2012 Edelman Trust Barometer: Focus on Employees

2012 TRUST BAROMETER EDELMAN According the 2012 Edelman Trust Barometer, our 12thannual global trust and credibility survey of more than 30,000 people, regular, rank-and-file employees now have more credibility than chief executives. Moreover, this is the first year we've compared responses from regular employees versus executives, and the results are instructive for anyone charged with engaging and motivating their organization. CEO Employees Executives Employees 1Choalty products or serven Hoh qity products or services 12pts 2 Ustens t custamer eeds and fehack Listms toop ontomer eedsand feedback 16pts Tstions to ades issr or criss 3Tats mplys w 38% 50% 4asethical busness praction sations ts address iss r ciis 50 Placs custamers a Satead of profs 5 Paosostamers ahead of profits CEO credbity fell 12 points to 38%, one of the biggest drops in Trust history Yet, the credbity of regular employees junped 16 points to 50%, the greatest increase since 2004. 6 Treats enplyees wel 6 Pas ethical business practors When it comes to factors that build trust in a company, employees ranked "treets employees well" as third (out of 16 total), while executives ranked it sixth Executives Employees Executives Employees 68% 67% Executives ranked the credblity of regular employees second-to-last out of eight information Sources, while employees awarded second-to-last honors to the CEO There's at least one thing ExEcutives and employees canagree on the credibity of technical experts within a company Trust findngs revealed only one percentage point dfference between executives and enployees in how they viewed the credbility of these experts 24% Executives O TRUST Employees- 12% Empower your employees Engage employees to be ambassadors via social media Rebuild trust in the in building customer CEO through candid, meaningful dialogue Executives trust social meda twice as much as relationships employees - and have higher trust levels in nearly all communication sources,tradtional meda aside. Three actions companies can take to preserve and build trust Ifacrisis hits tomorrow, who besides your CED is prepared to step up as the face of your company? Have you identified technical eperts within your company's ranks- engineers, designers manufacturing supervisors - that could serve as cedible spokespeople for your organization in times of distres Does your company have an online/social media behavior policy. and if so, are your employees aware of how it applies to them? Would your employees know what fo tell their online social networks in the event of a company crisis? Would employees fel comfortable advocating for your company to their friends on Facebook, Twitter and other networks? (and would they be wiling ta do so) How are you connecting your employees with each other using social media? What steps are you taking to involve employees in co-creating solutions to customer service issues? If employees become aware of an emerging Customer service or product issue, do they have a way to tell the company about it? How are you strengthening the connection between your CED and your employees? Do your employees have a way to interact with your CEO directly, perhaps via social media? 10 questions communicators should ask themselves (and answerl) in 2012 Edelman Employee Engagement Practice