What is Workplace Transparency?

Workplace transparency happens when managers and employees become open and honest on matters related to work. Transparency in the workplace is a crucial factor that fuels commitment and performance in your employees.

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When you’re open on matters that touch employees at heart and encourage constructive communication, employees will emulate your transparency and communicate their opinions. This gives you valuable perspective on the issues facing your organization, and ideas on how to improve them.

How to Exercise Transparency for Employee Engagement

A transparent company culture gives direction and induces emotional commitment in employees. Employee engagement is about making your employees believe and stay committed to your organization’s goals - as well as better understand how their current and developing role contributes to those goals.

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You can begin by laying out your company’s goals, objectives, and expectations for your employees. Being open about your organization’s goals and building trust between employees and management is the most effective strategy to get your employees engaged.

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Openness also involves letting each employee know the salary range to expect, their roles, and the incentives and other benefits they may be entitled to after an agreed level of performance. Engaged employees feel safe and free to express their opinions when they know that you appreciate their views.

How can You Improve Workplace Transparency?

Encourage Communication

Employ a suitable means of communication between employees and the management. For example, communicate changes in company visions or values to keep your employees updated. You can also invite them to give their feedback about the company, its organization, operation, or latest changes.

Encourage Participation

Make everyone aware of your organization’s values, goals, and visions. Encourage your employees to participate and contribute idea towards the organization’s long-term and short-term objectives. With a clear vision of where the organization is headed, employees will put more effort in to fulfill the organization’s mission.

Share the Numbers

Awareness of the numbers can motivate employees and make them more committed to work towards the company’s mission. Knowing that their contribution has an impact on the outcome can inspire them to put more effort. In addition, giving access to the numbers demonstrates unique transparency, which leads to more engaged employees.

Make Teams Accountable

You can create different teams within the organization, but all work towards a common goal. You can hold teams accountable for the assignments given, and each member will work hard to avoid failing their team.

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Creating a Transparent Workplace Culture

An open communication path between management and employees ensures that everyone works together as a team, and teamwork enhances overall performance, not just that of an individual employee. But a transparent workplace culture begins top-down. There are various ways to build a transparent workplace culture:

Be available

Being available at your organization also shows a degree of transparency. Employees feel more confident working in an environment of ownership and openness, rather than anonymity.

Make company goals a priority

Line up goals with the company’s vision and create weekly, monthly and yearly targets to avoid lagging on projects.

Invite suggestions

When you want to make improvements or changes in certain areas, you can invite employees and managers to suggest what they think would be best. This one way to help them feel part of the organization and become more engaged.

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Why Employ Transparency in the Workplace?

Transparency develops trust

Transparency about the reasons behind your organization’s vision, mission, and goals makes everyone develop trust and believe in the organization’s cause. It is also worthwhile being transparent about the company’s major decisions.

Transparency improves communication and collaboration

Transparency in the workplace creates a conducive environment where workers and team leaders collaborate to achieve set objectives. Open communication enables employees to speak about ideas, mistakes, or the challenges they are experiencing. Then team leaders can forward the issues to the management to find a solution.

Transparency enhances employee engagement

Workplace transparency ensures that employees’ welfare is considered. It helps promote fair salary compensation, recognition, incentives, and proper working conditions, all of which leads to increased employee engagement.

Transparency creates more business

Workplace transparency keeps employees happy and proud of the organization. They’ll treat customers well and uphold the organization’s dignity wherever they go. This will create a good reputation and more business opportunities for the organization, as well as great employee candidates approaching the company. Being transparent with business trading partners also makes them more likely to want to work with you again.

Transparency increases productivity

A transparent company culture ensures there’s open communication, increased employee engagement, and better customer relations. These lead to more demand from customers and more production by employees. Thus, your company's bottom line grows.

The Bottom Line

Transparency has many benefits for an organization. It helps keeps your employees engaged, boosts performance, and creates better customer relations. Talbit focuses on connecting companies with their workforce to build positive, transparent relationships that benefit the whole organization.

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