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Who do employees trust the most? According to a newly released Edelman study, the answer to that question—as it has been for the past few years—is “My Employer.”
The “Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work” reports that employers continue to top other sectors in trust levels by a rather comfortable margin. Almost eight in 10 respondents (79 percent) indicated that they trusted their employers, holding steady from the number seen in last year’s survey.
Business came in second at 66 percent, up one percent from 2023. NGOs matched last year’s survey at 57 percent, with government (55 percent, up 2 percent) and media (52 percent, up three percent) seeing some positive movement.
But in the opinion of respondents, trust turns out to be a two-way street. A perceived lack of trust from management leads employees to return the favor. Only 25 percent of respondents who said they feel management does not trust them said that they trust their organization’s CEO. Heads of HR (31 percent) and managers (42 percent) fared somewhat better on that particular trust meter.
Edelman’s report also found that trust in institutions is often dependent on whether or not a respondent is optimistic about their economic outlook. Those who said they expect to be better off in five years than they are now expressed a rather high level of trust (73 percent) in the four main institutions Edelman lists. Out of those who expect their fortunes to take a downturn over the next five years, only 27 percent said they trusted those institutions.
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Perhaps not surprisingly, executives had a sunnier view of their economic future than did associates. More than three-quarters (78 percent) of the executives surveyed expected to see their situation improve over the next five years—a jump of three percent from 2019. For associates, that number plunges to 39 percent, a 10 percent drop from 2019.
Optimism levels showed a strong connection with how engaged respondents are at work. In addition to being 20 percentage points more likely to exceed work expectations than their non-optimistic peers, optimistic respondents were 21 percentage points more likely to advocate for their employers and 16 points more likely to stay with their organization for many years.
According to the survey, there are several ways that employers can close the “economic optimism gap.” Such initiatives as encouraging employees to develop their careers, giving them opportunities to have an impact on society through their work and giving them a say-so in the implementation of such technologies as AI, resulted in a 21 percent optimism bump among respondents.
Edelman’s report surveyed close to 8,000 people in eight countries. Associates (entry level and experienced non-manager) accounted for 38 percent; 46 percent were mid-level employees (associate manager to senior VP; and 12 percent were executives (executive director to CEO).
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