Employee trust is at a low. According to data from Gallup, only 21% of American workers strongly agree that they trust the leaders of their organization, down from 24% in 2019. At the same time, anxiety over job security is running high with 78% of workers reporting that they worry about losing their job. These data points are interconnected: Employees who worry about the future of jobs can experience lower trust for their employer and the business. And when employees don’t trust their employers, it can impact everything from engagement to retention to productivity. The question is: How can employers build trust in their workforce? They can with continuous learning and development (L&D).
Training is essential to building trust in the workplace: Employees crave upskilling and reskilling opportunities to align with the demands of a dynamic business world. However, it’s not enough to point employees in the direction of new learning content and hope that they figure it out on their own. Instead, reskilling should require a strategic and creative approach to workforce development and closing skills gaps. This can unlock a better return on investment (ROI) as employers invest in their human capital. This also can create a sustainable and supportive environment that not only delivers continuous skills development to employees, but also aligns these learned skills with specific job pathways tied to their career goals. Learning pathways and personalized learning can significantly enhance employee trust and affirm their commitment to individual employee’s growth and success.
There are three opportunities for skills development that can build employee trust: reskilling the front-line workforce to fill emerging jobs; upskilling the white-collar workforce to meet the demands of an evolving workplace; and aligning public and private partnerships to facilitate a cohesive and sustainable approach to workforce development. This article will review all three approaches to skills training and how empowering employees with training opportunities can increase their overall outlook on the organization.
Empowering Front-Line Employees With Reskilling
Any vision for the future of work should start with the workers with the lowest levels of trust. In many cases, this means the front-line workforce. Research from McKinsey found that front-line employees report the worst job experience. According to the research, 45% of front-line employees are hesitant to take advantage of work-life policies for fear of jeopardizing their employment or career advancement.
In the U.S. alone, McKinsey cites that there are 112 million front-line workers. Many of these workers will need to be reskilled to meet new needs because of and work alongside advanced technologies like artificial intelligence (AI) and automation. According to Microsoft’s Work Trend Index, 80% of front-line workers think AI will be helpful in augmenting their ability to find the right information and answers they need on the field. And 69% of front-line workers would be comfortable using AI for more administrative tasks. Front-line workers need training on how to use AI to optimize and automate more repetitive and tedious tasks.
This can greatly improve their work experience and allow them to feel heard and invested in. This can directly build trust in your front-line workforce. And just like any workforce, front-line workers are hungry to learn new skills: In a study, 93% of front-line workers say they want more L&D opportunities. Reskilling can also greatly impact the business: Career mobility can give employers a better value proposition that can better attract and retain top talent. Reskilling front-line workers can allow employers to fill new in-demand roles in the business. And with training that is aligned to business goals and strategy, these workers can transition into hard-to-fill roles within the company — for example, a warehouse worker can be reskilled to become a data analyst.
Amazon’s Career Choice program is a great example of how businesses can support the reskilling of their front-line workforce. The program offers employees the opportunity to pursue training in high-demand fields, regardless of whether those fields are directly related to their current roles at Amazon. This can allow employees to develop new skills and expand their career options, ultimately increasing their job security and sense of trust in the company and its leadership.
Equipping the White-Collar Workforce With Upskilling
The changing world of work also impacts white-collar workers, who will need to continuously update their skills to remain a valuable contributor to the organization. In fact, exposure to generative AI and automation may be higher among knowledge workers than in some sectors of the front-line workforce. According to Pew Research, one in five workers have jobs with a high degree of exposure to AI, with those with more education and higher wages most likely to be impacted.
The recent layoffs at companies like Google, Discord and Duolingo underscore how quickly new generative AI technology will affect workers in the coming years. For employers, the advent of automation carries its own set of challenges. Automation promises significant gains in both productivity and cost savings. However, these benefits won’t appear out of nowhere. Businesses need a skilled workforce in order to realize these benefits and tie automation directly to business ROI.
As with training front-line workers, the “how” of the training will matter just as much as the “what.” For the white-collar workforce, training is not just about skills development — it’s also about understanding how these skills apply in real-world scenarios. Learning professionals must help knowledge workers integrate these new skills into their workflows, and provide the guidance and support they need to see better outcomes from training. Employers and employees alike need to be able to see concrete business results from their training investments in order to trust that the effort is worth it.
To prove the efficacy of training, upskilling initiatives must align with business objectives and solve actual business problems. Employees should be able to identify the impact of upskilling in their work, and employers should be able to see the ROI from upskilling. This alignment ensures training delivers concrete business results, further cementing workers’ security in the workplace and driving value to their organizations.
Driving Opportunity With Public-Private Partnerships
In order to effectively address the complex challenges of workforce development, government entities and businesses must forge strong collaborations to create an ecosystem for sustained employment and growth. Public and private partnerships can leverage their resources and expertise to transform a struggling job market into a thriving talent hub for industry and innovation.
Training alone won’t be enough to drive that change. Government efforts are needed to tailor training for specific in-demand roles, and create the necessary talent density to attract large employers to particular geographies. This, combined with favorable business regulations that attract top employers, can create a virtuous cycle of economic growth, which can effectively address persistent structural unemployment problems — particularly among graduates and underrepresented workers.
These kinds of partnerships are particularly critical in regions with low job growth and limited career opportunities. One example is in Jordan, where the Ministry of Digital Economy and Entrepreneurship partnered with international organizations and businesses to establish training programs that prepare Gen Z and millennial workers for in-demand industries such as data science and cybersecurity. This model can be replicated and expanded in other regions around the world.
Building Trust in the Future of Work
We’re standing at an inflection point with a trust deficit among our workforces and a rapidly-evolving job landscape driven by AI. Employers must demonstrate their commitment to the workforce by not only providing upskilling and reskilling opportunities, but also ensuring that these efforts are relevant and tailored to the employee and closely aligned to organizational goals.
Relevant and tailored learning experiences can show employees that their development is a priority to the organization and that the skills they’re learning in training will have practical, immediate applications in their current or future roles. Moreover, it signals to the workforce that their growth is intrinsically linked to the success of the business, fostering a sense of shared purpose and mutual investment. Outcome-driven pathways can bridge the gap between workforce development initiatives and actual employment opportunities. This can cement a foundation of trust and collaboration essential to navigating the challenges of a dynamic business landscape.
Learning leaders across industries must recognize that building trust goes beyond mere rhetoric — it demands actionable commitment to developing the workforce, from the front-line to the office, from the private sector to the public. It also requires an approach that is grounded in workers’ and employees’ specific context, rather than yet another one-size-fits-all online course. The path ahead is complex, but by embracing an outcome-focused approach to workforce development, we can collectively rebuild employee trust and steer the global economy toward a more prosperous and inclusive future.
