Trust in employers is rising says 2019 Edelman Trust Barometer

 13th May 2019    PR News 
 Paarul Chand

Indians trust their employer and expect the CEO to advocate for change says the '2019 Edelman Trust Barometer'. The report that covered 200 respondents in India found that 84 percent of employees surveyed trusted their employers' opinion, mirroring a global trend in rising trust for employers. 

Trust in business is at 77 percent, government at 74 percent and the media at 64 percent.

Employees have an expectation that the company they worked for should be pushing change in society.

77 percent of the respondents said that they prefer to work for an employer where the work they do has a greater impact on society, and 40 percent of the 77 percent said not to do so would be a deal breaker in taking up a job.

Flowing from this finding, the study also found that 79 percent of Indians surveyed said that they also expect the CEO to lead change for the better rather than wait for the government to do so: 

Demonstrating that employees are among the best brand advocates, the survey showed that 91 percent of respondents engaged in advocacy on behalf of their CEO.

The rise in trust in business

Trust in business is also rising steadily. Although the rise in trust among the informed public is greater ( 6%) than among the mass public (1%) from 2018 to 2019. Among the industries, trust in energy and auto rose more: over a 5 year period with trust in technology remaining flat: 

Search trusted more than traditional media 

In another interesting, but perhaps not an unexpected finding, people trust search and online media over traditional media for news. Although trust in traditional media has risen over an 8-year trend, the biggest rise is in trust in search, online media and owned media:

The findings indicate a growing role for employers and CEOs as taking the lead in communicating about a brand and the growing importance of a larger society goal at work.