Transparency in the workplace: What it is and how to get it right

Today’s employees don’t want to be kept in the dark. As organizations navigate rapid change, workers want visibility into decisions, expectations, and culture.

For leaders, transparency in the workplace can be challenging. How much is it really okay to share with your teams? How do you strike the fine balance between openness and oversharing?

In this guide, we’ll explain everything you need to know about workplace transparency – what it is, why it matters, and how you can improve it (without blurring boundaries or getting lost in the details).

Quick stats

• Only 47% of employees strongly agree they know what’s expected of them at work, which means more than half are missing the clarity and direction that true transparency offers.
• 29% of employees say they lack clear, honest, and consistent communication from their leaders, highlighting a transparency gap inside many organizations.
• 86% of HR and business leaders believe transparency directly affects employee trust, and trust has a substantial impact on employee engagement, performance, and retention.

What is transparency in the workplace?

Transparency in the workplace refers to the open sharing of information with employees. It gives people a clear line of sight into your organization’s:

• Goals
• Priorities
• Performance
• Culture

In a transparent workplace, when leaders announce results or decisions, they also loop employees in on the reasoning behind them. When done well, organizational transparency creates alignment, builds trust, and helps employees feel connected to the bigger picture.

You’ve likely heard of salary transparency. That’s related to – but not exactly the same as – workplace transparency. Pay transparency is a specific practice focused on compensation, while workplace transparency is broader. It touches everything from strategy and resources to organizational changes, expectations, and decision-making. Put simply, salary transparency is one component of a transparent company culture.

Transparency doesn’t happen on its own. It requires intentional effort from both HR and people leaders. They’re the ones shaping communication norms, setting expectations for leaders, and modeling the candor and clarity they expect from others in the organization. Whether it’s sharing performance insights, communicating changes, or clarifying the “why” behind decisions, people leaders set the tone for how open the workplace feels.

Why is transparency important in the workplace?

Transparency does more than influence how employees feel about your organization – it impacts the entire company’s performance. Deloitte research points to an increased focus on trust and transparency as the trend that will have the greatest impact on an organization’s success for the next three years.

Why? Because transparency strengthens employee performance and engagement, while improving the agility of your organization:

• Employee performance: When employees understand their roles and goals, how decisions are made, and why priorities shift, they’re better aligned and able to take ownership over the work that matters most.
• Employee engagement: Employees are more invested in an organization when they trust its leaders and feel informed about the direction of the business. Transparency builds this trust by reducing ambiguity and giving people confidence that leaders are making the right decisions.
• Organizational agility: When facing uncertainty or change, employees who understand the “why” behind those changes are better able to adapt and respond (with far less confusion or resentment).

Ultimately, transparency shapes how effectively people can work together. When leaders communicate openly and consistently, employees make better decisions, teams collaborate more easily, and the organization moves with greater speed and intention.

How to find the right level of transparency

Organizational transparency doesn’t mean leaders need to share every detail of their personal lives – or disclose information employees don’t actually need. Effective transparency is about clarity, not candid confessions.

Employees want to understand the business, the reasoning behind decisions, and what’s expected of them. But they don’t need the intimate or highly personal circumstances driving those choices. That’s where many leaders get stuck: They confuse openness with vulnerability, and vulnerability with oversharing.

The right level of transparency looks like this:

• Share the context, not the confidential details: Explaining why priorities are shifting is helpful, but sharing sensitive personal or private organizational information isn’t.
• Be human, but keep it professional: Acknowledging challenges or uncertainty can make leaders more relatable, but you don’t need to disclose every emotion or personal factor behind those challenges.
• Center your employees’ needs: Before sharing something, consider whether it will help people understand expectations, make better decisions, or remain aligned. If not, it probably doesn’t need a place in your workplace communication.

The goal isn’t to tell your team absolutely everything – it’s to share enough to build trust, clarity, and connection (while still protecting privacy and maintaining professionalism).

