The Trust Crisis: How Leaders Can Restore Employee Confidence in 2025
The 2025 Edelman Trust Barometer revealed a troubling trend: employee trust in employers has slipped globally, with only 75% of workers believing their organizations “do the right thing,” a 3-point drop from prior years.
This growing trust gap signals a critical challenge for HR and business leaders, as trust underpins engagement, retention, and productivity.
Economic uncertainty, rapid technological changes, and evolving workplace expectations have heightened employee skepticism, making authentic leadership and transparent communication more vital than ever.
To address this, the HR Spotlight team asked HR and business leaders for practical steps to rebuild trust and foster a resilient workplace culture.
Their insights—ranging from prioritizing open dialogue and accountability to aligning actions with values—offer actionable strategies for organizations aiming to close the trust gap.
In an era where employees demand authenticity and purpose, these steps can help leaders not only restore confidence but also strengthen organizational loyalty and performance.
Discover how top leaders are tackling this challenge and paving the way for a more trusted workplace in 2025.
Read on!
Khalilah “KO” Olokunola
Chief People Strategist & Impact Architect, ReEngineering HR
Trust Erodes Quietly, Rebuilds Through Consistent Action
The Barometer confirmed what many of us already feel in the culture space: employee trust is slipping. A 3-point drop may sound small, but trust rarely collapses overnight; it erodes in quiet moments, minor inconsistencies, & missed opportunities to align what’s said with what’s done.
This isn’t just about trust in leadership, it’s about systems, values, and cultural credibility. And rebuilding trust doesn’t start with a campaign, coffee bar, or comms strategy. It starts with behavior.
From our lens, trust isn’t intangible, it’s the infrastructure holding your people, culture, & performance together. When it wobbles, so does everything else.
So, how do we rebuild it?
1. Lead with transparent intent, not perfect outcomes. People don’t expect perfection; they expect honesty. Share the strategy and the struggles. Transparency isn’t about having all the answers, it’s about not hiding the real ones.
2. Make listening tangible and visible. Feedback can’t feel like it disappears into a black hole. Listen, respond, and show what changed because of employee voice. Ask first, shape second.
3. Coach leaders to show up human-first. Psychological safety starts with leadership. When leaders are empathetic and authentic, teams feel seen and heard.
4. Align actions to values. If equity is a core value, show it in processes. Trust grows from what people experience, not what’s written on a wall.
Some Practical steps we suggest?
Implement a Trust Dashboard: Track signals like fairness, communication, belonging, and leadership credibility. Make it public. Make it actionable. We all know that what gets measured gets moved.
Re-onboard after the change: Treat it as a culture reset after mergers or restructures. Help employees reconnect to purpose, values, and expectations. Trust increases when direction is clear.
Empower managers as trust-builders: Managers shape daily experience. Equip them with toolkits, training, and clarity to lead with empathy.
Own your Uh Oh moments. I also call this the Eminem Factor: In 8 Mile, Eminem wins by telling on himself and sharing things the other rapper could use against him. Organizations should do the same.
Acknowledge what went wrong or what could be used against you and share how you’ll fix it. Avoiding the truth only deepens the gap.
Trust isn’t a checkbox. It’s a relationship built through clarity, consistency, and care. And if we want engaged teams and resilient cultures, rebuilding trust isn’t optional. It’s the work.
Vikrant Bhalodia
Head of Marketing & People Ops, WeblineIndia
Transparent Decision-Making Builds Trust Without Fanfare
We noticed trust slipping a bit when changes were rolled out without enough explanation. So instead of just announcing decisions, we started explaining the thinking behind them why we made them, what we weighed, and who was involved.
We kept it low-key. Sometimes it was a quick message in Slack. Other times, it was a five-minute voice note. No fluff. Just “Here’s what we were trying to solve, here’s what we considered, and here’s where we landed.”
