Low trust isn't just a HR problem. It's a business emergency.

Half of employees do not trust their CEO.

That’s the top line finding of Ipsos, Karian and Box’s 2026 IC index.

Furthermore, trust in leadership is on a negative trajectory, according to the survey of 5,000 workers.

In the last year, trust in CEOs dropped nine percentage points. The decline was seven percentage points for all senior leaders.

This is a huge business risk for employers.

“Change is the new constant...in times of uncertainty, trust becomes pivotal,” Ipsos, Karian and Box Senior Consultant, Joe Rollins, tells UNLEASH.

In fact, according to Dr Ben Granger, Chief Workplace Psychologist at experience giant Qualtrics, “trust may very well be the most valuable currency organizations deal in.”

The challenge is that low trust “shows up in commercial performance, decision-making and risk taking,” comments Tom Emery, a CHRO turned author and founder of people performance consultancy HEX.

The uncomfortable reality is that employers simply cannot afford to continue operating  in this low trust reality. If companies want to thrive in a challenging, complex world, they need to act urgently.

As Emery shares, it’s easy to assume that “trust exists naturally in everyone,” At the same time “trust has to be built. It’s an earned behavior over time.”

Where should organizations focus to re-earn that trust with their people? UNLEASH put this question to Emery, Dr Granger and Rollins.

Change itself isn’t the problem – the issue is your communication

It’s impossible for organizations to solve their trust challenge without fully understanding the reasons underlying it.

It is understandable to attribute the unprecedented pace of change facing organizations and employees as the cause of falling trust.

But the data tells a different story.

Qualtrics’ Global Employee Experience Trends report found that change itself is not the enemy; what matters is how that change is managed.

This is confirmed by Ipsos, Karian & Box’s Work On What Matters data – the survey found that two in three say the pace of change is manageable within their organization.

The value of that change is what they are questioning.

Around half (44%) of employees said the benefits of recent organizational changes outweigh the disruption they caused, and just two in five said the changes made it easier to do great work.

“Change is omnipresent in organizations, but they fail to make it feel human,” Emery tells UNLEASH.

“It’s treated as a project rather than a human experience to be navigated together,” he adds.

“We plan, announce and cascade, but don’t sit and listen. Trust erodes during change because people feel like it’s done to them.”

It is simply human nature to want to understand the why behind changes.

Dr Granger shares that the trust problem is actually a “communication problem” – “the problem is how leaders are communicating changes: often with no clear ‘what’s in it for me’ from the perspective of employees.”

“We’re seeing trust eroding because employees are experiencing significant change without being given enough clarity, honesty and involvement from their organization,” adds Rollins.

How to rebuild trust: Three priorities for organizations

As Dr Granger puts it, “the good news is that this a solvable problem.”

Organizations need to take decisive action – and HR has a specific role to play.

Here are three priority areas that will not just help organizations reverse the current negative trust trajectory, but also enable them thrive in this uncertain business reality.

1. Prioritize substance over style in communications

Often employee communications are too focused on perfection – the reality is that workers aren’t looking for perfect; they want “evidence that they’ve been heard,” shares Dr Granger.

Ipsos’  data found that successful communications were not the most polished – instead “confidence in leadership is a function of substance, not style.”

What makes high-trust leaders stand out is how they are getting the basics right –  the key is providing “ evidence that leaders understand work as it’s really experienced,” adds Rollins.

This means leading with curiosity, acknowledging and empathizing with the anxiety that uncertainty causes, and not shying away from difficult conversations.

“One of the most corrosive habits in HR and organizations more broadly is the assumption that people can’t handle the truth, that employees need to be protected from reality rather than trusted with it,” states Emery.

“What people struggle with isn’t honesty. It’s being kept in the dark.”

“The success of any organization comes down to the ability to have honest conversations – even the most uncomfortable ones.”

2. See trust as a business problem, not a HR one

“Trust is not a HR problem,” it is a business one, because low trust’s impact on business bottom lines, comments Emery.

HR  still has a critical role to play here. Emery calls for HR leaders to “create conditions for trust” – to build frameworks, and “champion a culture where honesty and connection are valued.”

He recommends that HR teams start by holding up the mirror to themselves: “Before HR can champion trust it has to earn it”.

They need to “stop hiding behind policy and procedure; when someone is struggling or disengaged, they don’t need a framework or process, they need to be heard with full attention and without judgement.”

HR then needs to also hold up a mirror to the organization as a whole, to “surface what the organization can’t see about itself and call out the gaps between shared values and actual behavior.”

“This takes courage, but it is one of the most valuable contributions HR can make to an organization’s long-term performance.”

3. Set managers up for success

Given that “trust is nurtured by behavior, it cannot be owned by one team. It has to be owned by everyone,” states Emery.

The manager is an essential component in building trust – they are the “day-to-day point of contact for employees” and the ones tasked with translating executive messaging, notes Rollins. “But often managers aren’t set up for success.”

“The interpersonal capability required to build trust, actively listen, communicate transparently, and follow through consistently, needs to be developed,” adds Dr Granger.

“HR’s role is to give managers the data, the skills and the support to act.”

Emery echoes this – he notes that leaders cannot be left to manage trust alone: “If HR steps back and assumes leaders will handle it, the experience of trust will vary wildly across the organization depending on which leader someone happens to work for.”

“Collaboration with leaders works best when HR moves from being a process owner to being a thinking partner,” he adds.

Ultimately, the leaders and organizations that will stand out in 2026 on trust are the ones who “invest in their own development, in building open cultures, and in the sometimes-monotonous activity of everyday rituals that ensure people feel valued, respected and trusted,” concludes Emery.

Want to dig in further, and become a great leader in times of uncertainty? Join UNLEASH and Qualtrics’ Dr Ben Granger on June 17th for exclusive webinar. You’ll walk away with a blueprint for modern leadership that generates great experiences for and performance from your people - driving financial results for your organization.