The Trust Index™ Survey

In broad terms, the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey measures the level of trust in your organization and the consistency of the employee experience. In other words: How often can employees count on something happening in their workplace, such as clear and honest leadership, fair treatment, and employee recognition?

More specifically, the Great Place To Work Trust Index Survey measures individual employee experiences of five focus areas of a high-trust company culture through 60 statements and two open-ended questions. Three of the focus areas are connected to the actions of leaders and building trust: credibility, respect, and fairness. The other two focus areas measure the workplace experience of employees in relation to their colleagues and the wider organization: pride and a sense of belonging.

These five focus areas create a workplace culture where employees feel empowered and encouraged to do their most meaningful work. High-trust cultures are shown in Great Place To Work research to outperform their competitors in recruitment and retention, productivity and innovation, and financial performance.

Survey answers are assessed on a five-point scale, revealing the most common experience of employees in the organization. Employee scores are averaged to provide an organization-wide assessment of workplace culture: the Trust Index score.

Employee engagement surveys typically measure how employees feel about their work and organization. The Trust Index™ goes deeper by measuring the workplace experiences that build trust, including credibility, respect, fairness, pride, and belonging. Combined with Great Place To Work research and benchmarking, the Trust Index turns employee feedback into Workplace Intelligence that helps organizations understand what's happening across their workplace and where to focus.

Employees answer 14 demographic questions and respond to 60 statements across a five-point consistency scale as well as two open-ended questions. Employees generally take 10 to 20 minutes to complete the survey.

We take our ethical obligation to survey takers very seriously. Employees can rest assured that their participation is completely confidential and voluntary. Survey responses come directly to Great Place To Work. Employers cannot see who has or who has not completed the survey while the survey is live. We remove unique identifiers once the survey closes. For employers, company participation in the Certification program and the survey results are completely confidential. We do not disclose our clients’ names, information, or scores to the public until they are Great Place To Work Certified.

Yes. Once your survey is closed, you’ll immediately get (at minimum) an overview of your scores so you can see how your employee experience measures against our key evaluation areas, and how you stack up against our Best Workplaces benchmarks. You’ll be able to see how your company compares to top workplaces in the country with access to the Fortune 100 Best Companies to Work For® and the Fortune Best Small and Medium Workplaces benchmarks. This is exclusive benchmark data only available through the Great Place To Work survey platform. If you’d like even more in-depth reporting and benchmarking, contact support@greatplacetowork.com to learn about upgrade options.

Yes, our Trust Index survey is available in over 70 languages, and they’re all available for you to use at no additional cost.

Our Trust Index™ Survey platform is designed to support a wide range of feedback collection needs. You can use it to gather insights from various groups across your organization — whether you’re running engagement surveys, onboarding feedback, pulse checks, or other internal assessments. This flexibility allows you to include different types of workers depending on your goals, such as contractors, interns, or even franchise employees in some contexts.

However, the criteria for Certification eligibility are more specific and must be followed closely. If you’re unsure how to best capture feedback from various populations within your organization, or if you have any other questions, our team would be more than happy to talk to you.

To be eligible for Certification, you must include all individuals who are legally employed by your company, paid directly by your company, and classified under one or more of the following at the time of survey launch:

• Employment status: All part-time and full-time employees
• Job roles: Including the CEO and all levels of staff
• Locations: All company locations
• Union status: Both union and non-union employees
• New hires: Including those from mergers or acquisitions
• Remote workers: Telecommuters and those working from home
• Employment type: Seasonal, casual/per diem employees, interns
• Age: Employees under 18, as permitted by local laws

Important: Failure to include any eligible group — whether intentionally or inadvertently — or failure to invite the required number of employees will result in disqualification from Certification and Best Workplaces™ list eligibility.