The Edelman Trust Barometer - Trust in Crisis

The 2017 Edelman Trust Barometer will take about 15 mins to read. Although confronting and uncomfortable facts are revealed, it is a very good read and will help organizations identify gaps in their operations and compare it to other tiers of the economy. 

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The report revealed that mistrust is high, morale is low, and trust is in crisis. This year was the first time the study found a decline in trust across all four institutions - business, media, government, and NGOs. Trust in institutions has evaporated to such an extent that falsehood can be misconstrued as fact, strength as intelligence, and self-interest as social compact.

To rebuild trust, institutions have to step outside of their traditional roles and work towards a new, more integrated operating model that puts people – and the addressing of their fears – at the centre of everything they do.

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Key facts:

1. Current populist movements are fuelled by a lack of trust in the system and economic and societal fears, including corruption, immigration, globalization, eroding social values and the pace of innovation.
2. Of the four institutions, business is viewed as the only one that can make a difference.
3. The best ways business can build trust in a better future are to pay fair wages, offer better benefits, and create more jobs.
4.  The fastest ways businesses can erode trust are to bribe government officials, pay outsize compensation to senior management, and avoid taxes.
5. A top-down model does not work, and a more participatory model is needed.

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