The 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer report reveals that trust has changed profoundly in the past year - people have shifted their trust to the relationships within their control, most notably their employers. The data shows that globally, 75% of people trust "my employer" to do what is right, significantly more than NGOs (57%), business (56%) and media (47%). The data reveals a record high trust inequality demonstrated by a 16-point gap between the more trusting informed public and the far-more-sceptical mass population however notes that despite this divergence in trust, the world is united on one front - all share an urgent desire for change. Only one in five people feel that the system is working for them, with nearly half of the mass population believing that the system is failing them. Notwithstanding this high lack of faith in the system, the employer-employee relations remains strong, with employees' expectations that prospective employers will join them in taking action on societal issues (67%) nearly as high as their expectations of personal empowerment (74%) and job opportunity (80%). The report highlights that the rewards of meeting these expectations and building trust are great: employees who have trust in their employer are more likely to engage in beneficial actions on their behalf - they will advocate for the organisation (a 39-point trust advantage), are more engaged (33 points), and remain far more loyal (38 points) and committed (31 points) than their more sceptical counterparts. 

 

External authors

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Edelman