According to our Trust Barometer data from January, business is the most trusted of society’s four main institutions, after passing NGOs in 2021, and now is seen as twice as competent as government. Our new data from the 2024 Edelman Trust Barometer Special Report: Trust at Work shows that employers have a critical role as the most believable source of information – among employees across seven countries globally – and as an island of civility.

But today, companies are rebalancing their stakeholder priorities. While employees were the priority during the Covid-19 period, now companies are being pressed to pull back from DEI, sustainability, and other cultural commitments. And as the 2024 Trust at Work Special Report shows, there is a chasm emerging within the global workforce, jeopardizing everything from employee engagement to employer advocacy.

Our data reveals a stunning 32-point difference between executives and associates on their average level of trust in the major global institutions: business, government, media, and NGOs. This trust difference between job levels is over twice the mass-class trust divide between high- and low-income employees, which has spurred the rise of populism in politics.

Only 19 percent of associates trust their CEO to tell the truth about the organization, versus 52 percent of executives. There is deep fear of innovation, with only 22 percent of associates feeling that they have a lot of control over AI and its impact on their work. Associates, bruised by the pandemic, are almost half as likely to report very good or better mental health as executives (41 percent of associates vs. 75 percent of executives), with particularly low numbers among all employees in the UK (48 percent), Germany (42 percent), and Japan (25 percent).

The trust divide between executives and associates is inextricably linked to economic optimism, defined as believing that you and your family will be better off in five years. The economic optimism gap between executives and associates has metastasized in the past five years, according to our January Trust Barometer data, from 26 points to 39 points (78 percent of executives felt economically optimistic in January of 2024 vs. 39 percent of associates), as associates’ confidence plunged 10 points since January 2019 while executives’ stayed relatively steady over that same period.

This belief in a better future is a critical engine of employee engagement. When employees have the sense of agency, impact, and sustainable employment that drives economic optimism, they will put in greater discretionary effort, be better advocates to would-be recruits, and show greater enthusiasm for innovation. A more optimistic workplace can also knit together the social fabric, as data from recent Trust Barometers shows that employees with economic optimism are more willing to make personal sacrifices for the greater good of the country (78 percent vs. 54 percent of those who do not have economic optimism; January 2023), and more confident the country can work through ideological divisions (52 percent vs. 27 percent without economic optimism; January 2024).

Here are five recommendations for CEOs hoping to close the trust and economic optimism gaps:

1. Reskill and Upskill: Four in five employees say offering training to ensure future-facing skills is a strong expectation or dealbreaker when considering an employer. Deal with the fear that AI will take away jobs, especially by retraining older workers.
2. Pay Fairly: 87 percent of employees say that ensuring wages keep up with the cost of living is a strong expectation or dealbreaker when considering a job.
3. Make a Difference: 6 in 10 Gen Z employees say they will choose, avoid, or leave jobs that are not aligned with their political values, and there is broad demand across political ideologies for employers to take action on a range of issues, including healthcare access, gender equity, and climate.
4. Respect a Range of Views: Our analysis shows feeling that “my employer” respects a range of political views is one of the drivers of economic optimism.
5. Communicate Frequently: Two thirds of employees believe communications from “my employer” (64 percent) automatically or after seeing it repeated once or twice. Employers are nearly twice as believable as “my social media feed” (37 percent). Employers are an invaluable source of objective information.
6. Make Trust Reciprocal: Executive management must be seen as trusting of their employees, listening and giving them the chance to make an impact. Trust in “My CEO” more than triples (from 25 percent to 84 percent) if employees feel that executive management trusts them.

Employers are the key to the trust puzzle. When workers know there is a path to a better life, they invest more in their work. They invest more in their employer. And they invest more in their country.

Richard Edelman is the CEO.