Five kinds of employee trust Trust isn’t monolithic. There are di昀昀erent kinds that contribute to our overall feelings of trust at work — and all of them play into how we develop and work with each other. So, what aspects are we focusing on when we talk about trust? Peer and team trust: Coworkers’ trust enhances productivity, creativity, and open idea sharing. However, its absence can cause fragmented team dynamics and skepticism. Our Betterworks 2023 data found that trust in coworkers is the healthiest trust in today’s organizations, with 68% of employees saying they trust their team members. Manager trust: Employees’ trust in managers is tied to job satisfaction, engagement, and retention. According to SHRM, 9 out of 10 employees (91%) who rate their workplace culture as good also say they trust their supervisor. The success of performance management correlates Our 2023 Betterworks research shows that 63% of employees trust their direct with levels of trust across the organization managers; unfortunately, fewer employees (56%) think managers genuinely care about their advancement. Leader trust: Employees’ trust in organizational leaders boosts loyalty, buy-in 68% Trust in peers and team members into the company vision, and feelings of purpose in one’s role. Qualtrics ranks leadership trust as the top employee engagement driver. Yet, Betterworks 2023 survey indicates a mere 32% trust their leaders, and Gallup’s 昀椀gure is 63% Trust in even lower at 21%. direct manager HR trust: Trust in HR ensures employees feel comfortable addressing concerns and con昀椀dent with con昀氀ict resolution. Despite — or perhaps because 32% Trust in of — HR’s prevalent role in performance appraisals, only 26% of employees organization leaders expressed trust for HR according to our 2023 research. Organizational trust: Organizational trust encompasses con昀椀dence in a 26% Trust in company’s overall integrity. Scholar Paul Zak has shown that at high-trust HR companies, employees reported 50% higher productivity and enjoyed their jobs 60% more than their peers at low-trust companies. However, in our 2023 survey, trust in organizational leaders stood at 32%, while 12% of employees said 12% Trust in no one they don’t trust anyone in their organization. 3 Focusing on Fairness to Close the Trust Gap