits of the right Benefits! If you haven’t read Part 1 and Part 2 , check them out here .