Why remote work has eroded trust among colleagues

Why remote work has eroded trust among colleagues Alamy After a year of remote work, we now trust our colleagues less than before. “Trust is built by spending time together, not necessarily around work-related tasks,” says Scott Schieman, chair of the department of sociology at the University of Toronto’s St George campus. There’s no way endless Zoom calls can replace the depth and quality of in-person human interaction.” Alamy Although those interactions in passing don't seem like much, they actually help to build trust among colleagues – and we're sorely missing them now Not only is it harder to build strong connections through video and audio calls, email and instant messages, but misunderstandings are likelier to arise from these mediums due to their limitations. “Leaders need to make people feel included, make sure their ideas are heard and empathise when they’re stressed, anxious or burned out.” Likewise, Knight and Keller emphasise the importance of empathy in promoting trust. “When you do that, you’re implicitly saying, ‘I trust you not to take advantage of me’.” There are also two different types of trust personalities: automatic trusters and evidence-based trusters When trust is breached from the top down, as when supervisors monitor employees’ every move, workers can try stepping up communication to assuage anxiety.