3 Hidden Costs of Low Trust in a Growing Company
You Won't Find It on Your P&L
I comb through P&L’s every week, and what I never see is a line item that shows, a budget line low in “Trust” -$147,000.
But it's there, hiding in slow decisions, quiet acceptances, and the project that everyone agreed was "on track" until it very much wasn't.
After more than 25 years of coaching and consulting, here's what I know: growth doesn't create trust problems. Growth magnifies them. What's a little conflict at 10 people becomes a full-blown struggle at 50.
Here are the three hidden costs I'd look at first.
1. The Trust Tax: Everything Takes Longer and Costs More
I know you can picture this. A simple decision needs only three approvals. However, the email has six people cc'd "just in case." There's a meeting needed to prepare for the meeting.
That's not a process problem. That's a trust problem wearing a process costume.
Stephen Covey calls it the trust tax. By his estimate, significant distrust doubles the cost of doing business and triples the time it takes to get things done. When team members don't trust each other, communication becomes less effective, extra unnecessary steps pile up, and back-room politics breed.
The flip side is the good news. One study found that high-trust companies delivered positive returns of nearly 300 percent to those of low-trust companies.
Are these numbers precise to the penny? No. Are they on the right track? Ask anyone who's has been frustrated waiting two weeks for a decision that should've taken two hours.
2. Quiet Disengagement: Present, Paid, but Mentally Elsewhere
This cost is the sneakiest because it doesn't look like a problem. Everyone shows up. Nobody's on fire. Nobody's in it, either.
Gallup's latest data found that only 20% of employees worldwide were engaged in 2025, the lowest level since 2020. Low engagement cost the global economy an estimated $10 trillion in lost productivity. On the flip side, highly engaged businesses are 23% more profitable. What side are you on?
Here's the tough-love part. One survey found that 84% of senior leaders see disengaged employees as one of the biggest threats to their business, yet only 12% reported doing anything about it. Leaders, here’s the message…awareness without action is just expensive worrying.
Now here's the heart-centered part. Most disengaged people aren't lazy. They've simply stopped believing their effort, ideas, or honesty are seen, valued, and heard That's not a talent problem. That's a leadership opportunity.
3. The Talent Drain: You're Paying to Lose Your Best People
When people don't trust leadership, the best ones don't complain. They update their résumés.
Replacing an employee who leaves unwillingly is estimated to cost one and a half to two times their annual salary. That's before you count the lost knowledge, the strained team, and the hit to morale. McKinsey's 2025 analysis found that organizations with high-toxicity cultures see attrition two to three times higher than the benchmark.
For a growing company, every exit stings twice: you lose the person, and you lose the momentum you were counting on them to carry.
So, Where Do You Start?
You don't need a retreat, a rebrand, or a 40-page culture deck. You can just start here:
Keep your small promises. Trust is built in the "I'll get back to you Thursday" moments. Do the Thursday thing.
Explain the why. Even when the answer is no, a reason builds more trust than silence.
Delegate the outcome, not every step. If you're re-checking everything, your team feels it. So does your calendar.
Ask the brave question. "Where are we double-checking things, we shouldn't have to?" The answers will be illuminating, and possibly humbling.
The Bottom Line
You can't out-strategy a trust problem. The best plan in the world still runs through people and with people, and people run on trust.
One more stat to sit with. In a study of 2,527 construction professionals, 63% said their organizations had less than "very high" trust, while very-high-trust organizations generated more repeat business and retained more employees. Trust shows up in your customer relationships too, not just inside the building.
So here's my question for you: where is low trust quietly taxing your business right now? Drop it in the comments. I read every one.
If this hit close to home, let's talk. Sometimes the best growth strategy is a better way to work together.
