Michelle discusses the latest findings from the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer, highlighting the concerning rise of polarization and declining trust within the workforce. She explains how these trends, driven by broader societal and political turbulence, are manifesting in the workplace as a retreat into insularity and rising intolerance for differing worldviews. Alarming statistics, such as a significant portion of employees unwilling to engage with colleagues who hold different beliefs, highlight the urgent need for action by organizational leaders.

To address these challenges, Michelle talks about the importance of fostering connection, open communication, and an environment where employees can feel safe and respected despite differences. She offers actionable strategies, from pulse surveys to focus groups and direct conversations, urging leaders to proactively gauge and address underlying tensions to maintain a productive, inclusive work culture.

To find out more and connect with Michelle, visit: www.Equity-at-work.com

Hello, I'm Michelle Feferman founder and CEO of EquityAtWork, and this is your DEI minute, your go to podcast for leaders looking to navigate the ever evolving landscape of diversity, equity and inclusion in the workplace. Whether you're just starting out with DEI or looking to sustain your long term successes, each episode will provide you with actions you can take to move DEI forward at your organization, all in 15 minutes or less. Before we get started, this is Michelle Pfefferman and I'm really excited to let you know that my new book, Do DEI Write? Is now available. This is your guide to the Equity at Work Maturity model, which shows leaders how to make DEI part of every day and drive great results. You can get your copy through the link in the show notes or wherever books are sold. I'd like to share with you a little bit about a report that came out early this year from Edelman. It's the 2026 Edelman Trust Barometer. This is a report they do every year.

They've done it for a little over 20 years now. And it tries to put a finger on the pulse of what is and isn't working in building trust out in our communities. And a lot of it's focused on the workforce. And this year's report was particularly disturbing to me because it shows how polarization has really reached a new level. I think, you know, we've all felt that in the United States in terms of, you know, kind of the political environment we're in and that that is creeping into all aspects of our lives day to day, whether we are inviting it in or not. And I think, you know, just all of this sort of, you know, chaos around us is, is causing people to get into like very much an us versus them kind of mentality. What was really striking to me was the, that in this report, one of the key takeaways was that 70% of respondents were not wanting to talk, to, work for, or even be in the same space with anyone with a different worldview. So if you imagine that in the workplace that 75% of your employees don't want to talk to anyone else that they work with, including their manager, and potentially isn't even a client or customer if they've got a different worldview, you know, you could bring your business to its knees pretty quickly.

And Richard Aldelman was saying that CEOs really have to consider this with a great sense of urgency and think of it as a crisis that, you know, time is running out to turn this around. And in terms of the things that are influencing this. You know, we've gone from kind of. They've. They've got a great visual that has sort of these three rungs. The outer rung is polarization, which is, you know, we feel like we're sort of on these extreme sides. Within that, we're now at grievance, where you feel like there's just a lack of fairness all around, that people are making judgments based on how you appear, you know, maybe your. Your physical appearance, how.

What your demographics are, etc, and that. That is causing even greater polarization. So there's sort of a lack of trying to get to know each other, understand anything below the surface. And then the. The kind of center one under that is this insularity, this kind of like, I feel like I need to retreat and close myself off from others, because that's the only place that feels safe. And the things that have compounded this over the years are, you know, we had Covid. We've had, you know, financial issues. We've had a lot of, you know, political uproar.

We've had the Black Lives Matter movement. There's been a lot about, you know, LGBTQ and trans rights that's been, you know, heavily debated and a lot of, you know, conflict around right now. We had the MeToo movement. There's a lot of economic instability right now. You've got black women losing their jobs at a higher rate than any other group and being in unemployment longer than any other group right now. So there's just so much kind of coming at us all the time. You have all environmental issues. I mean, it just feels like everywhere you turn, something else is feeling, you know, chaotic or unsteady or, you know, it's hard to see where we're going to land with all of this.

