Ryan Austin

expert panel

Trust doesn't return through perks or culture campaigns. After years of layoffs and restructuring, members of the Senior Executive HR Think Tank—HR professionals, talent strategists and executive advisors—share why rebuilding a skeptical, stretched workforce requires honest communication, restored agency and consistent follow-through, and offer a practical blueprint for leaders ready to do the hard work of recovery.Something has quietly broken in the manager-employee relationship—and the data is catching up to it. Gallup's State of the Global Workplace: 2026 Report finds that global employee engagement fell to 20% in 2025—its lowest level since the pandemic and the first back-to-back annual decline in the survey's history—carrying an estimated $10 trillion productivity price tag. The sharpest drop belongs to managers themselves, whose engagement fell five points in a single year. For organizations navigating the compounded toll of repeated layoffs, restructuring and economic turbulence, these figures capture what employees have felt for years: that the people tasked with leading them are as disengaged, overwhelmed and skeptical as they are. The 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer adds a sharper edge: Approximately 75% of employees say CEOs are obligated to bridge trust divides, yet only 44% say they actually do—a leadership credibility gap hiding in plain sight.Understanding what it takes to close that gap is the focus of the Senior Executive HR Think Tank, a curated group of human resources leaders, talent strategists and executive advisors who bring decades of combined experience helping organizations navigate these challenges precisely. Their perspectives challenge easy answers and surface the specific, often uncomfortable actions that actually move the needle—from how layoffs are communicated in the first place to what leaders must do differently in the months and years that follow.What emerges is both a reality check and a road map. Trust, they agree, is not rebuilt through all-hands announcements, perks rollouts or rebranded culture initiatives. It is rebuilt through sustained, transparent, behavior-consistent leadership—one honest conversation and one kept commitment at a time.