In brief: Trust within the HR function matters because HR serves management, employees, unions and government compliance bodies, whose goals can conflict. A trusting HR team communicates more reliably, gives more consistent advice and avoids mixed messages, and reliable administration such as accurate payroll helps employees trust HR. Organisation-wide trust can be built from a foundation of trust within HR itself, starting with proper screening and selection of the right HR staff together with supportive HR leadership.
A lot has been written about the role of the Human Resources function in developing trust within the workplace.
Do employees trust HR?
Increasingly questions are being asked about whether employees trust their HR function, which then seems to question the role of HR within an organisation. Then we see responses on ways HR can build trust with employees as a solution.
Update (November 2026): Trust in employers remains comparatively high. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, drawing on nearly 34,000 respondents in 28 countries, found 78% of employees trust their employer, against 64% trust in business generally and 53% in government (Edelman, 2026). Whether that trust extends to the HR function itself is a question organisations still need to test for themselves.
Trust inside the HR team
But what about the development of trust within the Human Resources function? Is this where it starts?
Serving many stakeholders at once
HR teams serve multiple stakeholders. Management, Employees, External Parties such as unions and governmental compliance bodies. At the same time hold an overarching responsibility to ensure that the organisation reaches its full potential. Sometimes stakeholders objectives, such as management and employees, can be in conflict and HR is required to navigate through those situations and find positive outcomes.
High levels of trust within a HR team can result in more reliable, supportive and timely communication amongst the team. Constructive discussions can occur more openly potentially leading to better responses to situations which eventually leads to better advice to stakeholders. Mixed messages or unintended contradictions are minimised.
Getting the basics right
Even at the most basic level, trust in a HR department can be quickly lost when there are continuous payroll or administrative errors. These errors can be minimised when administrators have the right information available at the right time, and the stakes are now higher: intentional underpayment has been a criminal offence since 1 January 2025 (Department of Employment and Workplace Relations, 2024). Employees can start to trust they will at least be paid correctly.
Where to start
So the HR function can benefit by building higher levels of trust within their own function then using this as a basis to start building trust across the organisation. It starts with proper screening and selection of the right HR staff, together with supportive HR leadership.