So this insularity is real. And just to dig a little bit deeper and share a couple more statistics from Edelman, one I thought was, you know, upsetting, but really fascinating to see was 42% of their respondents that they would rather switch departments than report to a manager with different values than, you know, than me. Than, you know, me as the respondent to that survey that just shows, like, a lack of just basic tolerance of other people. And. And again, I think we're, you know, some of those values may just. May be as simple as your manager is all about work, and you're trying to find work, life, balance. It could be different religious practices, maybe not even things that you're trying to, you know, share with each other, let alone recruit each other into. But Just knowing that you've got different, you know, religious beliefs and practices, it.

It can, you know, certainly go further into politics, it can go into sexual orientation, it can go into a lot of other things. But just sort of this kind of immediate dismissal, I think is. Is really concerning and something to watch out for. The other one they shared that I also thought was really interesting relates to loss of productivity. And it says that if I. The question was if I. If my project leader or project team leader had a different political belief system than me, I would put less effort into helping them succeed. And that was 34% of people responded yes to that, which again was to me really a signal of, you know, we're in a bad place.

And again, I think, you know, a lot of that comes just out of like, it's sort of like when you look at bias, you know, a lot of that comes out of a feeling of safety. Like there's so much uncertainty around me, there's so much fear, there's so much chaos. I'm going to fall back on my belief system is what I know, and look for signals that other people around me believe the same. And if they don't, I'm going to wall myself off from those people. You can't do that in a work setting. We are so team dependent and so team oriented. None of us really can work as an island. And so we've got to find ways to bring back in ways to build trust, ways to create bridges, ways to lower the temperature on this feeling of uncertainty and safety.

Sort of this triggered feeling that's happening for so many people all the time in the workplace. So, so sharing this to note, you know, this is real. You may be sensing it, you may not feel it in your organization. I think the fact that so many of us continue to work remotely makes it even harder to know how much of this is going on and also makes it easier for people to kind of jump to snap judgments about you and about others based on what they see in their backgrounds and so forth. It's time to really invest in connections again, making sure people find ways to work with each other, that they can respect each other, even if they do hold different points of view, that they're not trying to leverage the workplace or leverage a position of power to get others to come along with their belief system. That, you know, there's certain elements of belief systems that, yes, we all bring those into the workplace without us, but if you set sort of, you know, expectations around behaviors in the workplace and norms and your culture and how we all interact with each other. There are ways to do that in a way that you can be yourself and you can work well with someone who has different points of view but isn't going to inflict those on you. It's not going to be harmful to your working relationship.

So my, you know, my guidance is, you know, really pay attention to the body language around you, the whispers around you. You know, who is and isn't working well with others. Maybe do a quick pulse survey, or if you've got an engagement survey coming up, make sure you're asking questions that will really help get to this. It's a great time to do a listening tour, do focus groups, things like that, and, and just get input on, like, do you feel like you can trust others at work? Why are we not provide confidential ways for people to give that. That input to you and then make sure you're really feeding that back out to everyone, what you've heard and how you're going to act on it. So, again, communication is really key here, but we've got to get back to a place of, you know, focusing on humanity first in the workplace and making sure that people feel safe. People feel they can trust each other. People feel like they can come in and do a great job and they don't have to worry about all of these things when they're at work.

So, again, make sure you're out, you're connecting with your people directly, try to get off email, try to get off slack, go into the office, talk to people, take people to lunch, take people for coffee, find times to sit down and connect and get a good pulse on what's really going on. That's really the only way that you can lead them to a better place is if you know where these issues are arising and sort of how extreme this is in your particular organization. Thank you. And that's a wrap. I'm Michelle Bogan, and that's your DEI minute for today. Thank you so much for listening. Please be sure to follow us wherever you listen to podcasts. And don't forget to leave us a review.

If you ever have questions, please visit our website or send us an email. You can also sign up for our newsletter and follow us on LinkedIn, YouTube and Instagram. Instagram links to everything can be found in the episode notes. This episode was produced and edited by PodGross with podcast art by our very own Jamie Applegate.