It wasn’t about getting everyone to agree. It was about being real and open. Once people saw that decisions weren’t random and that there was actual thought behind them—it softened the pushback. Even though changes landed better.
One other thing: we stopped using phrases like “the company decided.” We started saying things like “We as a leadership team chose this” or “The team discussed and aligned on this.” Small language shifts, but they helped. People saw there were people behind the decisions not just a nameless company.
Max Shak
Founder/CEO, nerDigital
Trust Demands Presence, Not Perfection
Rebuilding trust starts with something simple but often overlooked—showing up consistently and communicating transparently. At Nerdigital, I’ve learned that trust isn’t restored with one bold gesture. It’s rebuilt through repeated actions that reinforce accountability, honesty, and shared purpose.
When trust dips, it’s often because employees feel decisions are being made behind closed doors or without their best interests in mind. So one of the first things I do is invite people into the conversation early. We hold monthly team huddles where no topic is off-limits—whether it’s upcoming strategic pivots, internal challenges, or client feedback. The key is not just to inform, but to engage. People need to see their input shaping outcomes.
Second, I make sure leadership is visible and approachable. If your team only hears from you when there’s a directive to follow, you’re missing the point. I personally check in with team members across departments, not to micromanage, but to understand what’s working—and what’s not. That visibility shows we’re in it together, not sitting above it all.
And third, follow-through is everything. If you ask for feedback, act on it. Even small wins—like improving internal tools or updating policies based on employee input—build credibility. It sends the message that leadership listens and takes action.
My advice to other leaders is this: trust doesn’t demand perfection, it demands presence. Be transparent in decisions, be consistent in your values, and create real space for people to speak up. If your team believes you’re genuinely invested in them, that trust becomes resilient—even during tough calls.
Chris Percival
Founder & Managing Director, CJPI
Context and Feedback: Keys to Trust Restoration
To rebuild trust, leaders need to move beyond broad statements and focus on consistently visible decisions which the team understands.
One practical step is increasing contextual transparency — not just sharing decisions, but explaining why they’re being made.
Paired with meaningful feedback loops where employee input leads to actual change, or a sensible explanation of why it isn’t something which could lead to change now, or in future – rebuilding trust is not immediate, but it is absolutely possible.
Niclas Schlopsna
Managing Consultant and CEO, spectup
Trust Forms in Quiet Moments, Not Flashy Campaigns
Trust isn’t built through a flashy campaign or a one-off town hall—it’s earned slowly, mostly in quiet moments. One of the most underrated but powerful steps is to simply show up consistently as a leadership team.
Not just in the boardroom, but in everyday channels where employees talk, worry, and question. I’ve seen how quickly morale improves when a founder joins a product Slack thread or answers a tough question without dodging. At spectup, we make it a habit to over-communicate during uncertain times. It’s not about having all the answers—it’s about being real when you don’t.
Another practical move is to give middle managers the tools and autonomy to lead with transparency. They’re often the bottleneck or bridge for trust. I’ve watched a growth-stage startup almost implode because middle management kept sugarcoating tough realities, thinking they were protecting the team.
Once they started sharing the “why” behind decisions—even the uncomfortable ones—engagement shot back up. Lastly, act on feedback visibly. There’s no faster way to kill trust than running a survey, hearing hard truths, and doing nothing.
We helped one of our clients turn that around by publicly mapping feedback themes to action items, then reporting progress monthly. It wasn’t perfect, but it showed intent—and intent goes a long way.
Radical Transparency Transforms Treatment Center Culture
As the owner of an addiction treatment center in Ohio, I’ve seen firsthand how fragile trust can be—and how vital it is to the health of any team. In our field, trust isn’t a perk, it’s a necessity. Clients depend on it. Staff morale depends on it. And when it breaks, everything suffers.
One of the most practical steps I’ve taken to rebuild and protect trust is committing to radical transparency. That means being open about challenges the business is facing, not sugarcoating tough decisions, and involving staff early in conversations that impact them. People don’t expect perfection—they expect honesty.
