To find a Ferrari but get a salary range for a Fiat: A qualitative study on salary-setting managers' experiences regarding salary setting upon new employment in a trust-based municipality. This study’s aim is to investigate managers' experiences regarding communication and room for action when setting salaries upon new employment. The municipality uses a trust-based management philosophy that aims to increase the room for action and reduce detail management. The management philosophy is relatively new and there is an ongoing debate in Swedish society about its advantages and disadvantages. Thestudy was carried out through focus group interviews with managers within the municipality using a thematic analysis. A communication and trust model were used as well as a theoretical concept of powerfor the analysis. The main result show that the communication between the managers and the personnel department is sometimes deficient. Where factors such as the importance of feedback, in salary setting upon new employment, hinder or enable the managers room for action. Furthermore, the result shows that managers in this process need to take the role as active actors to influence their room for action.Since this study is conducted as a critical case study focusing on managers rom for action in a small and concrete process the results are applicable in contributing to knowledge about implementation of trustbased management philosophy in this municipality and in public management in general.Keywords; trust, trust-based management, room for action, salary setting, communication.