Hugh Aitken: Good behaviour is the bedrock of trust in business

Fast-forward to today and Scotland is brimming with successful businesses, many of whom are exporting their wares across the world, from our world-famous whisky to the finest cuts from the Scottish Salmon Company.

Yet despite our past and present commercial success, what people in Scotland think of business is concerning. This matters now more than ever. In the aftermath of the Referendum, companies of all shapes and sizes have a vital role to play in working with the Scottish and UK governments to ensure our firms get the very best final deal from the EU negotiations.

To learn more about businesses’ relationship with society, the CBI conducted a study in partnership with Porter Novelli and research company Opinium called ‘Everyone’s Business’.

It shows that less than half of respondents in Scotland think positively about business (45% compared to 58% across the UK). Furthermore, only 47% say they understand how a company works. This needs to change.

Above all, we know that how companies act and behave has the greatest effect on their reputations. We found that people value job creation and want business to treat their employees well.

Businesses are taking this seriously and know they can and must do more to restore public trust. The research shows that firms feel more concerned about good customer service than members of the public, and can go further by treating people as individuals. Once the right business behaviour is in place, using a more natural style of language will bring companies closer to their customers: good businesses must ditch business speak if they want to be understood.

Let’s remember that the overwhelming majority of businesses are a force for good. Successful firms form the backbone of our economy; they pay taxes that fund schools and hospital; create jobs that lift people out of poverty and invest in innovation, boosting productivity and living standards.

Firms of all sizes and sectors in Scotland can be proud of their role in providing fantastic goods and services that make a positive difference to people. Just look at the success of Skyscanner, the Edinburgh-based travel website, a past winner of the Queen’s Award for Enterprise.

People tell us they recognise the importance of business – particularly in providing jobs – but there is still a reputation challenge and a clear disconnect between what businesses do and what people believe.

To tackle this, businesses need to improve the way they interact with employees and customers; to show they are more than faceless machines motivated by profit.

Treating employees and customers well is the starting point for improving people’s relationship with business, accompanied by clear communication. So, by ‘junking the jargon’, CEOs can appear less remote.

Here in Scotland 61% employees say they have a good relationship with their employer (64% across the UK). The CBI has set business a target of increasing this to 80% in five years’ time.

To make good on our aim of improving people’s relationship with business, we’ll publish a twice-yearly tracker of attitudes towards business to measure progress.

A stronger relationship between business and society will drive prosperity. The CBI is clear that the government, and media, have a responsibility in this debate too. While there is a role for calling out bad practice, equally, so is there for praising good practice, valuing the role of business and supporting firms to improve.

And, against the backdrop of recent economic data, it’s clear that this is a big moment for Scotland. Our businesses have the ideas, evidence and solutions to help navigate the country through these choppy waters. But to be truly effective business needs public support, generated by building trust with its employees and customers.

Hugh Aitken CBE is director of CBI Scotland