6 benefits of transparency in the workplace

Committing to transparency supports meaningful workplace communication – and it also creates the conditions for a stronger culture, better performance, and long-term success. Here’s how.

1. Improved alignment

When employees understand how their work connects to your organization’s goals and priorities, they’re better able to focus their efforts. Unfortunately, only 47% of employees strongly agree that they know what is expected of them at work. Organizational transparency reduces confusion and wasted effort, so your teams can all move in the same direction.

2. Stronger trust

Trust is built when people feel informed, respected, and included – not left out of important conversations and decisions. So, it’s unsurprising that 86% of HR and business leaders say they see a direct connection between transparency and employee trust. Trust isn’t just a feel-good metric. It lays the foundation for better engagement and retention.

3. More psychological safety

When paired with respectful and inclusive communication, as well as follow-through, transparency helps fuel psychological safety. When people feel psychologically safe, they’re comfortable speaking up, raising objections, and sharing ideas without fear of judgment or embarrassment. Employees are far more likely to voice their opinions or take risks when they’re included in discussions and believe their contributions are valued.

4. Higher engagement and performance

When teams feel aligned, trusted, and safe, engagement naturally rises – and performance does too. Transparent organizations make it easier for individuals to understand how their role contributes to the bigger picture and to feel motivated to achieve meaningful outcomes. Culture Amp research shows that confidence in company leadership is currently the top driver of employee commitment and engagement, and open communication helps build that confidence.

5. Faster decision-making

When employees have access to the right context, they can make informed decisions without waiting for constant clarification or approval. Transparency removes bottlenecks, streamlines workflows, and helps organizations move with greater speed – even during periods of change.

6. Stronger talent pipeline

Transparent workplaces stand out in today’s talent market – and that doesn’t just mean showcasing the positive stuff. Here at Culture Amp, we predict that more organizations will shift from traditional Employee Value Propositions (EVPs) to what we call LeaVePs.

Unlike EVPs, which often highlight only the best parts of working at a company, LeaVePs are grounded in honesty: They communicate what’s great, what’s hard, and what’s simply the reality of day-to-day work. LeaVePs are designed to repel those most likely to leave, creating space for dedicated employees who want to grow with the company.

Organizations willing to openly communicate the full picture (yes, even the unglamorous parts) attract people who are genuinely aligned with the work, expectations, and values. And because those expectations are set upfront, new hires onboard with more confidence and are likely to stick around longer.

What are examples of workplace transparency?

Wondering what workplace transparency looks like in practice? Here’s how three organizations have successfully embedded transparency in their culture and daily practices.

1. Wave: Wave, a water retailer, used Culture Amp to set clear company goals and share them broadly. This open line of sight into what the company was tracking and why kept everybody on the same page.
2. NASCAR: During a merger in 2020, NASCAR rolled out a transparent survey process to uncover and understand employee sentiment. NASCAR openly shared those survey results and invited employees to participate in shaping its new culture. This bolstered trust even further by showing employees how their input led to real action.
3. PATH: PATH, a nonprofit organization focused on health equity, used Culture Amp to offer visibility into engagement insights across its global teams. Instead of feedback getting stuck in silos, leaders could access real-time, team-level data and clearly see where employees were thriving or struggling.

These examples prove that transparency can take many forms – all of which lead to stronger alignment, trust, and engagement.

How to promote transparency in the workplace

If you’re wondering how to improve transparency in the workplace, you’re in good company. Many organizations have a long way to go, with 29% of employees saying they lack clear, honest, or consistent communication from their leaders.

