2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work

The findings below are highlights from the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work. We encourage you to use these as a basis for talking points, social media posts, and circulating the report with your networks.

• 79 percent of employees surveyed globally say they trust “my employer.” 

• Those who believe they will be much better off in five years have high trust in business, government, media, and NGOs on average (Trust Index of 73).
• Those who believe they will be much worse off in five years do not trust the four main institutions on average (Trust Index of 27).

• As of January, 78 percent of executive-level employees say they will be better off in five years – tying a 2021 high. Only 39 percent of associates, who are entry level or experienced non-managers, have economic optimism.
• As levels of trust correlate with levels of economic optimism, associates are also 32 points less trusting of institutions, on average across the four main institutions, than executives are. 
• Trust varies more between executives and associates than it does between high- and low-income respondents. 

• Economic optimists are 20 points more likely than economic non-optimists to take on more work than is expected of them and 15 points more likely to feel motivated to perform their best.
• Economic optimists are 21 and 16 points, respectively, more likely than economic non-optimists to advocate for their employer and want to stay working for their organization for many years.  
• Economic optimists are 20 points more likely to embrace the use of AI in the workplace than economic non-optimists. 

• A driver analysis revealed that economic optimism among associates would potentially increase 21 points (from 41 to 62 percent) if they feel like they can develop their careers, have impact through their work, and have agency over strategic decisions and the implementation of technology like artificial intelligence.