They say
“I don’t trust them.”
Your response
“When you say you don’t trust them, what do you expect them to do—or not do? Let’s identify the risk to the work and agree what they must do, what you must do, and how we will know it is happening.”
First, check this
Is this about unreliable work, or is the employee describing harassment, retaliation, discrimination, threats, or another safety concern that requires a different process?
Why this works
Trust is too broad to manage as a single judgment. For an ordinary work conflict, the manager needs the behavior, risk, and commitment involved: missed handoffs, withheld information, broken agreements, or another specific problem. If the concern involves harassment, retaliation, discrimination, threats, or safety, it must leave the ordinary conflict pathway and receive appropriate specialist or emergency handling.
Don’t say
“You don’t have to trust them. You just have to work with them.”