But there’s good news, too: Becoming more transparent doesn’t require a major overhaul. Small, intentional practices like these can dramatically improve how informed and connected your employees feel:

• Share the “why” (not just the “what”): Include the reasoning behind decisions, changes, or priorities. Context helps employees understand how certain choices were made – and makes even tough decisions feel more fair and grounded.
• Make goals and expectations visible: Publish team and company goals where employees can easily access them, and revisit them in all-hands meetings, 1-on-1s, and weekly check-ins. Clear expectations reduce confusion and give people a consistent sense of direction.
• Create repeatable, predictable communication channels: Transparency thrives when information flows consistently – not just during crises or special initiatives. Regular updates from leadership (through monthly town halls, weekly updates, or structured 1-on-1s) help employees feel informed and keep them from relying on rumors or assumptions.
• Close the loop on feedback: If you ask for input – through surveys, engagement data, or listening sessions – share what you learned and how you plan to act on those findings. This shows employees that their feedback has purpose and influence. Ultimately, people don’t get survey fatigue. They get “lack of action fatigue.”
• Document decisions and make them accessible: Whether it’s meeting notes, project updates, or decision logs, documenting key information keeps everyone aligned and reduces the need for constant clarification. Even a simple shared document or internal dashboard can dramatically increase visibility.

Keep in mind that these efforts only work when they’re consistent. Transparency isn’t a one-time project – it’s an ongoing commitment.

What are some considerations for workplace transparency?

While transparency is valuable, more isn’t always better. As Deloitte points out, unchecked or poorly managed transparency can overwhelm employees, fuel anxiety, or even erode trust – and that’s the opposite of what you’re going for. Sharing too much information, especially when it’s sensitive, speculative, or lacking context, can create confusion rather than clarity.

Effective transparency is all about discernment. As a leader, consider what employees actually need to stay aligned, make good decisions, and feel informed. Oversharing personal information, explaining ambiguous early-stage decisions, or exposing employees to unfiltered organizational tensions can create unnecessary stress.

The goal is to be open enough that employees understand the “why” behind decisions and feel connected to the business, but thoughtful enough that you’re protecting confidentiality, maintaining professionalism, and reducing cognitive load. Transparency works best when it’s intentional, contextual, and helps employees thrive – not when it tries to make everything visible at once.

Prioritizing openness (without the overload)

Transparency isn’t about sharing everything – it’s about sharing what matters. When leaders communicate clearly, consistently, and thoughtfully, employees absorb that information and feel more aligned, more informed, and more connected to the work they do every day.

Ready to look ahead?

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FAQs about transparency in the workplace

Below is an FAQ that provides a quick reference to some key points from this article:

1. What does workplace transparency actually mean?

Workplace transparency means giving employees clear, timely information about goals, decisions, expectations, and the reasons behind them. It helps people understand how the organization operates and how their work fits into the bigger picture.

2. Why does transparency in the workplace matter?

Transparency builds trust, increases alignment, and helps employees stay engaged. When people understand the “why” behind decisions, they’re more confident, motivated, and able to adapt during change.

3. How can leaders be open without oversharing?

Share context that helps employees do their jobs – not sensitive personal details or early-stage decisions that might cause confusion. The goal is clarity, not full disclosure.

4. What are some practical ways to improve transparency at work?

Leaders can explain the reasoning behind decisions, make goals visible, communicate consistently, close the loop on feedback, and document key decisions so information is accessible.

5. Can too much transparency be harmful?

Yes. Sharing too much information – especially sensitive, speculative, or out-of-context details – can overwhelm employees and create unnecessary stress. Transparency works best when it’s intentional and relevant.

Key takeaways

Here are some important highlights to remember:

• Employees today expect greater clarity and honesty from their organizations, especially during periods of rapid change. Transparency is now a crucial part of a strong workplace culture.
• Consistent transparency creates the conditions for better performance by reducing confusion, strengthening alignment, and helping people understand how their work contributes to broader goals.
• The most effective transparency shares meaningful context while still protecting privacy, maintaining professionalism, and avoiding information overload.
• Organizations that embrace transparency – even about challenges – attract more right-fit talent and build cultures where employees feel heard, supported, and connected.