Considering how we have witnessed a steep rise in strained workplace relations in 2025, understanding why trust matters at work is now more important than ever. Trust in the leadership and their ability to weather any storm is an essential facet of binding an organization together.
Riding a rollercoaster involves some degree of trust in the engineers to build a sturdy contraption. Enrolling in a new yoga program requires trust in the instructor to make the experience worth your while. Signing up to work at an organization requires trust in the leadership to keep the company afloat and make decisions that steer the business towards success. The importance of trust in the workplace cannot be ignored, as the erosion of this confidence can cause even the most successful businesses to falter.
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Why Trust Matters at Work: Understanding the Key to Wilful Collaboration
Businesses that have a poor reputation or appear on the verge of a bad turn typically find many employees quitting simultaneously. This largely occurs due to the employee’s self-preservation instincts kicking in, but there are many organizations that have managed to pull through a rough patch with their workforce intact.
The successful management of a business hinges on the trust that exists within the workplace. This trust can extend to confidence in the organization’s ability to navigate challenges, to make the most ethical decision, to prioritize employee well-being, and the list goes on.
The erosion of trust at work can occur for many different reasons:
- Lack of information on the decision being made by the organization
- Incongruence between action and policy
- Ineffective communication methods and strategies that erode trust
- Business decisions that don’t take major aspects of the situation into account
- Frequent changes in leadership make it harder for employees to connect with leaders
- Businesses’ decisions that negatively impact employees, showing a disregard for their collective well-being
There are many different reasons why workplace trust or faith in the business leaders might be affected, but in each instance, the declining trust can be more dangerous to the business than the problem causing the decline.
Why Is Trust in the Workplace Important?
In 2025, employers have demanded that workers return to the office because they do not trust workers to work without distractions at home. Despite making promises of allowing a hybrid model, employees now suspect that employers will eventually force them to come in full-time after they agree to return a few days a week. A range of similar issues has disrupted the sense of trust at work.
The presence of trust in the workplace can take on many forms. While we talk about the trust in leadership most frequently, a workplace also requires leaders to trust their workers, and workers to trust each other. The presence of trust at work provides a sense of comfort to workers, their faith in their team allowing them to focus on their share of the work.
Leaders Who Trust Their Workers:
- Create a culture where workers trust each other and work in harmony
- Find it easier to delegate work and share responsibilities based on each employee’s strengths
- Manage operations without micro-managing workers
- Take employee feedback into account, relying on their day-to-day experience to improve the business
- Find it easier to communicate with workers who can share their ideas without fear
- Make decisions more quickly based on their understanding of the workforce
Workers Who Trust Their Leaders:
- Perform their jobs better, focusing their energy on tasks within their purview
- Work better as a team, relying on their coworkers to carry their share of the load
- Feel less stressed about their work and their leaders’ intentions
- Adapt to change with greater ease, as they have faith in the future of the business
- Stay with their employers longer and focus on building long-term careers at the organization
- Take accountability for their work and pride in their role
- Respond to feedback better rather than resenting the corrections to their work
- Feel less inclined to bad-mouth their employer or turn to public platforms to vent their frustrations
- Experience a greater sense of job security that improves their overall well-being
Building Trust in the Workplace Is Critical for Any Business to Thrive
The importance of workplace trust is evident for any leader to see, but knowing how to build this trust within the workplace is where matters grow complex. Faking a confident attitude or misleading employees about the realities of work may be easy to pull off the first time, but once employees are made aware of deceptive practices, their confidence is hard to earn again.
Understanding why trust matters at work isn’t just about realizing how this affects employees, but regularly making active changes to earn employee trust.
Building Trust Within the Workplace Can Look Like:
- Increasing transparency at work and allowing employees to see the bigger picture
- Setting clear expectations for employees and similarly outlining what employees can expect from leaders
- Regularly reviewing decisions to understand the impact on employees while also exploring alternatives
- Asking for feedback and implementing solutions to help workers
- Making authentic changes based on the feedback received
- Treating employees with trust and respect, setting boundaries in all managerial work
- Acting on commitments promised to employees
- Utilizing an empathetic leadership style that considers employee well-being
The degree of workplace trust that exists is largely determined by business leaders and the actions they take to define their role within the organization. With so many business goals and AI ambitions to maneuver towards, trust and unity often get sidelined. However, leaders who want to find harmony with their workers must remember to prioritize trust, setting clear, measurable targets on how they intend to build faith in their leadership within the workplace.
Why do you think trust matters at work? Share your insights with us. Subscribe to The HR Digest for more insights on workplace trends, layoffs, and what to expect with the advent of AI.