Broken promises: Why American workers are losing faith in workplaces

Trust in the workplace, it never collapses or crumbles with the blink of an eye. It builds up through frequent changes, unanswered emails, and job postings that lead nowhere. What happens when an employee submits their application but receives vague feedback? In offices across America, this has become a routine.

By 2025, the accumulation of such experiences had produced something more consequential: A quiet but pervasive skepticism about how work actually functions. The expectation that institutions will act in good faith, hire transparently, evaluate fairly, and lead responsibly has weakened. What remains is a workforce increasingly alert, increasingly cautious, and increasingly unconvinced that the systems governing their professional lives are designed to serve them.

An end-of-year analysis by LiveCareer, titled The Trust Deficit Report, captures this erosion with unusual clarity. Drawing on four national studies conducted throughout the year, the report shows that trust did not fail at the margins of the American workplace. It fractured at its core.

Hiring without credibility

For many American workers, distrust now begins before employment even starts. LiveCareer’s report is based on responses from more than 900 US human resources professionals, exposed the widespread use of job listings that were never intended to result in hires.

According to the survey, 45% of HR professionals admitted to posting ghost jobs regularly. Nearly 69% said they often closed job searches and stopped responding to candidates without notice, while 47% reported that their companies had received complaints about the practice.

When postings function as placeholders and communication ends without explanation, job seekers are left questioning whether employers are acting in good faith. The hiring process, once a gateway to opportunity, increasingly resembles a credibility test that many employers fail.

Performance reviews under suspicion

Inside organisations, trust continues to erode through systems meant to ensure fairness. As per the report deep skepticism among US employees toward multi-source feedback models. Nearly 79% said they would opt out of 360-degree performance reviews if given the choice. A similar proportion reported receiving feedback they believed was biased, inaccurate, or unfair.

When colleagues are not your “work friends”

Trust erosion is not confined to formal processes. It permeates everyday interactions. According to the report, 58% of US employees said they witness gossip in the workplace weekly, while nearly one-third encounter it daily. Nearly half said gossip creates tension and distrust, and 43% reported being the subject of workplace gossip themselves. Most tellingly, 47% said they do not trust anyone at work with confidential information.

As discretion disappears, so does psychological safety. Collaboration weakens. Communication becomes guarded. Work turns defensive.

Leadership at the centre of the breakdown

The most damaging fractures emerge in relationships between employees and management. The report found that 40% of US workers have quit a job due to distrust in their manager. More than half said they have felt misled or lied to by leadership, while one in four said they do not fully trust their manager to act in their best interests. The report also noted that 40% of respondents believe Gen Z is the generation most likely to raise concerns when they disagree with leadership.

When leadership credibility erodes, distrust compounds. Turnover rises. Teams fragment. Generational tension sharpens.

A system defined by doubt

Taken together, LiveCareer’s findings suggest that the American workplace in 2025 is experiencing a systemic trust failure. Skepticism now shadows every stage of the employee journey, from recruitment to evaluation, from daily collaboration to leadership communication.

The consequences extend beyond morale. Trust deficits undermine retention, engagement, productivity, and organisational stability. Without transparency, accountability, and consistent communication, even the most efficient systems begin to falter.

In a labour market already shaped by uncertainty, one conclusion stands out: when trust erodes, everything built upon it becomes fragile.
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