Another key move was implementing structured, recurring one-on-one check-ins between leadership and staff. Not performance reviews, but real conversations. “What’s working for you? What’s not? What do you need from me?” That regular rhythm of communication makes people feel seen—and heard.
Lastly, I make sure follow-through matches the promises we make. Trust erodes quickly when leadership talks about values but doesn’t live them. If we say we’re about compassion, accountability, or equity, our policies, hiring, and everyday behavior have to reflect that—consistently.
If trust is dipping across the board, it’s a sign that leaders need to stop broadcasting and start listening. That’s where repair begins.
Justin Belmont
Founder & CEO, Prose
Trust Grows From Action, Not Empty Promises
Trust isn’t rebuilt with town halls and platitudes—it’s earned through transparency and follow-through.
One practical step: flip the script on feedback.
Don’t just collect it—report back on what you heard, what you’re doing about it, and when.
Create visible accountability loops.
When employees see their input turned into action, trust builds organically. In 2025, trust is less about what you say—and all about what you ship.
Grace Savage
Brand & AI Specialist, Tradie Agency
Five Structural Elements That Rebuild Workplace Trust
In my experience, trust isn’t lost all at once. It erodes gradually, from feeling unheard, unseen, and unvalued. So, if you want to close the gap, you’ve got to rebuild it from the inside out. And that starts with culture, not comms. You don’t fix trust with slogans; you fix it with structure.
The 5 E’s of Rebuilding Trust
Environment – Create moments that feel human, not corporate: Team-building days are often forced, but people trust each other more when they’ve laughed together, not just worked together. We’ve seen real traction with simple, consistent social themes: comedy nights, pizza evenings, even casual trivia. Nothing is mandatory. These are just natural shared experiences that feel like us, not work.
Empowerment – Let your team teach and contribute beyond their job title: We’ve run internal “Show What You Know” workshops where any team member can teach a skill, share an insight, or lead a conversation. These workshops build confidence, visibility, and respect across departments. They’re not about performance; they’re about participation.
Engagement – Don’t just listen to feedback. Make it structured and safe: Agile-style retros work because they depersonalise problems. The focus becomes “what’s working, what’s not,” not “who’s to blame.” It invites everyone to contribute without fear. That’s what builds absolute trust, a safe structure that encourages honesty.
Enablement – Give quieter team members space to contribute: It’s easy for louder voices to dominate. You need deliberate facilitation to bring others in — not just passive encouragement. Assign advocates within the team to involve and support the less vocal. You’d be shocked how much brilliance is hiding in the background.
Experience – Share, don’t shield: When leadership is transparent about wins, losses, and even internal challenges, it draws everyone in. People trust what they understand. We’ve seen firsthand how openness from the top humanises the entire company.
Trust isn’t restored with an all-hands speech; it’s built by design. Create a structure where your team can feel safe, seen, and significant and watch what happens to retention, morale, and performance.
Tracey Beveridge
HR Director, Personnel Checks
Prove Investment in Staff Through Clear Roadmaps
Show that you’re actively investing in your staff and prove to them that they can trust you, and that you DO care.
This has to be done by actually investing in them and showing clear investment road maps for how you’ll assist with personal and professional development over the long-term (it’s not enough to just say that you care).
David Pagotto
Founder & Managing Director, SIXGUN
Radical Transparency and Accountability Restore Workplace Trust
Rebuilding trust in the workplace starts with radical transparency and consistent communication.
Be honest about challenges, decisions, and outcomes, even when difficult. Follow through on commitments without fail; broken promises are trust’s biggest enemy.
Actively listen to employee feedback, both formal and informal, and visibly act on it. Foster a culture of accountability where leaders also admit mistakes and take responsibility.
The HR Spotlight team thanks these industry leaders for offering their expertise and experience and sharing these insights.
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