In October, I wrote about the general erosion of trust in institutions and how roofing is uniquely equipped to swim against that tide. However, there’s a twist to this trust deficit you need to be aware of, and its within your own four walls: the trust your employees and teams have in your company and your leadership.
Kids these days—almost instinctively—trust no one. Research suggests younger Americans generally start from a lower baseline of trust than older generations. Building confidence with the next generation will require greater transparency and more authentic engagement than in the past. This presents a unique challenge for employers.
For roofing companies facing workforce shortages and succession challenges, that reality carries important implications. Recruiting younger employees will require more than competitive compensation. It will require demonstrating purpose, integrity and opportunity. The industry’s future depends on attracting and retaining talent, which means earning trust from a generation that often views institutions differently than previous ones.
Edelman, a global communications firm, performs a yearly survey measuring trust, and it recently released its 2026 findings. With nearly 34,000 survey respondents, the survey provides solid sample of the sentiments.
In the U.S., only 21% of survey respondents believe the next generation will be better off than current generations. That’s a decline of nine points from the previous year. But let’s set aside the decline and take the previous year’s number: Fewer than 1 in 3 people believe “kids these days” will have it better than we do. Ouch.
“Kids these days” believe schools and education systems have betrayed them; old folks are destroying the planet that they’ll be stuck living on; greedy old folks are taking government money and leaving them with the trillion-dollar-per-year tab to repay; and on top of all that, AI may make it impossible for them to have jobs to pay the higher costs required to have the quality of life they see today or want tomorrow.
No wonder an 18- or 22-year-old starting work with your shop seems so different from our lens. They are getting beat upside the head every day from hurricane-force headwinds against hope.
And this is the likely mindset of your newest employee. Ready? Go make them part of the team!
But because of the benefit from proximity and relationships I wrote about in October, you and your team are in a unique position to be a lighthouse of hope in the storm of uncertainty.
Edelman reports a net 11-point gain over the past five years in the following statement: “I have gained trust in my co-workers.” And there was a nine-point improvement among employees in the trust they have in their company leaders.
You and your team are in a unique position to be a lighthouse of hope in the storm of uncertainty
With those wins comes great responsibility. As contractors like to say: “We won the job. Now, we have to DO the job.” You need to earn and retain a newly gained employee’s trust daily by saying what you will do and doing what you say. By being fair. By being consistent. By being transparent and honest. By being reasonable. By engaging and caring about your teams and their well-being.
I’ve found people (whether in my past life in politics or in my current daily life) can handle bad news. They understand life happens. They understand there are factors outside of their control. Disappointment is found in the gap between expectations and reality. So being realistic with your team isn’t just prudent; it’s essential to maintaining trust and long-term relationships. Effective communication is part of that.
Politicians serve as a cautionary tale. They consistently overpromise to get elected and then underdeliver once they take office. And the institutions of Congress and the presidency have record low public approval ratings as a result. But they only need to be evaluated every two, four or six years. You must follow through on promises daily for decades (hopefully) with much the same audience to maintain that trust.
Poorly handled situations can result in bad vibes even if the baseline outcome was good. Good outcomes delivered poorly can be worse than suboptimal outcomes managed well. That may sound counterintuitive, but employee relations, or “internal customer service,” is a real thing.
For example, think about a time when a job went well because it got done on time and on budget, but human dynamics had some negative cost. Or the reverse where there was the job that didn’t go right because of weather or change orders but the team ended up better (more cohesive, more trusting, more effective) than they were prior because of it. I once knew someone who got the job done by the numbers but was a human bulldozer in the process—verbally or emotionally taking out customers, stakeholders and fellow employees in the process—but the job technically always got done. I ended up letting that person go and finding someone else for the role; we were winning battles but losing the long war.
The faith and trust of our teams should never be taken for granted. And in an era of growing insularity or isolation, personal relationships matter more than ever. Organizations that thrive are the ones that remain accessible and engaged with their teams. They will listen closely to ideas and encourage them, invest in employee growth, and participate actively in their career paths and future. They will earn their teams’ trust daily through countless interactions or pivot points, big or small.
For roofing professionals, that is not a new lesson. You do it daily with your customers. But in the current era where there is a war for talent, don’t forget about your other “customer”: the group of people who are choosing to engage with you but giving you something even more valuable than money from a client. They are giving you their time, their future and their trust. Earn it. It’s simply good business. And it’s probably more valuable now than ever before.
MCKAY DANIELS
CEO
NRCA
