What role does trust play in employee engagement? It’s a fairly large one, according to this Towers Watson research.

The study cites leaders’ ability to “earn the trust and confidence” of employees as one of the top drivers of employee engagement. There is also compelling evidence that trustworthiness has ties to ethics, which significantly ups the stakes. According to research conducted by The Ethics Resource Center (ERC), organizations with a clear “ethical culture”—which the ERC defines as a leadership group’s “commitment to open and honest communication, positive ethical role modeling, and accountability”—scored higher on employee engagement scores. These findings hold true for both senior management teams and direct supervisors.

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