You can feel it when trust is strong. There’s an air of authenticity, empathy, reliability, resilience, shared communication, and caring—all characteristics of a healthy, productive, and engaged workplace.
When employees feel trusted, their commitment and loyalty deepen and engagement rises. In a beautiful circle of connection, high levels of engagement enhance individual performance and contribute to workplace cultures that nourish collaboration and innovation.
People come to work looking for strong relationships, opportunities for development, and a role where they can make a meaningful contribution. Today, many find themselves, instead, in workplaces where leaders are not fully trusted and employees are not totally engaged or satisfied. Without trust, companies may survive but cannot thrive.
Business leaders today have much more than the average number of challenges to face. Managing a trust crisis does not need to be one of them. It’s possible to sew trust into the fabric of your culture. The companies that do, are successfully competing for talent. They’re beating the current situation by creating people-centric, relationship-based workplaces that strengthen trust, increase engagement, and create success.
U.S. employee engagement has fallen to its lowest level in a decade. Only 31% of employees are currently engaged, and 17% are actively disengaged from their work. These startling new statistics from Gallup confirm a downward trend in engagement since it peaked at 36% in 2020. The most affected segments are employees under age 35, with Gen Z five points less engaged than in the prior year, and employees in the finance and insurance, transportation, technology, and professional services sectors.
Three of the 12 engagement elements Gallup measured show the most significant declines since March 2020:
The U.S. is not alone. Edelman research reports that across the world, most countries are finding fewer employees trust their company in 2025. 69% of employees say they believe business leaders purposely mislead them, a growth of 12 percentage points over the past four years. Just one in four employees globally trust their employer to “do what is right.”
Why is this important? Companies that show consistently high levels of trust significantly outperform their competitors on critical business metrics, from employee retention to stock market performance.
According to Great Place to Work research, the three major factors driving our declining trust are:
1. Financial pressure. People with higher incomes trust institutions, including their employers, more than those with lower incomes, creating a 13-point gap in trust between employees in the highest and lowest income quartiles. This indicates a direct impact on employee perceptions of employer honesty and fairness. It also points to the need for leaders to reconsider compensation and wellbeing.
2. Credibility of leaders. People increasingly worry that top government and business leaders are not truthful. A majority (68%) of survey respondents believes that business leaders purposefully mislead people, a 12% increase since 2021. The most important skill leaders should learn in 2025 is listening.
3. Discrimination worries. Between 2021 and 2025, fears about discrimination based on race, gender, or other prejudices surged 11 points in the U.S. (10 points globally). This raises safety and fairness concerns. By putting people first, leaders build a culture of wellbeing where all employees feel safe bringing their full selves to work, improving productivity and retention.
Gallup research attributes declining engagement to these five transformative factors over the past few years:
In a world where everything is shifting in one way or another, it’s no wonder employees are left feeling confused, unsettled, and detached from their employers. They want to do something about it, and often that something is looking for another job or expressing their unhappiness through quiet quitting. The losses in productivity are costly on every level. Strong, thoughtful leaders have the power to reverse declines in trust and engagement.
Trust does not have to be earned. It’s a two-way street between leaders and employees. When you invest in your employees they will invest in you. Recognize that you do not hire a specific skillset; you hire a whole human being with a unique mix of traits, experiences, and needs that they bring to work with them. In order to be successful, people need your love, empathy, kindness, and trust.
Take these steps to strengthen faith in your leadership and create an irresistible work environment where everyone feels welcome, safe, and valued. Be the workplace where people want to be and your business thrives.
It’s not a surprise that today’s across-the-board challenges are eroding trust and employee engagement in companies across the world. The risks to productivity and retention are significant. By taking steps to reverse the declines, leaders sharpen their skills and enrich their cultures, turning risks into competitive strengths.