The impact of trust, hybrid work, and employee engagement on South African employees

Abstract

The shift from traditional ways working to a hybrid work has been adopted by most organisation since the pandemic. This has an impact on how employee engage and trust each other. The presence or absence of trust can enable or hinder organisation performance and employee engagement in hybrid work as trust is the foundation of employee engagement. This study will explore how to build trust and engagement in a hybrid work environment. The literature was built on the existing literature on employee engagement and trust focusing on the relationship between hybrid work, trust, and employee engagement. A quantitative research method was used for this study to determine the relationship between hybrid work, trust, and engagement. Data was collected using online survey from 134 South African employees who are working in a hybrid work environment. The research findings were tested using descriptive statistics, validity, reliability, correlation and regression. Findings from the study demonstrated that the relationship between employee engagement, hybrid work, and trust. It also demonstrated that there is no relationship between trust and hybrid work. Considering this study’s findings, it supports the criticality of engagement while working in a hybrid which includes honest feedback between managers and employees. It also supports the importance of trust between managers and employees, which increases collaboration and communication. The study contradicts the other studies done by the researchers that say hybrid work influences trust between employees, a quantitative study is recommended for future research to explore this contradiction.