Workplace trust has become one of the most consequential metrics in hr leadership, and new research suggests it is deteriorating fast. INTOO’s sixth annual Future World of Work report, published on 3 July 2026 and based on a survey of more than 1,000 HR leaders and managers in organisations with 250 or more employees, finds that 70% of HR leaders and 69% of managers agree employee trust has eroded over the last five years. In Ireland, where Gallup’s 2026 data records just 9% employee engagement, the lowest in Europe, the signals are unambiguous.

The findings expose a structural problem that demands board-level attention. Trust is not a soft metric: it is the foundation of engagement, performance, and retention. Three priorities emerge: closing the gap between HR strategy and management experience, addressing the root causes employees identify, and rebuilding the psychological contract that underpins employee experience.

The most striking finding is not the erosion itself but the divergence in how it is experienced. Only 49% of managers say trust between employees and senior leaders is currently strong. Owen Morgan, Managing Director of INTOO, identified this 23.5 percentage-point gap as a signal that people management strategy and experience are diverging in ways that undermine even well-intentioned interventions. HR functions that rely on senior-level data rather than manager insight will consistently misread their organisations.

The drivers differ depending on where people sit. Managers point to pay not matching workload or the cost of living, cited by 23% as the dominant cause. HR leaders, by contrast, identify leadership credibility and workplace culture issues, specifically wellbeing deprioritisation, as the main drivers. If HR designs trust-building programmes based on one interpretation while managers experience a different reality, interventions will miss their target.

Ireland adds further context. The CIPD 2026 HR Practices in Ireland survey found over a third of Irish organisations are experiencing productivity challenges linked to employee wellbeing pressures, and 51% identify mental health as the leading cause of absence. These connect directly: wellbeing deprioritisation is precisely what INTOO identifies as a primary driver of trust erosion, making Ireland’s wellbeing investment deficit a measurable organisational risk.

Three actions will convert these findings into competitive advantage. First, redesign listening strategies to capture manager-level insight alongside HR data, ensuring the two are compared rather than assumed to align. Second, audit compensation frameworks against workload realities and cost-of-living pressures. Third, embed employee wellbeing as a board-level governance commitment, making the link between wellbeing investment and trust outcomes explicit.

INTOO’s research gives Irish HR leaders a clear and urgent signal. Trust is eroding, the gap between how HR and managers perceive that erosion is widening, and the organisations that act now will build the loyalty that sustains long-term performance.