Christine Muldoon is the senior vice president of marketing and strategy at WebMD Health Services.
Amid economic uncertainty, AI disruption and constant organizational change, leaders are investing heavily in resilience, productivity and employee well-being. But many are overlooking the factor that may influence all three more than any wellness benefit or leadership initiative: trust. Trust isn’t simply a cultural aspiration; it’s becoming one of the strongest predictors of employee well-being, engagement and organizational resilience.
Over the last decade, trust in institutions like government and the media has declined, while trust in employers has risen. The “2026 Edelman Trust Barometer” finds trust in “my employer” is 25 points ahead of government and 14 points ahead of business in general, making the employer one of the few institutions employees still turn to with confidence.
That trust is more than a reputational asset. A recent survey by my company found that “employees with high organizational trust are nearly 6 times more likely to report strong well-being than those with low trust,” which means the very institution employees trust most also has outsized influence over how well they’re doing.
It’s time to reframe trust as a well-being and business imperative.
For years, trust has been treated as a leadership issue while well-being lived in HR. The latest evidence suggests those conversations should never have been separated.
Trust has often been perceived as too intangible or too far outside the scope of a well-being program. But new data challenges that assumption directly: Trust is not peripheral to well-being—it is one of its most powerful drivers and must be treated as a core component of any well-being strategy.
In my company’s survey, holding the role, the job and the company constant, we found that the impact of trust is transformational. Employees who report high organizational trust are nearly six times more likely to report strong well-being than those who don’t. Trust isn’t just associated with better outcomes; it also fundamentally changes the employee experience.
The relationship between trust and employee engagement with work was even more pronounced in our survey: “High-trust employees are 27 times more likely to be highly engaged than their low-trust counterparts. This is not a 27% difference—it is a 27-fold difference.”
The pattern is consistent and compelling: Where trust is high, well-being and engagement follow. Trust is not a byproduct of a healthy organization. It is the foundation upon which one is built.
Harvard Business Review tells a remarkably consistent story of the additional benefits of high organizational trust. Employees in high-trust organizations are more productive, have more energy at work, suffer less chronic stress and burnout and are happier with their lives. It’s factors like these that fuel stronger organizational performance.
Trust is built through care and support.
Recognizing the value of trust in an organization raises an important and practical question: How is trust actually built? Data from our research provides a clear answer.
The strongest predictor of organizational trust wasn’t compensation, tenure or role. It was whether employees felt supported during uncertainty.
• “96% of employees who feel fully supported report high organizational trust.”
• “Only 5% of employees who feel completely unsupported report high organizational trust.”
Clearly, support is the clearest expression of organizational care, and care is the currency of trust. Employees don’t build trust because an organization says it values well-being. They build trust when they consistently experience support, especially during times of uncertainty.
In other words, trust is earned, not through messaging but through everyday actions that demonstrate employees genuinely matter.
Trust belongs in every well-being strategy.
The trust-well-being connection is also supported by MetLife’s 2025 Employee Benefit Trends Study. The research found employees who trust and feel cared for by their employer are nearly four times more likely to report being holistically healthy than those who don’t. Trust is thus a key driver of how employees perceive care—and care, in turn, drives better health outcomes.
Well-being programs build trust when they consistently:
• Show care through action by providing meaningful support for employees’ physical, mental and financial well-being.
• Invest in long-term health through prevention, resilience and everyday wellness, not just crisis response.
• Turn employee feedback into meaningful action.
Beyond their individual offerings and benefits, well-being programs matter to employees—especially during times of uncertainty and change. A well-being program, designed and executed with genuine intention, is also one of the most consistent and visible signals your organization can send that it truly values its people.
This has implications for how well-being programs should be understood and measured. They are not simply vehicles for benefits delivery. They are strategic instruments for building trust, support and care that enable employees to thrive, regardless of role, level or the challenges they face.
Final Thoughts
Organizations often ask how they can prepare employees for an increasingly unpredictable future. While no leader can eliminate uncertainty, every leader can influence whether employees feel supported through it. A thoughtful well-being strategy is one of the most visible ways organizations demonstrate that support: building trust, strengthening well-being and helping employees adapt, perform and thrive.
In a workplace defined by continuous change, trust may be the most valuable investment an organization can make. Organizations that intentionally foster trust through consistent care and support will be better positioned to build a resilient, engaged workforce.
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