According to the results of the APA’s “Work in America” survey, employees experience significantly greater stress levels when there is persistent uncertainty about expectations or communication at work | Image Credit: Gemini
An employee poses a direct inquiry regarding his salary, chances of promotion, job change, or transfer within the organization. They get a polite answer: “It’s not yet finalized.” The statement seems to be rather neutral, but in fact, most of the time, the employees perceive it as an emotionally loaded statement since the answer does not provide any useful information to them, at the same time giving them a hint that things are now beyond their power.
Most often, employees are not really concerned about the actual news; rather, they are stressed by the very idea of uncertainty. In addition, while doing their jobs, they are also thinking about the possible interpretation of the delay.
According to the results of the APA’s “Work in America” survey, employees experience significantly greater stress levels when there is persistent uncertainty about expectations or communication at work. The uncertainty regarding pay, career prospects, or the company’s future usually provokes particularly intense emotional reactions since employees believe that there is no way for them to predict what lies ahead. This is why even a courteous statement on hold may eventually become emotionally burdensome.
Ambiguity changes how employees interpret workplace trust
Many companies tend to say that they are “still finalizing things,” simply because the people in charge might not have any concrete response yet. This could be caused by budget approval, executive agreement, or even legal considerations. The company may think that it is being conservative, but the workers experience a very different reality. Once there is too much ambiguity, workers tend to take the lack of communication as an answer on their own accord. As per the Edelman Trust Barometer survey, trust erodes dramatically when communication becomes inconsistent amid times of ambiguity. In a workplace, employees usually begin to speculate about their status within the company.Another finding based on Gallup research on workplace communications states that communication on a continuous basis from management plays a significant role in influencing how engaged and emotionally attached employees feel towards their jobs. Sometimes the problem isn’t just the delayed response but the lack of structure behind it. Workers can deal with ambiguity if there is still visibility regarding the process, despite the outcome being unknown.
According to the results of the APA’s “Work in America” survey, employees experience significantly greater stress levels when there is persistent uncertainty about expectations or communication at work | Image Credit: Gemini
Employees respond best when uncertainty becomes structured
The ambiguity in the workplace does not always mean catastrophe for everyone. Big companies need to make preparations for budgets, staff management, legal approval, and leadership decision-making, which takes time. In most cases, the right solution lies somewhere in between – not panicking and not being overly optimistic.The key advice is to use ambiguity to build something constructive. It would be helpful to ask questions that may help to understand the situation better: What is not clear yet? Which people take part in the decision-making process? When will the next update come, even if the decision is not ready yet?
One delay in getting an answer is never really critical. But constant repetition of the answer "we’re still finalizing" becomes alarming.
